This Labor Day weekend we decided to take advantage of the extra day off from work and took a mini road trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island in the “Downeast” region of Maine, and is home to Acadia National Park. I have been dying to get to Acadia since the first summer we moved out here. Hurricane Earl was forecasted to be on the coast of Maine this same weekend, but not even that could stop us from going. It was about a 5 hour drive north from Boston (and worth every minute of it!).
Day 1:
Saturday morning we woke up early, got the Jeep all loaded up, and hit the road by 7:30am. About halfway through our 5 hour trek, we stopped at Cabela’s to stretch our legs (and so Adam could update his tackle box). I took Kenzie for a walk around the pond and kept myself entertained with the big fish aquarium and the taxidermy mountain.
A few hours later we arrived in Bangor where we stopped for lunch. We also made a quick detour to drive by Stephen King’s house (47 West Broadway). It was easy to pick out the house once we turned down the street. It was a house fit for the famous horror author indeed, with its wrought iron spider web front gate, topped with bat sculptures on each side. There was even a little black cat that was sprawled out in front of the gate as if it was guarding the place. How fitting.
Then we finished our drive to Bar Harbor, checked into our hotel, and hurried off to spend the rest of the day in Acadia. When we entered the park we were notified that Sand Beach was closed due to wind and violent surf conditions from Hurricane Earl. So what do you think the first thing we did was? Headed straight for Sand Beach! We parked the Jeep and set off to check out the waves - and they were crashing! It was a spectacular sight. Sand Beach is a gorgeous little beach nestled in between mountains and rocky shores on the east side of Mount Desert Island. This day the waves were extraordinarily large and pounding the shoreline and the rocks. No one was allowed in the water, not that I’m sure I would have went in on a calm day. The ocean temperature rarely exceeds 55 degrees in the summer up there and supposedly there is a half a cup of salt per gallon of water in this part of the ocean… bleh!
After being mesmerized by the surf, we drove farther up the Park Loop to Jordan Pond where we started our hike up Pemetic Mountain (1,248-ft). It was a 3.3-mile hike round trip. Kenzie was happy to be out of the car and even more happy to be breathing in the fresh ocean air. This was a great hike that began as an easy stroll through the woods and soon turned to a steep climb up fallen boulders. The summit offered some sweeping views of the area, but it was the walk along the ridge that made this one a memorable hike. Once we reached the top of the tree line, the entire ridge of the mountain was filled with wide open rock faces that you had to hike up and the views were endless. When we got back to the bottom we got to enjoy the colors of the sun setting over Jordan Pond.
After our hike, we got back on the Park Loop Road and headed back to our hotel to clean up before going out or dinner. On our way we had to stop to enjoy some more scenic views of the sunset from the park.
From our hotel we could easily walk downtown into Bar Harbor where all the restaurants and bars were located. That night we had dinner at Geddy’s, a summer staple in Bar Harbor. We were drawn to it by the giant light up moose on the top of the roof. The atmosphere inside was great and the food was just as good. You got a prize for coloring your place mat, so of course, I couldn’t resist! After dinner we headed to The Dog & Pony Tavern to sip some drinks with the locals. It was a nice little bar with a huge outdoor patio and gazebo. There were some interesting people there to say the least, and actually people from Maine are little different in general. In fact, the rest of New England refers to them as Maine-iacs.
Day 2:
After searching to no avail for a breakfast café with less than an hour wait, we ended up with a meatball sub… breakfast of champions, I guess. We took our subs to go and set off for Acadia. We drove down the Park Loop Road until we found a good spot to watch the waves crash on the rocky shore and ate our “breakfast” there. After we finished eating we walked down the Ocean Trail towards Sand Beach. The ocean was much calmer this day and the water in the bay had a greenish hint to it. It looked totally different than just the day before.
We followed the Ocean Trail until it met up with the Beehive. The Beehive juts out of the terrain at 520-ft, while not incredibly tall it is certainly steep. The trail climbed several sharp, skinny switchbacks, where each view was better than the last. There were also lots of iron rungs and ladders to assist the hikers in the climb. This was not a hike for those with a fear of heights, but I highly recommend it. It was a fun, challenging hike and the views were amazing the entire time.
Then we walked out to Thunder Hole to experience the thunder of the sea against the rocky shores. Thunder Hole is basically a small cave that has been naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves roll into. At the end of the cave, when the waves rush in, air and water is forced out like a clap of distant thunder. Water can splash as high as 40-ft with a thunderous roar… hence the nickname: Thunder Hole. It was really neat and does sound a lot like thunder - and we didn’t even see it at its prime.
