Acadia National Park is beautiful in any season, but I have to admit that I feel incredibly lucky to have been there when the park was painted in autumn colors.
It was a morning of walking in the park, an afternoon of driving (home).
Colors changed noticeably over three days. The glowing yellows I saw on Thursday and Friday morphed into more of a rusty shade by today, bare branches starting to emerge. Both are beautiful in different ways.
Three days isn't a lot of time to spend at Acadia. Any time I spend there leaves me feeling fresh, rejuvenated. Until next time...
Look! The wind calmed down enough for me to pose for Denise's camera as we were bouncing around Jordan Pond yesterday morning. It was a happy wandering day.
--- Rover
The wind stayed with me all day long, howling, constant...
I had been thinking about starting by hiking the Bubbles this morning, but the wind made me think again. After yesterday's mountain top winds I decided that today would be a good "low" day.
The wind was so strong that there were waves on Jordan Pond. The trail around the lake hugs the shoreline and is a little over 3 miles of walking. My unscientific measurement (using a piece of paper and a topo map) puts the lake at about 1.3 miles of constant choppy waves. The mountains rising above the lake wore a combination of colored trees and exposed rock. On the east side of the lake it was easy walking. The west side started as a wide trail, changed into a section of uneven rocks (making for interesting walking, pay attention!), and then into a series of what "A Walk in the Park" Guidebook calls bogwalks. That was interesting walking. It should have been easy, but it felt a bit odd. The bogwalk is made of split logs, two wide, above rooted and wet ground. That's wide enough for only one person, and while the logs were right next to each other, walking with a normal gait didn't quite work. The rocky and split logs part of the trail required paying close attention to where I placed my feet. In case you are wondering, yes, I still managed to look at my surroundings.
To go along with today's theme of staying low, I headed to the western side of the island for a little ocean walking near Seawall, a walk down the wooded Wonderland trail leading to a low rocky coastline. I stopped again to walk at Eagle Lake on my way back to my home for the night.
The forecast for tomorrow is continued chill with mostly sunny skies. While today's pure blue skies were beautiful, I'm hoping for a few clouds as decoration.
Ah, another taste delight to start the day...
Breakfast this morning was an egg perched on slices of avocado, french toast topped with bumbleberry jam, and gingered baked pear. Yum!
The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, it's time to wander on a clear but chilly day. The forecast calls for a high in the low 50s, an increase in the warmth index from the current 37 degrees. Clearly, layers are (again) the rule of the day.
I really wanted a picture of myself on top of Gorham Mountain, but the wind was blowing so hard I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stay on the ground. But oh! I suppose I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I?
It took us a long time to get to the start of our hike this morning. I think we headed out at about 9:20, and we didn't walk out of the Sand Beach parking lot to start our loop up Gorham Mountain until close to noon. It took a long time to get to Sand Beach because Denise kept seeing things that made her stop, to walk, to look a little closer. The mountains were painted in trees wearing autumn colors. The sun played hide and seek all day, so sometimes the colors were brilliant and sometimes they were dark. We walked down paths, some that were created by other people, and some that I think might have been created by animals. Some were dry, some streaming with water. All of the funky paths brought us closer to the colors that pulled Denise off of the road.
Ah, Sand Beach! We walked on the beach a bit, then headed down Ocean Trail towards the start of the Gorham Mountain Trail. Denise likes to do that trail as a loop instead of an out and back walk. Ocean Trail to the start of Gorham Mountain trail, up the mountain, up, up, following trail markers across the top, backtracking when we were slightly off track. Then the down started. Down a trail that carried running water, hopping from rock to rock, trying to maintain dry feet. And oh! the wind was howling.
We headed up Cadillac Mountain (with the help of the car). We stopped often to enjoy the scenery, and we did some walking around the top of the mountain. The wind was so strong that Denise had trouble standing in one place; it was easier to walk than it was to stand still. I hid from the wind in Denise's camera pack, keeping the zipper open enough so I could enjoy the scenery. I really didn't want to fly off of that mountain!
The temperature crept up to the high 40s, dropping as we climbed to the top of Cadillac. Denise was really glad she had a fleece hat and mittens to wear. It sounds like tomorrow will be another sunny, chilly day, another day for wearing layers and happy wandering. Until tomorrow...
--- Rover
Last night's rain has moved on. I woke to see blue skies with a few scattered bright white clouds. It's a crisp morning, temperature of 39 degrees, light wind, a good but chilly day for walking.
My day started with an excellent B&B breakfast, courtesy of Evin at the Holland Inn. This morning's treats included a vegetable frittata, banana granola pancakes, with some wonderful fruit, kiwi & strawberries mixed. Happy...
Rain passed through the area early in the afternoon, but blue skies returned before I headed to Maine. Blue, decorated with clumps of white...
The sky continued to change as I headed to Bar Harbor. Gray returned, but with enough light to provide a magical view, a gray ribbon of road cutting through trees painted in golden colors, colors ranging from yellow to gold to orange, even an occasional red. There were sections of bare-branched trees standing amid evergreens. Each time I thought I had traveled past the color, decorated trees appeared again.
Oh! Denise & I are about to jump into the car to head to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for what will probably be a too quick long weekend.
Time spent in Acadia is good time. It's such a beautiful place, and walking along the rocky coast listening to the ocean always makes Denise happy. I like bouncing there too. I'm so excited!
--- Rover
