Back from the annual summer vacation up there and have sorted through the pics for this years edition of Eight Days in Acadia. Bet you all just couldn't wait for more Acadia reports!!
Anyhow we started the week off last Monday by waking up after a drizzly Sunday to the sound of all the cars starting up to go catch sunrise. I had no plans to but once the kids snuggled up with mommy I decided there was no room for me and headed out quickly to do see what I could see. Once on the road it was clear the summits were all still cloud capped from the clearing rain clouds, so I decided to stay low and go to Otter Cliff, where I had the place to myself to watch what there was of a sunrise across Frenchman Bay as it rose above Schoodic Peninsula. Nice spot and a very short walk from the road to the lower cliff area. One I will return to for a better show some day.
Sunrise from Otter Cliff
Rising above Schoodic
Great Head and Egg Island Light
Nice spot to do yoga
Sun is up. Time to move along
After that I went to the nearby Compass Harbor Trail, which is a half mile long path that winds through the former estate of Acadia's founding father, George Dorr, who worked to put together the lands that would become the beginnings of Acadia, at the time known as Sieur De Monts National Monument. He was the parks first superintendent and lived in a "cottage" built by his wealthy parents on the lands this trail now follows.He spent much of his inheritance and the next 28 years of his life improving and expanding the first national park east of the Mississippi. When he died he left his lands to the park, but sadly the house was destroyed. The lands however remain and the trail heads out to Dorr Point on Compass Harbor, a beauty of a spot looking out at the Porcupine Islands. From there it leads to the foundation of the house where many of the ideas for what would become this awesome little National Park, eventually re-named Acadia, were born and raised. The woods are nicely taking over, but the foundation remains with nice brickwork still holding up on what must have been patio or deck floors. After that I shortly joined the Schooner Head Path and finished the loop back to the car to get the day under way.
The man himself
Nice little wandering path
Compass Harbor
Dorr Point
Compass harbor from Dorr Point
Flowers and Sols Cliff
Granite Staircase used to lead up to the house
The foundation is all that remains
The brick patios are holding up well however
Must have been quite a view once upon a time
But what once looked like this...
...now looks like this
A few of the rhododendrons still remain also, but that's about it
After breakfast we headed for the Hadlock Ponds Trail, which has a quarter mile or so of bog bridges on it as it follows the shore of Upper Hadlock Pond, which we circled and then headed for the Goat Trail up Norumbega Mountain. The trail is pretty darn steep, but short, climbing over 500 feet in half a mile up steep ledges, occasionally with the help of wooden steps and views across the notch. The kids moved right up it like little mountain goats, finding the first blueberries of the trip near the top. Mostly still greenberries on this mountain, but a few nice blue ones to wet their appetite, and in a week or two this one will be bursting with them. Once it hit the ridge we climbed more gradually and views of the higher peaks to the east were frequent and nice as we made our way to the top, where a sign greets you on a mostly wooded summit to let you know you have arrived.
Headed out along Upper Hadlock Pond
Kids loved the bog bridges. I loved the views.
Bridge of a different kind along the trails
Headed up the very steep and fairly rough Goat Trail
Not sure what this is, but mixed in with them were the first blueberries of the trip
Still more green than blue on this mountain. Maybe this is natures way of rationing them to passing hikers
My 5 year old (and 3 year old) love them!!
My 8 year old loves to pick them but doesn't like them at all
Enough scenery to keep it interesting
The top. Add it to her Acadia list!
Doesn't count for her. Only made about half of it on her own.
From there the trail follows the long summit ridge through nice pitch pine with some decent views scattered about. Sometimes towards Sargent Mountain, other times towards Sommes Sound and the western mountains. Blueberry hunting took forever, with little success this time, but eventually we began to drop and came to the junction for the Golf Course Trail, which makes for a slightly longer loop as it drops down and out of the park through quiet woods before meandering right through a golf course as promised. Very lightly used and not blazed after leaving the park, it made for an interesting route to Lower Hadlock Pond, where we followed the trails back into the park proper and back to the car along Hadlock Brook before going to town for an ice cream as a reward.
Nice pines along the half mile long summit ridge
Occasional views, like this one to the east...
...and this one to the west
The lightly used Golf Course Trail...
...which leaves the park boundaries for a bit...
...and wanders along a golf course
Back at Lower Hadlock Pond and into the park where it got a little cloudy
Finishing up along Hadlock Brook
Not a bad first full day to the trip. A good breeze kept things cool, as the temps were unusually high all week for up there (84-86 every day) and bright sunshine was the name of the game. Total mileage for the Norumbega hike was about 4.5, which is one of my kids longer hikes to date, but still only about 1000 feet of climbing. It was the longest hike we had planned as a family for the week and I wanted to get it out of the way while their legs were still fresh, and everything went according to plan. The Compass Harbor hike was a nice bonus mile for the day and an interesting redlining jaunt for me. That's the end of the trip report, but a good start to the week, and don't you worry, there's more where this came from. Stay tuned!
