Flowers, fog, & mountains

The gardens of Northeast Harbor provided color to start my day. Individual blossoms pulled me in, and colors reflected in water continued my fascination.

Heading to the coast, I stopped at Seawall for a quick walk. I could see some far off low-lying clouds (fog?). And then... the fog started moving, quickly changing, expanding, hovering. Before moving inland to find blue skies once more, I stopped at Bass Harbor Light.





Next, time to hike. My initial plans were to head up Beech Mountain, a hike classified as moderate. Beech Mountain rises between Long Pond and Echo Lake - but a larger body of water called to me. I headed up Acadia Mountain which promised views of Somes Sound, the only fjord (or almost fjord, depending on where you read about it) in North America.

From the National Park Service geology fieldnotes on Acadia National Park: "The centermost valley on Mount Desert Island is connected to the sea. This deep valley, known as Somes Sound, represents the only fjord-like feature on the Atlantic Coast of the United States. The unique features of Somes Sound include its extreme depth (50 m/150 ft.), a shallow sill at its entrance (10 m/30 ft deep), and a hanging valley waterfall on the west shore (Man o' War Brook)."

The Acadia Mountain trail was graded as moderate / difficult. Hmmm... there were sections of steep rock stairs, sections of easy graded trail, sections requiring clambering over steep sections of rocks.

Hey, this is Rover jumping in. You do know that Denise doesn't like steep downhills, don't you? She did well though, helped by my encouragement, plus by sharing trail-finding tips with some other people on the trail.

The trail was well worth the effort. A view of Somes Sound was the reward waiting for me at the top.

It was another good day.