Acadia National Park

We're camped at a Bar Harbor KOA for at least one more night. It's possible we'll decide to stay one more, but that remains to be seen. Yesterday, we drove the short distance to see the sights at Acadia National Park. We were promised a 10% chance of rain and partly sunny skies, and so it looked as if it would be a nice day for sightseeing. This is a big bucket list item, and so we were ready for a good day when we rolled up on this sign.

The park is divided into at least three sections. We drove the seemingly most popular part of the park yesterday, making our way around the Park Loop Road. We first stopped off at the visitor's center and picked up a map. Also, I found a refrigerator magnet there...

but no shot glass. Sigh. As we were leaving the visitor's center, it started to rain...and not just a little bit. Our first stop-off was to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, at a height of about 1,500 feet. The views promised to be spectacular, and it is notable because this is the first place that the rising sun hits the continental United States. We're told it's a ritual for folks to show up here, still in their pajamas, to see the sun rise. We've been encouraged to do this, but I'm afraid the sun will need to rise without us there to witness it.

Sunrise or no, we were terribly disappointed to reach the top and find it raining sideways. It wasn't even possible to take a picture since the wind was blowing raindrops onto my camera lens. We whined and complained for about one minute, then set our jaws and vowed not to complain about the weather. We are Oregonians, after all, and we are nothing if not intrepid. Besides, we brought our rain pants for just such a contingency. On the way down the mountain, I took this mercy shot from inside the truck.

Depending on how today goes, we may give it another try hoping for better weather.

We'd gotten a late start and it was around 11:30 by this time. We were close to Jordan's Pond where there was reported to be a good restaurant. We were cold and damp, and so we thought we'd get a cup of coffee and some of the promised popovers and jam. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was absolutely mobbed with people from about six tour buses. If the wait was less than two hours, I'd be surprised. Nevertheless, we stopped off at the gift shop where I found a shot glass.

If nothing else good happened the whole day, my trip would be complete. Not really, but I was working hard at being optimistic despite the crowd and the weather.

From there, we headed to the Wild Gardens of Acadia. It was an area set aside and cultivated with native plants from the Acadia area. Here's a sign explaining it.

There, we saw quite a few blooming things...

ferns,

leaves in full autumn color,

different kinds of red berries

and more blooming things.

Also, interesting specimens of peeling tree barks. This was used to make shelters for the native Americans that inhabited the area centuries ago.

And while we were there, the rain stopped, and the sun came out...mostly...and the weather was cooperative for the rest of the day.

The gardens were all fine and dandy, but that's not what we came to Acadia to see. As we drove on, we stopped off at a view point and took in the view of Frenchman's Bay and the islands that populate it. There were some structures off in the distance. We don't know if these were private homes or commercial establishments.

Here's a panorama of the area.

There's a small island in the middle where the Egg Rock Light Station stands.

Here is the accompanying sign.

From there, we drove on to one of the parking areas. It was possible to walk along the roadside (one way now) and look out over the water to see the most spectacular views of the rocky Maine coastline where the water meets the mountains.

This was the Acadia we had hoped to see. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

If you look off in the distance just below the jutting coastline, you can see a boat in the water. It was dropping off lobster traps.

If you look almost dead center in the image below, it's possible to see one that is orange in color, but there were many more that are more difficult to see.

Here, I zoomed in on it so that you can see the attached bouy.

We could walk out to the edge and back, and then farther along to see a different view from every look out.

The image above is the one for my sketchbook. I'm calling this one word wonder, "Rugged." Mike thought "rugged" won out over "craggy," which was my second choice of a word.

The parking areas were alternatively overly crowded or else completely empty. We drove on to Otter Cliffs where we found the parking lot pretty much abandoned. From there, we walked along to see the shore access and the cliffs.

The whole area was quintessential Maine. It was exactly what we were hoping to see after driving so far.

Near the middle and at the extreme right (almost off the frame) of the image above, you can see an ocean buoy. We could tell by the water's movement that there was a shallow area there, thus, the warning buoy, and we could hear its bell tolling.

There was a flock of birds. After doing a little Googling of the birds of Acadia, I can say with some confidence that I believe these to be Common Eiders.

Here's another panorama of the area:

We spent several hours making our way around the Park Loop Road. By now, it was nearly 2:30. We'd done a substantial amount of hiking and picking our way over rocks to get out to viewpoints. We were hungry and cold. Since it was on our way back to the park exit and our RV, we decided to give another try to the restaurant at Jordan Pond. Some coffee and popovers with jam were sounding really good. Sadly, when we arrived, the wait was still at least 30 minutes, and so we drove on and back to the RV where the kitties greeted us.

We're kind of waiting to see what the weather will do today. Our original plan was to do some hiking today, but we did quite a bit of that yesterday. We're inclined to drive out to the more sparsely populated part of the park known as Schoodic Peninsula. You can see it in this first panorama from above.

It's the portion of the island extending out toward the right in the middle of the image. This being the "off" season, the park was surprisingly crowded with people, tour buses, and trolleys. We can't even imagine the crowds during summer. Our tour book tells us that Acadia is one of the smallest of the national parks, but it is also one of the most visited. With such beautiful scenery, it's easy to see why.

So I'll leave you wondering...hiking or driving. Feeling lazy, I'm expecting the latter. Besides...you know we love a good lighthouse. Also, Bar Harbor is a cute little town. We'd like to park and explore on foot if we can find a spot large enough to accommodate our pig of a truck.