Acadia Mountain

 It was a foggy day by the coast, but inland it was just overcast.  We decided to explore Acadia Mountain a bit, to see what that hike is like. 

The trail begins across from the parking lot on rt 3.  Honestly, crossing Rt 3 with 4 little ones and a dog was one of the scariest parts of the hike!  The cars whiz by very quickly on that stretch of road.  Once we got safely to the trail head, the trail starts rising immediately with a rock scramble.  After we’d gained a little elevation, it became a more wooded hike for a little while.  The trail seemed to alternate between scrambles up a rocky cliff, and pleasant woodsy trail (some of which is steep). 

Some of the rocky outcroppings had stone steps carved into them, which made them much easier to climb.  But just as we thought we were getting to the top, we saw more and more cliffs to climb.  The littlest trail monkeys were tired and hungry, so we turned around and headed back to the car.  Overall, a very pleasant hike.  Our trail monkeys are better on a climb than on a flat walk, so they were quite satisfied with this mountain. 

On our way down, we decided to take the Man O War brook fire road back to route 3 (well, Andrew decided, we just chased after him!).  There seems to be space to park next to the mouth of the fire road, with no need to cross a very busy road.  Those with very young children may want to park there, take the road a short way to the intersection with the Acadia Mountain trail, and turn right. 

Although the summit seems to be easily gotten to as an out-and-back, we do not recommend continuing the trail down the mountain on the other side.  There are some steep cliffs and a walk on a ledge along the cove, that would be frightening to do with young children.

Wonderland Trail

 The Wonderland Trail is one of our very favorite hikes in all of Acadia  The wide, sandy 0.5-mile  path to the water is more of a gentle walk than a hike, and can easily accommodate a jog stroller.  This year, we all walked, though.  Andrew enjoyed the walk and had a big smile on his face most of the way out.  As we got closer to the ocean, there was a sea of blooming rosa rugosa, which smelled lovely.

The trail goes out to a rocky point that juts out along Bennet Cove on one side, and another, unnamed cove on the other.  There are numerous paths off the main trail where you can walk out to the beach, but the loop at the end is really magical.  It’s a dense forest of evergreens with silvery moss dripping from branches.  The sound of the surf and the salt water spray, the glimpses of bright rocks and ocean, combined with the dark forest, is just enchanting.  

However, Annika was the expedition leader and couldn’t wait to get on the beach, so we saved the loop portion of the trail for later on.  The day was very foggy, we couldn’t see across the cove, but we were able to see the point and our side of the cove.  The fog was sort of nice.  The tide was low, and there were tidepools everywhere in the rocks on the shore.  There isn’t much sand on the beach to the right of the trail, which is the one Annika chose.

We sat out on the rocks, searched through tidepools, and enjoyed our lunches.  The children kept themselves occupied hopping from rock to rock and singing to periwinkles; a ranger told them last year that if a person sings to a periwinkle, the periwinkle will poke out of its shell.  That seems to be true, but even if it weren’t, it’s adorable to watch the kids singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to a tiny little seashell.  :-)

When we’d had our fill of tidepooling and exploring the rocks, we took a turn around the loop at the end of the path and enjoyed the atmosphere that the fog brought to the dense

forest.   We peeked out at the beach on the left side of the trail, which is more sandy and gentle, but the fog was getting thicker and we were hearing a foghorn, so we decided to head back to the car. 

As usual, the trek back to the car seemed much longer than the walk out had been.  

We’ve been to the Wonderland Trail on beautiful days, so-so days, and foggy days, it doesn’t seem to matter the weather at all.  It’s always is special and relaxing to all of us.

Gorham Mountain and the Ocean Path

Today was sunny and hazy and warm, a lovely day for a hike up Gorham Mountain.  We parked in the Gorham lot and started our hike up the mountain.  The trail is beautiful!  It runs along a rocky shelf along a grove of mostly white pine and red spruce trees.

We could feel the ocean breeze and hear the surf a little bit.  The warm weather just made the hike feel very comfortable. 

Lee and Scott had done the Cadillac Cliffs portion of the hike years ago, and said that the scramble up the boulders would be too much for Bo-dog and the littler kids.  So we stayed on the regular trail, which was challenging but manageable for even the shortest legs among us.  The trail is very open and winds gradually up the mountainside.  

