I am in love with Acadia National Park. We went there 3 weeks ago for an 8-day stay, and I'm still depressed that we had to come home. It's so crazy. I start thinking about walking around Bar Harbor or hiking up a mountain, and my eyes well up. Acadia is my happy place. This year was our third trip there, and I feel like I know that island like the back of my hand. I know the mountains by name. I know where to eat breakfast. I know where to get the freshest lobster. I know where to find the most breathtaking views both in the shortest amount of time and with the most effort (It's always worth it). Since we have hiked all the "big" mountains on the eastern side of the island (except for the Beehive, thank you, oh and Norumbega, haven't done that yet), we wanted to hit some western mountains this time. On our trip, we hiked up Acadia Mountain, Beech Mountain, Cadillac (since it'd been 4 years since we did it), and North Bubble. We had only done South Bubble before! (and it's my favorite spot in the park, so who can blame me?)
We took tons of pictures (over 1,000) so it's very hard for me to post only a few. I'm even tempted to go back and post pictures of summits we've seen in years past. But for now, this year's hikes:
The view from Acadia Mountain. You know, it was only three weeks ago, and I can't remember how long it took us to get to the summit. I think it was quick (within 45 minutes). There were a couple of rock scrambles at the very start that I thought would be difficult for children, but we saw a lot of kids at the top, so I'm guessing they can handle it. The view from the top of this mountain is one of the most incredible views in the park.
( The Bubbles and Jordan Pond)
Our second day on vacation, we rented bikes and did a 13-mile loop from Northeast Harbor, around Sargent and Penobscot mountains. During our loop, we passed a bear (a HIGHLY unusual occurrence) right around the north side of Sargent Mountain, in a very quiet area, not far from Aunt Betty Pond. No pictures of the bear sighting, because we had to get out of there! The bear seemed completely uninterested in us though and was just snacking in the bushes off the carriage road.
Hiking up the North Ridge of Cadillac
Last time we went up the South ridge and down the north ridge. I think the South Ridge was easier and much more gradual, but it took A LOT longer. We were up the North Ridge in an hour & a half. Sure it was hot and humid, but the views the whole way up were worth it. We went down the South Ridge to the Featherbed and took the Pond Trail down the western face of the mountain. It was steep, and we don't have any good pictures of it because we just wanted to get down at that point. I'm afraid of heights but would still recommend the Pond Trail down, because there were lots of trees so you couldn't really get scared. There weren't really any points where you had to look down. I prefer it that way. Once down, we walked to Jordan Pond house for lunch and strawberry lemonade. There wasn't a crumb left on either of our plates. We took a shuttle back to where we'd left our car at the North Ridge lot.
The view from Beech Mountain was incredible, as well. We went up the Southwest Ridge Trail. It was very humid, and the rocks were a little slippery from rain the night before, so I remember this hike as being a little bit of a struggle. (Plus I think we were still sore from the Cadillac adventure.) But again we were at the top in a little over an hour. We did pass a nice pile of blueberry bear poop as we got closer to the summit, so that was exciting. We came back down the south ridge, and they were doing all sorts of trail maintenance, so we got a little muddy.
Beech Mountain summit, looking through the fire tower. You can see all the way to Sargent and Cadillac mountains in the background. (Acadia and Saint Sauveur are the closest mountains.)
And in good old, Courtney & Ryan style, we were driving around the park loop road our last day on Mount Desert Island, taking pictures of everything we saw and memorizing every last inch. It was 6:00 as we got close to the Bubbles, which we still hadn't been up this trip. Ryan pulled into the lot, and I got so excited! We had never done North Bubble before, and we were up there in 20 minutes! The sun started coming down as we were coming back down through the trees, but we definitely weren't pushing it. It was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation.
I want to go back already!!!
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