Great Head - Day 2

View Sand Beach/Great Head Hike in a larger map

When the weather forecast for our second day in Acadia came up sunny and warm, we decided to spend some time at Sand Beach, then change clothes and hike around Great Head.

Sand beach is a great place to wade, play in the sand, and look for tidepools in the rocks.

It was low tide so we also got to explore some cliffy rocks out in the water.

Someone even made a "Seaweed scuplture".

Once we'd had enough fun in the surf, we went up to change into hiking gear in the very clean changing rooms next to the parking lot.

We were pretty tired as we began our trek up Great Head.  We completely missed the trail head and just started mindlessly scrambling up a rock fall that looked vaguely trail-ish.  When we realized that we were following a non-existant trail, we were already pretty high up a bank of loose rock.  We thought about going back down but the footing was treacherous and with 4 little trail-monkeys, we didn't want to risk a tumble down the side of the hill into the rocky, deepish water.  A couple of hikers came along, having done the same thing we did, but we warned them off before they had climbed too high. They decided to go back the way they'd come.

We decided to carefully pick our way sideways from tree to tree along the cliff back towards the beach.  The kids were better at this than the adults were (sometimes a lower center of gravity is a good thing, plus, they weren't as frightened as we were!).  We were pretty sure the trail was on the cliff that loomed right over us.  But getting up wasn't going to be easy.

Thankfully, we did find a way up the cliff to the real trail.  It involved clinging to saplings and trying not to slide down the rocks, but we all made it intact.  We absolutely do NOT recommend this at all (and we've learned our lesson:  always always always look for a trail post at the beginning of every trail!).

Here's the view from where we came out on the cliff, it was a very pleasant place to rest after a very frightening climb.  Note the Beehive looming behind Sand Beach.

The couple we'd seen on the non-trail found us resting on a nice safe rock and took our picture.

The rest of the hike was relatively non-eventful and extremely pleasant.  There's a nice sea breeze on this hike, and the sun was very warm.  The trail is excellent and varied, with lovely seascapes interspersed with some nice open forest hiking.

We stopped at the outermost edge of the trail for a little rest and one very tired trail monkey took a little micro-nap on daddy's lap.

  Our next rest stop was at a curious little circle of rocks near the summit post:

We later found out that this was once a tea house at the top of Great Head.  It must've been a very nice spot.  We ate our trail mix and wondered at the pile, and finally resumed our hike, which quickly descended into forest.

The trail remained very open and pleasant.  The last little bit by the sand beach (which we'd missed on our way up because of our little unplanned detour) is a little tricky and involves some climbing, but don't let that stop you from a very nice walk along a beautiful rocky shore-side bluff.

Connor's Nubble - Day 1

For our first hike of the trip, we decided to go back to Connor's Nubble.  The Nubble is a small mount on the Southwest edge of Eagle Lake, just north of the ridge formed by the South and North Bubbles.  The hike starts south from the Eagle Lake parking lot off of Rt. 233.  We headed South along the along the carriage road that skirts the western shore of the lake.

View Eagle Lake parking lot to Connor's Nubble in a larger map

Walking south along the Eagle Lake Carriage Road to Connor's Nubble

We walked the carriage road along the West shore of Eagle Lake until we came to the head of the Connor's Nubble north ridge trail.  The trail starts off with roots and small rocks through a wooded area until it starts up a slightly more challenging rocky area.  Some climbing is needed to get through a few gaps and over large boulders.  The view opens up pretty quickly about half-way up and you can see Eagle Lake below to the East and beyond that Cadillac and Pemetic Mountains.

Cadillac Mountain seen from the Connor's Nubble Trail

The trees start to thin out as you climb higher, and as you approach the summit there are mainly shrubs and a few lone pines.  There are a few places where you're walking along large flat rock as you approach the summit, and you start climbing up one ledge at a time.

Looking back you can see Eagle Lake and inland-Maine.

At the summit, the view opens up to 360-degree views of almost every mountain in the eastern part of the park.  From North to East to South you can see McFarland Mountain, Great Hill, The Whitecap, Cadillac Mountain, Pemetic Mountain, South and North Bubbles (below)

To the West, you can see the full eastern face of Sargent Mountain.

Though Connor's Nubble is only 588 ft. above sea level, it has excellent views of the surrounding area, including Eagle Lake and most of the eastern mountains.

From left to right, Sean (6), Annika (4), Andrew (5), and Scott (9) enjoy the view from the summit cairn on Connor's Nubble.  McFarland's Mountain is in the background along with a lone, proud pine tree.  We hiked back down the way we came, which wasn't too challenging, but the little guys needed help down the tricky parts.  We took the carriage road back North to the Eagle Lake parking lot on Rt 233.