Acadia and the Quiet Side

We decided to go and see the quiet side of Acadia today. This is a section of the island that has less tourist presence. It's away from the big attractions such as the Beehive Trail, the Precipice Trail, Thundering Hole, Cadillac Mountain and the Carriage Road system. Here is a map to help you get your bearings for this post. The area that we're going to is on the left near the area that's marked Echo Lake Beach.

We started the day by walking up the mountain that is named after the park itself. Here is a view from the summit. It's amazing how almost everywhere you go you can see tons of small islands extending out towards the Atlantic.

The body of water that you see at the base of the mountain is Somes Sound. This water eventually makes its way out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was a very nice walk. We started by going past and annoying a red squirrel.

It is incredibly refreshing to see how many people bring their kids out to hike here. On this particular hike we passed several families, and it's not an easy hike but the view and the solitude are really worth it.

On the way down we found a pleasant surprise. There was a small side trail that let you go all the way down to Somes Sound. We followed the Creek and came out at this water cascade. Of course I immediately decided to get in! I haven't been swimming on this trip yet and it was high time. When we got here there was absolutely no one about so it was sort of like our own personal shangrila. There wasn't even anyone on the sailboat that you will see in the background of our photos.

I have been swimming in a lot of places. To be honest I never thought it was going to get colder than the Alpine lakes in France. But I have to say Acadia, Maine really gives them a run for their money! Just because I got in a couple of times doesn't mean that it wasn't absolutely freezing. It was one of those rare times when, as I climbed out onto the warm rocks, I realized that if they hadn't been there hypothermia would not have been 10 minutes away. This didn't seem to in any way dissuade the jellyfish from being around. I saw a beautiful Moon and Red jellyfish while swimming. I would have picked up the Moon jellyfish so you could see it, but I was afraid that I might hurt it. So I just let it continue floating and eating plankton. I have included a photo of one from the NOAA web page.

After finishing the Acadia mountain loop trail we moved on to Beech Mt. fire tower trail. This trail starts along Echo Lake then climbs up Beech Mountain. At the top of a mountain by the fire tower we met a lovely woman and her husband. They're lucky enough to live around Long Pond just outside the park. While I was talking to Kim she told me about a really interesting organization. I'll give you the URL and if you're interested you can go and check them out at blinknow.org.

You can see that we didn't rush to get up and down Beech Mountain. I enjoyed a little snooze under at the Maple trees on the way to the top. Mike entertained himself by taking some photos.

On the way down the back side of the mountain we made a happy mistake and took a wrong turn that allowed us to see some amazing trail maintenance. If I lived in the area I would really love to be part of the group that does this work.

Here you can see that they are shoring up the edges of the trail and trying to minimize the amount of erosion. This is a serious issue for a lot of trails because people love to walk along the edges of things. Unfortunately people tend to go too close to the edge, killing the plant life there and allowing the trail to erode into the valley.

In this section they are selecting and reshaping natural stones that will become a part of the walkway to make inclines easier, and again to limit erosion.

You might have wondered how they were going to move and position such large rocks. I wondered the same thing. A little further down the trail we were given the answer. If you look at the top of the trees you can see that there's a pulley system. This would allow them to move and place the stones, making stairs for the hikers.

Our next stop was at a seawall. It's actually right along the road past Southwest Harbor, almost to Bernard. On the YouTube channel there's a video of one of the tidal pools. If you're interested you can go and check it out.

Next we moved on to doing the last hike of the day. It's called Ship Harbor Trail. The ocean portion of this walk was absolutely stunning. Here is a gorgeous photograph of two Irises that can brave the brackish water and sea spray.

The Evergreen trees also managed to take hold, turning this bluff environment slowly into a forest.

The tidal pools provide me with hours of entertainment. You can see the different organisms that we picked up here.

The top left is Colpomenia, a globular brown seaweed. It forms a hollow mass, or bubble, as it grows. Unfortunately this is a non-native Seaweed in Maine. These specimens look and feel like little balloons. The next one is a hermit crab, then a variety of seaweed and snail species. The last one is a version of Northern Wood Sorrel, Oxalis montana.

This is Bass Harbor lighthouse. When you visit, they have the most beautiful sound out to sea as the warning buoys klang. You can see an example of this in the next photo where the red and white sailboat is going by. This is actually a working Coast Guard Lighthouse.

When we got back to Walmart, Mike and I decided to have our first real meal that the van has ever produced.

We went in to peruse what was the cheapest meat and came up with Italian sausage. We paired this with green onion and Serrano peppers. Then made a side of stovetop. May not seem gourmet but after Lipton meals, mountain house meals and Ramen, it's a treat.