There was some shade from evergreens growing along the path, so the hike was fairly comfortable even for the dog.  We found a ledge near the top that was perfect for a picnic lunch, with views of the cliffs along the Ocean Trail, and Sand Beach. 

The summit was a relatively short distance from our rest area, and offered great views of Champlain, Dorr, Cadillac’s South Face, the Beehive, and Enoch mountains.  After a too-brief rest and water break (and there was even shade for Bo!), we continued the trail down the other side of Gorham. 

The “back” of Gorham is much easier to navigate than the “front”, with far fewer boulders to scramble over.  There were a few boggy areas once we got down into the woods, but there were stepping stones and no one got too muddy.  The only negative was getting bitten by these big horsefly-looking bugs.  We’d seen one or two on the Jordan Pond Carry Trail yesterday, but there were more of them today.  Apparently, they like boggy places. 

We kept to the right at the first signpost, since we’d already been to the Bowl a few days ago.  We soon met up with the Bowl Trail, not far from the Beehive cliff trail.  The hike down was uneventful, aside from hearing a funny-sounding bird or frog over in a marshy area a little ways from the path.  It sounded like someone plucking a spring, very unusual.  The trail was mostly over medium-sized rocks until we hit the Park Loop Road. 

After a brief detour to the Sand Beach parking lot (more specifically, the rest rooms), we headed to the Ocean Drive trail and took that back to our car.  It was a very pleasant trail, with great views of the ocean and cliffs along the shoreline.  There are several paths leading from the trail, for people to explore the cliffs, but we mostly stayed on the path because the little ones were getting tired of walking.  And we all know how little ones are when they get tired. 

We did take the detour to see Thunder Hole, which is greatly changed from our first visit to the park, and even from last year.  The observation deck stops much closer to the Loop Road, to keep spectators safe.  The old observation deck is still there, but closed. 

Monument Cove was beautiful up close, as well.  We’d originally wanted to walk up to Otter Point, but the tired kids really wanted to take a swim in the pool at our hotel.  Maybe next year!

Overall, a very do-able hike for the little kids.  For older, more adventurous kids, the Gorham Mountain hike can be combined with a trip up the Beehive (but not with a dog), or a picnic at the Bowl.  We had considered a hike around Great Head at Sand Beach (which we’d done last time we were here, and loved it!), but decided against that, also, because of the “tired kids” factor.

Bubble-Nubble-Carry Trail

Bubble-Nubble-Carry Trail

Today we woke up to our first sunny day of our vacation.  We decided to try the trail over North Bubble, up to Conner’s Nubble, and back again to the beginning.  We parked in the Bubble Rock parking area.  A word of advice: if you are planning to hike over the Bubbles, get an early start because that lot is always full.  We waited a while to get a spot but just as we were giving up, a car pulled out of its spot and we grabbed it.  

Bo the puppy and our four little trail monkeys were just raring to go today.   The biggest challenge on the first part of the hike was keeping too-friendly Bo from jumping on strangers (something we’re still training him not to do).  The first section of the North Bubble trail coincides with the very popular trail up to South Bubble and Bubble Rock.  This part of the trail runs through a nice shady wooded area, and climbs over mid-sized rocks and is made easier by wooden steps.  The footing is excellent and the trail is very pleasant (albeit crowded).  The going got much quieter as we continued on the North Bubble trail after the South Bubble trail split off.   Shortly after the split, the trail abruptly changes character to become a climb over large rocks and exposed, sunny ledges. We climbed to a ledge with nice views of Pemetic and Cadillac Mountains, and decided to stop there for lunch.  

   

View North Bubble and Connor's Nubble in a larger map

After a brief section of climbing fairly steep ledges, the trail becomes somewhat flatter and easier to climb.  We continued on to the summit and sat for a while looking at the lovely view of Jordan Pond and the shore and islands in front of us, Penobscot to our right, and Pemetic and Cadillac to our left.  There was a small group picnicking on a ledge below the summit, and a very nice couple came and went, but the summit was definitely not crowded.  The views are spectacular and worth every step of the climb up the trail!

Walking up the first open area ascending North Bubble.  Usually a nice place to eat a snack or lunch.

