Acadia National Park, Mt. Desert Island, Maine - August 25-28 '07

For my vacation from work, Erika and I took a week to travel through part of New England. We had booked some campsites throughout Maine and had planned to do some exploring through New Hampshire. Our first campsite was in Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island, just outside of Bar Harbour, Maine.

Acadia National Park is an amazing place. There is so much hiking to do, historic sites, and relaxing beaches. There is also a n Island Explorer bus route that takes visitors from the various trail heads or sites. The hiking trails range from short, relaxed journeys to the ocean all the way to technical climbs up sharp cliffs to the top of various mountains. Wanting to be a little more adventurous then some of our other hikes, Erika and I decided that we would tackle Cadillac Mountain, the longest trail in the park on our first day, and then attempt one of the climbs with gaps and rungs for the second day.

We woke up in the morning and headed for the trail head of South Ridge of Cadillac Mountain. We were camping in Blackwoods Campground, and there is a connecting trail that leaves not far from our site. This trail leads us from Blackwoods across US Route 3 right to the trailhead for South Ridge. As we were dealing with glacier carved faces for the trail base, most of the trails we were dealing with were hard rock and tough on the knees. Where there wasn't rock, there was tree root on top of rock; either way, it was tough walking. It was an incredibly hot day as well, so we were polishing off our water supplies at a really fast rate. The first section through to the trail head was relatively short, but it was a very rocky, and root covered trail making for slow moving.

Once we were across Route 3, we were mostly out of the woods and onto the South ridge of the mountain. This helped speed us along as it got the roots out of our way, but the terrain was still essentially all rock. As it was so warm (it was nearly 25 degrees at 9:30am) and we were now on open rock, our water started to go even quicker. We had packed our camel pack with almost three liters, and I was carrying a nalgene and water bottle giving us another 1.5 liters. I'll tell you now, this didn't last. By the time we got to the summit, we only had about half a liter remaining, and still had to make our way down the North Ridge.

Now that we were on the open rock, with only a few pine shrubs and low bushes, the higher we climbed, the more impressive the view. The heat from the day was starting to put a bit of a haze in the sky, but the views were still incredible. It is impressive to see how the glaciers have shaped this area. There are islands scattered everywhere, and large coves carved from the sides of hills. The south side of Cadillac Mountain was littered with huge boulders from where the glacier decided to drop them, as well. It was interesting to come around the corner and see a huge boulder sitting alone by itself on the side of a mountain. The open-ness of the trail was beneficial though. It made it very easy to see where you had to go. Pretty much, if you were going up, you were going in the right direction. If you started to go down, check around and make sure you can find some trail markers.

After about three hours, we were finally starting to see the light at the top of the hill (sorry no tunnel). We climbed to what was the local peak and we could now faintly see people through the haze who were taking the easy way out, and driving to the summit. Climbing to this local peak was no small feat. We had polished off all of the camel pack and were now dealing with only our bottles. We came across a few other groups, with people dragging in the heat because they did not have enough water. One group of four had only brought two quarts (Americans) for the group, and had polished that off by the time they had reached Route 3. Only a few more kilometers to the 1530 foot summit though, so we made way.

In the photo to the left, you can really see the ridge that we were following, and how exposed you are to the sun. The whole way along this ridge though, you had incredible views over the surrounding bays and harbours. It was incredible how silent it could be up there; just the wind, a few seaguls, and whatever weird noise I was making at the time. Anyways, we finally made it to the summit. We took a good break here and spent about half an hour relaxing and taking photos / video of the view. It wasn't quite as peaceful as I had hoped, as so many people had driven up to the summit. Despite this, the summit was a large area, so we just found a rock away from everyone else, and had our lunch and snacks. We had a seagull take a picture of us at the summit, overlooking Bar Harbour, to prove that both of us actually made it.

From the heat and the long, hard walk both Erika and I were pooped. We had two choices now; turn and walk back the way we came, or drop down the North ridge, and catch one of the Island Explorer rides back to our campground. Since we were getting low in water, we figured that our best bet would be to head down the North Ridge trail and catch a ride back to Blackwoods. This wasn't an easy journey by any means though; it was a steep ridge with little vegetation. This ridge would have been wild to have a crazy-carpet there in the winter! I spent most of the time trying to watch my footing so I wouldn't roll down the mountain; in other words I didn't take many photos of this area. In any case, we made it to the park loop, and jumped on the Island Explorer. All in all, we covered between 15 and 20 kilometers from ridge to ridge.

On our second day in the park, we decided that we would attempt one of the more crazy, vertical climbs; Beehive Trail and The Bowl. It was said to be a little more exhilarating, but more insane would have been a better description. The trail consisted of loose rock and iron rungs hanging off the side of a mountain. The trail was all of maybe two feet wide (much less in some sections) and bordered on the edge of open cliff faces. To say people with a fear of heights would be scared is a major understatement.

First we had to walk a small intro trail to get to the Beehive trailhead. This trail was all large rock scattered around, making for interesting walking / stumbling. As we cleared the trees we entered the shadow of what we were to climb. We could look up and see people hanging from the sides. This sight started running questions through our heads to whether or not this was a good idea. The thrill-seeking side won out, and we ventured ahead.

We were amazed that this trail was open to hikers of all skill levels as it had many open gaps to cross and free iron rungs to scale walls. The trail took an incredible route. If I were to come across a gap, I would not consider placing down some rungs to make it passable, I would find another route; but where is the fun in that? But in order to maintain the scenic views and to stay on one side of the mountain, there were a number of sections where you would deal with either a runged gap or rungs drilled into the face for you to climb. No matter how nuts this trail was, the view the entire way to the top was incredible; you overlooked Sand Beach, where we later spent the afternoon relaxing. In between chaotic sections, we take a break and just look out at the view.

We finally made it to the top, and sat down to enjoy a well deserved lunch. We had read that there is a trail connected to Beehive that has a swimming area, so after our snacks we headed for The Bowl. The trail to The Bowl was a much more relaxed trail. We only had to climb over a few rocky sections, but it was relatively straight forward. Nestled in the valley of a few mountains, is a small lake known as The Bowl. It is a quiet fresh-water swimming area, and as we were dealing with another warm day I took a dip. It made for a great way to cool down after the questionable climb.

After relaxing most of the afternoon at Sand Beach, we figured that the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain for the sunset would be pretty nice. Instead of venturing out on another 20 kilometer hike, we took the easy way out and drove to the top. The sunset was beautiful only interupted by the massive crowd that had the same thoughts as us. Turning 180 degrees gave a very nice view of the moon rising up over the horizon, as well. It was a really nice sight!