delicate

Flowers were still in bloom in mid-October, captured in Northeast Harbor (Maine).

quiet

Ripples on quiet waters, just after crossing the bridge to Deer Isle at the tip of the Blue Hill Peninsula (Maine)

foxglove in bright pink

I was delighted to find foxglove still in bloom when I visited Thuya Garden (in Northeast Harbor) during my Acadia wander two weeks ago.

silky

I loved the silky look of the water at Otter Cove on my last morning wander in Acadia. A smooth surface, rocks, autumn colors, reflections...

Do you see the little house tucked into the shoreline? I was very tempted to walk down the hill (from Park Loop Road) to get closer but the footing looked a bit treacherous. Maybe I'll just tuck that thought away for another time.

surrounded by trees

The boardwalk on Jesup Path is a special place to walk at any time of year.

My mid-October visit was highlighted by a mix of colors, leaves of yellow and green still high in the trees, crunchy rusty leaves starting to cover the ground.

trees in threes

trees and reflections, as seen on the northern edge of Deer Isle, Maine

advertising

A house, decaying (and maybe under construction) serves as a signpost for a food truck hiding in the yard.

in Stonington, Maine

autumn maple

There are still lingering colors in the trees here in northeastern Massachusetts but they have faded to rusty hues. Here's a highlight of red from my visit to Acadia earlier in the month, red leaves against other shades of leaf color and a beautiful blue sky.

photos! Acadia

Photos from my wanders in Acadia and downeast Maine are loaded into galleries, ready for viewing. Start with the top level gallery, Acadia, and... October 2013, or click on the photos below to enter a specific gallery.

trespassing Acadia:

wandering downeast Maine:

Interested in words? You can find my ramblings in the blog entries tagged Acadia 2013-10.

looking

I was walking from the Wild Gardens of Acadia to The Tarn when I heard crashing sounds not too far away. I stopped walking and turned my head. I saw a deer standing, staring back at me. What a beautiful creature!

summer color

Flowers decorated Thuya Gardens with summer color on my visit earlier this week.

reflecting color

Sometimes I need to remember to stop and look behind me. I had just wandered down a trail next to a small lake south of The Tarn in Acadia National Park. I was enjoying the colors as I walked along the end of the lake; I don't know what made me turn and look back but I'm very glad that I did.

calm

It was a perfect morning for a walk along the ocean. I left my car near the end of the road leading to Otter Cliffs, walking through the Fabbri picnic area to reach the Park Loop Road. I headed in the opposite direction of the other folks enjoying Acadia this morning; I was accompanied only by the sounds of nature.

I could hear the music of the waves, the wind in the trees, the sounds of birds and little animals making their presence known. It was beautiful and calming.

in the park

Today's post will be a bit abbreviated since my baby computer has decided not to connect to the web; I'm typing this on my phone! I suspected it was getting close to time for a replacement, soon...

oh! I saw that Denise was having problems connecting so I jumped in to help. It took me a few tries but I was finally able to connect while she was busy typing on her phone.

--- Rover

It was another good day, starting with doing the Gorham Mountain trail as a loop, walking back to the car along the very rocky coastline. I saw only 6 other people on the trail although there were quite a few folks walking along the coast.

Next stop was Northeast Harbor where I was delighted to find flowers still in bloom in Thuya Gardens. A bit of color always makes me happy.

My feet told me they were tired but I needed to make one more stop, at Eagle Lake. I joined many other people parking along the road in between the "No parking between signs" signs. That's what happens when the parking lots are closed.

I plan to walk in Acadia again in the morning before heading for home.

walking in

See, we really did walk in to the park. This sign was on the Hunter's Beach trail as we walked onto park property. I thought it was a good spot for a photo.

--- Rover

trespassing

Today was a day of trespassing in Acadia National Park. The park is still closed, with roads and parking lots blocked off. Instead of being neatly tucked into parking lots there were many places on the island with lines of cars parked next to the road. Evin told me that the head ranger was at a big town meeting about the park closure. He pretty much said that they wouldn't both anyone hiking or biking in the park. The roads are blocked, but there are many people enjoying the park.

I started from the Holland Inn this morning, walking via part of the Great Meadow Loop to the Jessup Path and the on to The Tarn. I walked back along route 3 after a walk on the Compass Harbor Trail.