After some time appreciating the view, we continued over North Bubble, a new part of the trail for us.  The trail winds through blueberry bushes and descends into a nice open forest for a while before opening up to the ledges and cliffs that make up the “spine” of North Bubble.  We got some spectacular views of Eagle Lake and Conner’s Nubble, but were concerned at how hot Bo and the monkeys were getting on the exposed ridge on our sunny day.  We realized at this point that we did NOT have enough water at all to do our hike as an out-and-back.  We needed a shady way back to the car after Conner’s Nubble (Conner’s Nubble was not optional as it is Sean’s favorite hike on the entire island).  

Annika and Sean admiring the view from Eagle Lake from the cliff-edge along the top of North Bubble

The North Bubble trail becomes more wooded near its intersection with the Eagle Lake carriage road.  We continued across to the Conner’s Nubble hike.  We’d been to Conner’s Nubble from the other side, but never from “the back”, which is more cliffy.  The hike is short and woodsy and sweet, with a very awkward scramble over the cliff right at the end.  

I dub thee "Conquered Nubble"

This was the rough part coming up Connor's Bubble.

Daddy Trail Monkey had to take several trips to help the littlest trail monkeys and the trail dog up over the cliff, but the two oldest were able to do it completely on their own.  Sean was really thrilled to be on his favorite mountain!  The views are amazing, considering that the Nubble is relatively tiny.  We took several pictures and then did the awkward scramble DOWN the cliff.  Bo thought that this whole “getting down off the top of the cliff” idea was highly overrated and refused to come down.  Lee had to carry him down a small part.

We descended the Nubble and reached the carriage road quickly and turned left to walk to the Carry Trail, about 0.5 mile from the intersection with the North Bubble trail.  The carriage road was shaded and pleasant, as it skirted the rock-strewn bottom of North Bubble.  We turned right at the Carry Trail and took another 0.5-mile walk to the parking lot.  The Carry Trail goes through some very pleasant woods but they are very boggy.  There are boardwalks and stepping stones over most of the muddy areas, but it’s still pretty muddy.  Andrew didn’t like the boggy mud at all, even with Bo helping him over the rough parts.  The Carry Trail meets the Bubbles trail near the parking lot.

A peaceful walk back along the carriage road to the Carry Trail

Overall, it was a really enjoyable walk in the park.  :-)          

Bowl Trail to South Ridge Champlain Tail

We woke up this morning to a cloudy day. After the two rainy days we’ve had, cloudy seemed MUCH better. We decided to take the Bowl Trail today, then go up the back of Gorham Mt and then back to the parking lot at Sand Beach via the Ocean trail. A nice, easy hike.

It didn’t turn out quite as we’d expected, though.

We parked at Sand Beach. We found the trail head to the Bowl Trail by walking to the Park Loop Road, turning right, and walking a short distance. The trail marker was on the left side of the road.

The Bowl trail has several different “flavors” along its course. It begins as a rock-to-rock climb up a relatively steep grade. The rocks give way to rock shelf and then gravel near the Beehive Precipice trail. The walking is easy for a while, and the woods are lovely with groves of white birch and Aspen. We arrived at the Gorham Mountain trail and decided to go on ahead to see the Bowl (a glacial cirque, or lake, nestled in the mountains) first, then backtrack to Gorham.

View Bowl Trail to South Ridge Champlain in a larger map
The trail gets rather steep and rocky again, with another intersection with a trail that runs up the Beehive (but not via the cliffs). The trail climbs to a high point, which is marked on our map as the peak of “Halfway Mountain”. The kids were getting pretty tired and hungry at this point, but we encouraged them to keep going, with promises of a picnic on the Bowl as a reward for their efforts.

We finally reached the Bowl, after passing a second intersection for the Gorham Mountain trail. The Bowl was beautiful! Bo’s attempts at swimming provided the kids with great entertainment as we munched on our sandwiches on a little boardwalk on the water. We noticed that there was yet a third way up the Beehive, accessible by going partway around the Bowl. We also saw a sign for the Champlain South Ridge trail. We were optimistic that the clouds would be gone by the time we got to where we were going. We pondered our choices, Beehive, Gorham, or Champlain, as we finished our meal. Finally, we decided to just let Andrew choose (why not) since all three choices seemed equally attractive.

