We are now at the Bar Harbor Campground on a nice corner lot. The campground advertises as being the closest one to Acadia National Park. (That’s Ah-kay-dee-ah, as opposed to what people frequently call it – AR-kay-dee-ah. There’s no “R”.)
We took our time getting packed up from our last site and drove about 2 hours to get here. Not too difficult of a drive.
It rained a little, but not much
But some uncertainty preceded us, as this place doesn’t take reservations and all sites are first-come-first-serve. We thought we’d be OK since it was after Labor Day. Turns out we were right! Although there weren’t many places left for us, we only needed one. 😊 The other really nice thing about being here is, we can stay as long as we want. As long as we leave something in our site, it’s ours.
Of course ‘leaving something’ for us is our home, but some people use their RVs as their car also. In that case, you have to leave something substantial behind to mark your place or it could be gone when you return.
Here’s something to tickle your funny bone: The woman who checked us in told us once there was a group of three. They put a roll of paper towels at each site – on a windy day. Guess what? When they returned, they only had two sites left (they were lucky they only lost one!). And they weren’t happy. The campground has an “Oh, well” policy. Nothing they could do. She didn’t say what the people decided to do.
Since the National Park is less than 10 minutes from our new home, we set up and headed over. We went in search of the Visitors Center, where we intended to buy an Annual National Park Pass. For just $80 (per car), it’ll be good through the end of September, 2018. Since just this Park costs $25 for a one-week Pass, we know we’ll get waaay more than our monies’ worth out of it!
The Visitors Center here is not an easy place to get to. You have to climb 52 steps! They do have handicapped parking up at the top somewhere, but even then, it’s a walk because you can’t see parking anywhere, just an asphalted walkway.
After we finished there, we decided to drive the Park Loop Road just to check things out a bit. Very nice! And it’s one way, so you don’t have to worry about site-seeing traffic coming towards you!
We only stopped at one place today – The Thunder Hole area. Thunder Hole is a place where the ocean makes a loud boom as it shoots up into a rocky area. This happens best at high tide. It wasn’t high tide. But the views here were still pretty awesome!
Our next venture into Acadia National Park was in the morning when we took a drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain. At 1,530’, it’s the tallest mountain on the Atlantic Coast, north of Brazil. And on this day, it was crystal clear! There’s a walking trail that circles the top and is about .7 miles of easy walking so you can see all around you.
It was really quiet and then this group of 5 women got to yakkin’ and laughin’ and just having a grand time. Then when we walked by them, they asked us to take a picture. Turns out they were from the stables down mountain. Hey! Maybe we could get a free/discounted ride!?
We took a few pictures from a pull off on our way down.
Blaine taking a panoramic view. The blog won’t let me upload it though.
That’s Eagle Lake
Then we were on our way to Jordon Pond where there’s kayaking and several hiking trails. We did not kayak here. Instead, we took the hiking trail around the Pond. Below is some information about the lake I found when trying to locate the distance of this hike. It’s a 3.3 mile loop, by the way.
At 150 feet, Jordan Pond is Acadia’s deepest and clearest lake and is the second largest at 187 acres. It is also a public water supply. Therefore, swimming and wading is prohibited. Pets are not allowed in the water. Gulls, loons, mergansers, as well as frogs and beavers are frequently seen. At the north end of the pond look for a beaver lodge.
The Jordan Pond area is an excellent place to appreciate Acadia’s glacially carved landscape. As glaciers moved through the area thousands of years ago, they created “U” shaped valleys, and long finger lakes and ridge lines which run north and south. When standing on the lawn of the Jordan Pond House Restaurant, you’re actually standing on a glacial moraine, the rock and soil that was picked up and transported by the glaciers. The material was deposited here by the last glacier as it melted and retreated.
Here’s a map of the area we ran across:
We actually saw the beaver lodge, but didn’t get a picture because it was just too far away from the trail.
Now, mind you, we had no idea what this trail was nor did we have any info on it at the time, so when we opted to go right, it was just this hard, gravel trail about 2 people wide. We started off side-by-side, but it wasn’t long before we realized this wasn’t practical. Too many people coming the other direction. And the need to pass some slower than us.
Those are The Bubbles
South Bubble
After a while, we started getting a bit bored. Same scenery. No challenge. But we persevered and then halfway around, at the bridge, things changed.
We headed into a wooded area that ran down the other side of the pond. We had some roots. We had some rocks. We had some wooden planks. And then – – – we had some ROCKS. More like boulders, actually, to climb up and down and around. We kept reassuring people coming towards us that it would get easier for them. Some of them assured us it wouldn’t. 😊
No, we didn’t go up that way. : )
We DID however, have to go this way! Do you see a trail here???
And we’re back at the beginning after about 1 1/2 hours
Since it was only about noon, we decided to try the South Bubble Trail, so we ate a quick lunch at nowhere special and found the crowded parking lot. People were parked all down the street.
Approximately 1.5 miles round trip, it was rugged! Took us about an hour. But Oh! So Worth It! Magnificent views of Jordon Pond and beyond!
Jordon Pond and beyond, the Atlantic
Jordon Pond a little more close-up. Stunning, isn’t it?!?
Balancing Rock
Pretty amazing, huh?
From the other side
“And now for a demonstration of my unimaginable strength . . . .“
A little further down the mountain
And just a little more . . .
The picture he took from his perch
Blaine’s on the far left
Blaine said my head was blocking the picture (?)
So he took another . . .
We talked about it and decided to take on North Bubble as well – since we were already part-way into it doing the S. Bubble one. I think it was even more rugged than the last and the views, while virtually the same, just weren’t quite as nice for some reason. I guess because of the angle?
Heading up to the top of North Bubble
Eeek! A snake!!
Actually, they don’t bother me. It was actually cool to watch! It had a red tongue.
Now you see me . . .
. . . . Now you don’t
BTW – the reason they’re called ‘Bubble’ is because of the shape.
After all that hiking, we thought we deserved a treat! We’d met this almost local lady (she’s been coming for 10 years) on the trail who told us we simply HAD to try the popovers and strawberry jam at the Jordon House Restaurant. She said they’re known for them. OK. So we went.
First, there was no place anywhere near the restaurant to park. But that being said, we’ve seen that a lot already! There are cars everywhere! We’re so surprised by how many people there are this time of year – after Labor Day and before ‘Peepers’ come out. (that’s retirees who come for the Fall Foliage. They call them ‘Leaf Peepers’)
But we found a spot and walked about ¼ mile or so to the restaurant where they told us it was at least a 45-minute wait. When I asked about their slow time, the girl said with a small smile, “This is our slow time.” We left. We’ll try again another day.
INDIANS UPDATE – Winning streak is now at 16!!