My next stop required driving. There is a "beach" made up of rounded rocks that I like. Unfortunately the only access is from the closed Park Loop Road. When I mentioned it to Evin she thought I was talking about Hunter's Beach, telling me where to find an outside of the park path to walk in to the park and beach. It turns out that this beach had big rounded rocks, not the small rounded rocks of the beach I was thinking of. I really like the small rocks because they make a very interesting sound as they roll in the waves. I guess I'll need to wait for another visit to get back there. For today, Hunter's Beach was a good spot for a visit.

I out a short way on the Canon Brook Trail, stopping when I reached a small lake and saw the reflections of orange and yellow leaves in the water. Fabulous!

It was a good day to trespass in a closed Acadia. I'd be happier if the park was open, but being able to walk in to the park works.

to the end

Today's destination was Stonington. We traveled down the Blue Hill Peninsula, crossed a very steep and narrow bridge to Deer Isle, and kept going until we hit the other end of the island.

You know about Denise and bridges, right? She really wanted to walk across the bridge so she could take pictures of the bridge structure but it didn't feel safe. The bridge had two very narrow driving lanes and no sidewalk; we stayed in the car.

It was chilly this morning and the sky was wearing a bit of gray. Blue pushed in later but the morning gray was interesting too. There were lots of boats moored in Stonington, a few moving on the water too. We walked near the water, sometimes at water level, sometimes high on docks. It was a good wander in a small town.

We headed back up the island, leaving the car on the north side of the causeway linking Little Deer isle to Deer Isle. Denise walked along the causeway enjoying the water views on both sides of the road. Oh, I was with her - I decided to ride in her camera bag instead of bouncing myself. Sometimes riding feels like the right thing to do!

The coast of Maine is very jagged. That meant we had to drive up the peninsula for quite a while before we could head back to Ellsworth to turn back out towards Mount Desert Island. Denise meant to repeat our drive from this morning but she missed a turn after we came off of the island. Oops! Once she realized that we were on a different road she decided to stop and ask someone. The road numbers were very confusing! The road we were on took us almost to Bucksport before we found route 3 again to head back to Ellsworth. This morning we were on roads that were close to the eastern side of the peninsula; the roads we followed back were on the west side. The land around us was beautiful so the slight detour was just fine.

Tomorrow? I think we're going to walk into Acadia, somewhere.

--- Rover

Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine


at the entrance to Scott's Landing preserve, Deer Isle, Maine

driving

I watched the trees change colors as we drove further to the north and east. There were still a lot of trees wearing green close to home, green with a tinge of rust and some splashes of yellow and red. When we passed Augusta I noticed that the colors looked more like fall, leaves painted in orange and yellow, and trees with bare branches too. I hope the colors make Denise happy when we start wandering tomorrow!

The sun was really dropping during our drive between Bangor and Ellsworth. It lit the clouds in wonderful pinks and oranges.

We captured all of the color as memories.

--- Rover

heading east

It's almost time for Denise and I to head out on a short wander. Denise is working until the middle of the afternoon tomorrow and then we're off!

We had intended to play in Acadia National Park but with the government shutdown the national parks are all closed; I guess that means we will need to find some new places to visit.

I really wanted to bounce on the rocks at the Schoodic Peninsula but Denise said she is sure that the road is closed. I'd bet we walk in the park somewhere though. We don't need to walk through the main gate to get access to trails in the park since they are all over the island.

I just found this article in the Waterville Morning Sentinel about park rangers at Acadia issuing $100 fines. Ouch! But I read all of the words and it sounds like the rangers aren't fining people who are walking or bicycling; it's people on motorized vehicles who are attracting their attention.

I think we'll find some places where we can walk into Acadia, and I'm sure we'll get to some new-to-us places too.

Guess what! Denise decided I needed my own photo gallery! Now if you want to see me posing in some beautiful places you can jump to the gallery portraits of Rover.

--- Rover

waiting, dreaming

Oh! Denise just asked me to let you know she needs a little more time to decide which photos she will share in her galleries. I've been watching over her shoulder and she is making really good progress. She thinks she should be done already... I told her she is being too hard on herself; we've only been home for just over a week!

The temperature outside this weekend made me think of fall, and fall made me think of visiting Acadia. It's the middle of September now so we'll be home for a short while - then in the middle of October we'll be heading to Acadia for a long weekend. I should have enough time to come up with a list of places in the park where I'd like to wander. I already told Denise we just have to go to the Schoodic Peninsula - I really like jumping around on those big rocks.

I'm so glad there's a new wander coming; it's time to (re-)focus my dreams.

--- Rover

here's a photo of me at Grassi Lakes