Andrew chose Champlain! He enjoyed the section of trail that wrapped around the Bowl, which was all boardwalk and very pleasant. After a somewhat awkward crossing at a stream (which was quite lively after a few days of rain), the trail veers upwards, but not too steeply. We enjoyed a lovely walk up the south ridge, which is mostly rocky shelf, until we began to get near the cliffs leading to the top of the ridge (the summit lies beyond by a ways). We turned to admire the lovely view of the Bowl from on high, then turned to look at Dorr, and realized that we could no longer see Dorr through all the clouds and fog. We continued our climb, hoping that the clouds would stay on Dorr and leave Champlain alone, but that didn’t happen. By the time we got to the part of the trail that is a scramble up a cliff, the cliff was in the clouds. The kids thought it was cool to be in a cloud, but we grownups were concerned at having to eventually come back DOWN the cliffs, which were getting quite wet and windy. We considered taking the Orange and Black trail down, but weren’t really able to ascertain how easy it would be with the four little ones.

We took a look around but all we really could see was vague shapes in the clouds, and decided that there was little point in fighting to a summit where we couldn’t enjoy the views, especially with the slippery rocks and tired children. So we turned around and began carefully picking our way down the cliffs. The trail at the cliffs is excellent, very easy to follow. There were a few scrambles in both directions, but overall, I’d say this is an extremely pleasant trail up Champlain.

The way down was relatively uneventful. Sean was looking for ripe blueberries but they seem to be ripening late this year. There are blueberry and strawberry bushes all over the rock ledges. Poor Bo was getting quite tired at this point. As we turned off the south ridge to go back to the Bowl, Bo apparently heard the sounds of the traffic on a road below and REALLY wanted to find a shortcut. Andrew was crying, we’re not sure exactly why, and even Annika got a little whiney. We made it back to the Bowl, and sat on our little boardwalk section to eat another snack and give Bo another chance at a swim. The fog was beginning to creep over the Bowl, and we couldn’t even see Champlain in the fog.

The rest of the hike back was slow going over wet rocks, but we eventually made it back down. We saw a deer in the woods on our way down, and a lovely bearded iris growing in a little bog.

The hike took about 5 hours. After we fed Bo, we all enjoyed the fantastic pizza at Rosalie’s in Bar Harbor, and some ice cream at Udder Heaven.

West Ledge Trail to Bernard Mountain (and back again)

Another rainy day on Mount Desert Island. We decided to drive around to the Western Mountain area, to scout it out for a hike we were planning later this week. We drove up to Western Mountain road (gravel) and got a little sidetracked by the Bald Mountain route. It circles the Bald Mountain peak, which is neither bald nor very peak-y. When we found the trail head for the Western Ledge, we decided that the slight drizzle was not really a good enough reason not to start the hike. It’s a short hike, only a mile long, so why not? (and the fact that we had four kids with cabin fever on our second day of vacation may have had something to do with our decision to give it a try).

The trail starts out all nice and woodsy. It soon turns into a series of rocky ledges and boulders. We climbed quickly up to some very pretty open areas. The views would probably have been stunning if it weren’t for the fog and drizzle. Bo enjoyed the hike and had no difficulty whatsoever, but our smaller kids were put off by the slippery footing on the wet rocks. We climbed and climbed until we reached an open area with a summit-y feel. The trail then started descending sharply through a very nice forest.

View West Ridge Bernard Mountain in a larger map
After a little downhill, the trail began climbing steeply and it changed yet again into rocky sidewalk-like ledges. There was a stream running down the path and the footing was growing more and more treacherous as the trail got higher and steeper. We stopped and regrouped and took a bunch of pictures and decided to turn around rather than proceed. On a dry day, this would have been a really beautiful trail, but the slippery footing made us worry about having to come back down the trail later on. It had taken us an hour to get to this steep part (remember, we have 4 children ranging from 5 to 10 years old, so climbing over the rocks can be slow for us).

The descent was frightening. We had stopped in the middle of a very steep wet rocky climb. Coming down was very slow and tedious for all of us. I had to let Bo off-lead briefly so that he wouldn’t pull me (and, by extension, Annika, who was clinging to my hand) right down the hill. He was very good, and stayed close to us.