That afternoon, we ventured out to the Atlantic Brewing Company for a tour and tasting. They are a microbrewing company that brews and bottles all of their own beer on site. They are most known for their Bar Harbor Real Ale… the #1 selling beer on Mount Desert Island. The tour was more entertaining than informative as our tour guide was quite the character. After the tour, we moved from the brew house to the gift shop for the tasting. We tried several beers and even their root beer and blueberry soda. My favorites were the Real Ale and the Island Ginger. Then, there was a BBQ place right on the brewery site which smelled too good to pass up. We ordered the sampler plate that came with ribs, pulled pork, sausage, and grilled chicken, for a late lunch. It was very good! Of course, we washed it down with some more ABC microbrews.
We did one more hike that day before the sun went down in an attempt to wear Kenzie out. We hiked Beech Mountain, which is on the west (less traveled) side of the park. It was a 1.2-mile loop that went around both sides of the mountain. On the way up we had a good view of Somes Sound – the only fjord on the east coast. At the peak, there was a firetower that provided a 360 degree view of the surroundings. Kenzie was not a big fan of the stairs on the firetower. On the way down, we got to see the sun setting over Long Pond. The colors were amazing… my camera doesn’t do it justice.
After a long day of hiking we headed into Bar Harbor for dinner. We decided on Rosalie’s Pizza, because we were both in the mood for pizza and it was one of the only places open past 9:30pm. Exhausted from the day’s activities, we decided to grab some frozen desert at the ice cream shop and call it a night.
Day 3:
We started the day with some adventures in Acadia once again. As usual, we set off on the Park Loop Road. We stopped at Thunder Hole again to check it out at high tide (around 8:30am). The waves were bigger, but the thunder was smaller… I think prime time is a few hours before high tide. A bit farther down the road, we climbed out on the 110-ft high Otter Cliffs. This provided a great view of the bay and Sand Beach. We also saw some rock climbers climbing up from the ocean, which looked fun to try!
Then we drove to the trailhead for our last hike of the trip. We had to climb Cadillac Mountain – the park’s tallest and most climbed summit at 1,532-ft. The hike started at the Tarn, which is a swampy pond as far as I could tell. The trail first climbed Cadillac’s neighbor to the east - Dorr Mountain at 1,270-ft. The trail to the top of Dorr started out pretty strenuous, climbing steep switchback rock staircases for the majority of the way. It was a killer on the legs. About halfway up Dorr, we encountered a detour because the trail was under construction. I donated a little blood on the detour section... I slipped on mossy covered rock face, banged up my elbow, and muddied up my outfit for the day – just great! I definitely lost this battled of Man vs. Mountain - Dorr: 1, Jess: 0. We cleaned me up as best we could and continued on our merry way. The vistas from Dorr Mountain were great, offering views of all the islands off of Frenchman’s Bay. There was even a cruise ship parked in the bay that morning.
After conquering the steep climb up Dorr, you could see the pink granite of Cadillac Mountain to the west. This was a bit defeating knowing we had to hike down the other side of Dorr, all the way to the bottom of the valley, and then back up to the peak of Cadillac. Hiking down Dorr was a rocky decent as we had to scramble over a bunch of fallen boulders and the climb up Cadillac Mountain was much the same.
The view from atop Cadillac Mountain offered an awesome 360 degree view of the entire park. The best view is overlooking the town of Bar Harbor with Frenchman’s Bay and the islands in the background. The worst view is the giant parking lot at the top! Many people go to the top of Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. Cadillac is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard, so from October 7th to March 6th, visitors to the summit are the first people in the U.S. to see the rising sun as it touches the slopes of Cadillac Mountain before any other place in the United States. We didn’t set the alarm nearly early enough for this task. However, now that we have already hiked it, maybe we can drive up and enjoy the sunrise next time around.
We retraced our steps back to the car, climbing Dorr Mountain once again. In total, we climbed over 4,075-ft of elevation on that 4.8 mile round trip hike. It definitely felt good to take a seat in the car and blast the A/C. On our way out of town, we stopped at a Lobster Pound/BBQ Smokehouse for some food to refuel after our hike. It was quite crazy. They cooked lobsters in huge boiling pots of water. You can seem the steam rising up from a mile away. I didn’t indulge in any Maine lobster, but we did have some BBQ from the smoker. It was soo good! I saved room for dessert too… fresh homemade blueberry pie with ice cream. In my opinion, you have to have something blueberry whenever you go to Maine. (Did you know 25% of the world’s blueberries come from Maine!?)
After that we made our way back home, unloaded the car, and started the laundry process. With the long weekend coming to an end, I am reminded that so does my life for the next 14 weeks. It’s back to work and back to class tomorrow. Summer, how I miss you already!
