It’s not every year that you can celebrate 50 trips around the sun. That, coupled with the fact that Donna and I hadn’t gotten away together for quite some time, seemed like a great excuse to spend a week in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.
SUNDAY
We caught an 8 a.m. flight out of Roanoke, made a connection in Philadelphia and by 12:30 p.m. we had touched down in Bangor, where we picked up a rental car for the week. Oddly enough, while en route to Bar Harbor, the rental car steered itself into the parking lot of a roadside lobster shack.
After getting checked in at the hotel, we concluded the day with a stroll along Bar Harbor’s waterfront and dinner at an outdoor, harbor-view restaurant.
MONDAY
Monday morning we headed to the rocky coastline of Acadia National Park and the scenic-drive loop. Our first stop was very brief, due to the larger-than-expected crowds, but it wasn’t long before we found a quieter section of the coast, not much further down the road.
After taking in the sights, it was off to Jordan Pond for a hike. Once again, I was surprised at the number of park visitors, but we had a great hike nevertheless. The biggest surprise were the wooden planks that replaced almost half of the original trail. I was expecting the planks would end around each new corner, but they kept going and going, lasting for at least one mile.
On any normal day, we would have called it quits at this point, knowing that Buddy had been home alone long enough and needed us to get back. But given that he was back home, under the loving care of my sister and parents, we opted to check out another nearby hike around Lower Hadlock Pond. It wasn’t quite as scenic as Jordan Pond, but it was much quieter and we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.
TUESDAY
Not everyone would want to get up at 4:45 a.m. on their birthday. That includes me. But we had tickets to catch sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. On the upside, it helped lengthen the duration of my birthday. We were expecting a large crowd, and we found just that at the top of the mountain. Low, distant clouds obstructed the view of sunrise, but it wasn’t long before the sun broke free of the clouds. Not long after that, a dense marine layer started to blow in, sweeping across the mountain,
After watching the sunrise, we headed to South Bubble then North Bubble. The hike was hardly worth it as both mountain tops were socked in by the dense marine layer. We were just about to head back to the car when we noticed that the trail kept on going.
Judging by the map that we had, the trail went down the mountain, climbed up Connors Nubble, then meandered along the edge of Eagle Lake before taking us back to the car. It turned into a real adventure, for which we were poorly prepared. We had anticipated maybe a one-hour hike, so we only had one small bottle of water to share.
The ups and downs were much steeper than expected and the lakeside trail was 90% scrambling over large boulders. I could tell Donna was outside her comfort zone, but she powered through. The big payoff came at the top of Connors Nubble, where the marine layer finally began to clear and we were left with a magnificent view of Eagle Lake.
By the time we finished the hike, we were pretty much exhausted, but it was still early in the day. We headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and went back out to take in more scenery. The marine layer was still quite dense along the coast, but inland, at Eagle Lake, the skies were clear.
WEDNESDAY
As Wednesday rolled around, we had another beautiful day on tap. Our first destination was Long Pond, where we rented kayaks for the morning and enjoyed a morning on the lake.
My back can’t handle more than an hour of kayaking, without getting out to stretch, and fortunately Rum Island made for a perfect spot to do just that. We kayaked out to the tiny island, discussed how we could possibly build a home on the island (in we were rich), then made our way back.
We really ended up with the best of both worlds — when we began, low clouds covered much of the sky, creating an incredible mood around a calm pond, then about half way through the morning, the clouds cleared and we had beautiful blue skies.
After kayaking, we headed to Southwest Harbor for a burrito, then it was off to Seawall. Had we known what an ideal location Seawall was for a picnic, we probably would have taken the burritos to-go.
After exploring Seawall, we tried to check out the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. As we got closer to the entrance, we noticed traffic was at a standstill and the line to get into the parking lot stretched for at least a quarter of a mile.
We ditched the idea and headed to Beech Mountain for a short but strenuous hike to the mountain top between Echo Lake and Long Pond. This was probably where we found our favorite spot of the entire trip — an incredible, unobstructed view of Long Pond.
THURSDAY
Our plan for Thursday was to rent some bikes and spend the day on the carriage roads of Acadia. The bike shop opened at 9 a.m. and upon our arrival, we found a line of people stretched around the block, all waiting to rent bikes. We tried another bike shop, where the line was much shorter, but their bikes didn’t look very reliable.
Rather than waste an hour or two waiting in line, we opted to hit the carriage roads on foot.
It was a long walk, to say the least. We started at the edge of Eagle Lake, walked to Bubble Pond, then wrapped around the other side of Eagle Lake to get back to the car.
We were pretty wiped out at the end of the walk, but we still had a lot of daylight left. Since the skies had cleared and the marine layer had moved out to sea, we headed to Park Loop Road for another look at the coastline.
FRIDAY
After a week of hiking and being out all day, every day, my energy level was a bit depleted. So Friday was a mellow day.
We began the day by returning to Jordan Pond, not for a hike around the pond but just for some time to take in the scenery.
After a couple of hours at the pond, we headed back to Long Lake. I had noticed a trail on the map that I thought we would check out. We didn’t go far and made it more of a stroll than a walk or a hike.
Lunch time was rolling around by now and my taste buds suggested finding some lobster. Conveniently, there was a roadside stand not far away.
We had been to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise but decided to make another drive to the top. Earlier in the morning we had reserved a ticket for a 2 p.m. entrance. The light wasn’t as nice as it was during our morning visit, but who could pass up a second opportunity to take in the view from the top.
We concluded Friday at a familiar, harbor-side restaurant, followed by one last walk along the coastline.
SATURDAY
Saturday ended up just being a travel day. Our flight didn’t depart Bangor until 4 p.m. but the rental car was due back at 1 p.m. and given the 90-minute drive to the airport, we didn’t do much that morning other than sleeping in, grabbing a bagel and coffee, and getting checked out of the hotel. We took a drive down Main Street, caught one last glimpse of the harbor, then it was off to the airport.
Notes to self for our next trip:
- Look for a rental home on Long Pond
- Bring your Camelback or some sort of backpack
- Get to Bass Harbor Lighthouse early in the day
- Reserve bikes far in advance from Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop
- Late September is an ideal time to visit