After we got past that scary hill, the trail came to an intersection that none of us remembered from the way up. We took the left-hand path but quickly realized that it was the wrong way. Before turning around, we found a lovely overlook, which is probably the reason this path exists. We got back to the intersection and took the other path back down the trail.

We had a couple of mild falls along the way, but were very happy to find our way back to the car.

I would love to try this hike again on a dry, sunny day. The views must be exquisite from the many stone ledges. We passed a few potential picnic spots, which would have been nice to stop in if it weren’t so wet. One word of warning about this hike: don’t forget your bug spray. The mosquitoes in the lower part were numerous and HUNGRY.

The Jordan Pond Nature Trail via the Triad

We had our first day in Acadia all planned out: a nice hike over North Bubble to Connor’s Nubble, then back again. The weather wasn’t cooperative, though. Not only were we not able to eat Annika’s birthday lunch on the Jordan Pond House lawn, but the forecast was for rain in the late afternoon. Rocky trails and rain don’t mix for us.

No outdoor eating today ;-(

After a (somewhat too big but very delicious) lunch, we decided to walk the Nature Trail near the restaurant. However, it began raining as soon as we got to the parking lot to collect our gear. Plan B was to take a quick stroll down the nearby carriage paths, which were somewhat protected from the rain. The rain stopped shortly after we began our trek. Andrew chose to walk towards the gate house. We followed the carriage road past the gate house and realized that we were hiking towards Triad and Day mountains.

The carriage road leg of our hike

Since the rain was kindly holding off for us, we decided to take the Hunter’s Brook trail up the Triad from the carriage road. The trail starts off very steep. Bo the trail monkey dog had no trouble and Andrew was very glad to be climbing…there’s a reason we call our kids “trail monkeys”! This was Bo’s first real hilly hike so we were wondering how he’d do. He took a couple of alternate routes (not too alternate, since he was on a 6’ leash) and seemed to enjoy himself a lot. Our biggest issue was teaching the kids to watch out for Bo’s leash. Annika, Sean, Scott and Andrew were pretending to be mountain goats, leaping from rock to rock on the first part of the trail (did I mention, it’s quite steep?).


View Nature Trail via the Triad in a larger map

The trail rises quickly (that steep thing again) and the views open up very soon after the trail starts. We had to keep stopping to gawk along the way (and catch our breath, too!). We came to a nice shelf of rock with a boulder perched on it, perhaps left there by the glaciers. It was a nice spot to sit and take pictures, with the view of Seal Harbor and the Cranberry Islands off in the distance. Even on an overcast day, the view is lovely.

Is it steep?  Yes, it is steep.

The summit of the first of Triad’s peaks is not marked, but it is pretty obvious where it is because the trail begins veering steeply down into the area between the two larger peaks (the Triad Pass). This was tricky in spots. At one point, a section of trail was barely discernable through the blueberry bushes encroaching it on both sides. One of our little monkeys needed an airlift because he didn’t like walking through the bushes, but the rest of us (and Bo) all were OK. In another area, the trail follows a crevasse in a very large shelf of rock. It was definitely not an easy hike, but it also wasn’t the most difficult we’d done and the kids were all on their game today.

Is that Indiana Jones caught in a trap or just Sean following the trail down the Triad?

As the trail descends further, the ground becomes overgrown with large roots. Little monkey tripped over a root and fell and scraped her hands and knee. We came to an intersection with the Triad Pass trail. Because the weather seemed iffy, we turned left to take that trail back to the Jordan Pond House. The Traid Pass trail is very nice. The path is clearly marked and covered with gravel (much like the carriage roads). There are stone steps that make the descent very comfortable. The trail passes the Pemetic South Ridge Trail, which looked somewhat tempting, though very gnarly with roots.

Say Fromage!

The Traid Pass crosses the Park Loop Road near the Jordan Pond house, and then ends at the Nature Trail that we’d originally planned to walk. We took the Nature Trail back to Jordan Pond House, and guess what? It started raining just as we got to that parking lot.

We are very grateful that the rain held off as long as it did.

A very enjoyable beginning to this year’s adventures!