June 11 - 16
Our 16th and final National Park
We had arrived at the end of our journey. Acadia National Park is on the East Coast of Maine on Mount Desert Island, about 5 hours north of Boston. Shaun and I had both been to this park before, so you may think it strange to choose this as our last National Park. Personally, I think Acadia was the perfect ending. We started our trip exploring the world, from Ireland to Budapest, Rarotonga to Hong Kong and we saw some of the most amazing places in the world. But then we came home to the US and started our tour of the National Parks and we found that there were equally amazing places right in our backyard, if we only took the time to look. So even though we had been to Acadia before, this time we saw the park through completely different eyes. And I can honestly say, I love this place even more having seen it in the context of every other place we had visited.
We both loved ending at a National Park along the ocean!
Our visit to Acadia was all about camping and hiking. We arrived late Sunday afternoon and the weather was beautiful so we booked a site at the Blackwoods campground for five nights. The campground had the usual amenities like fire pits and bathrooms, but Blackwoods had an extra special treat- firewood! Every day the rangers would cut wood from fallen trees and they allowed campers to take one armload of free wood per day. It may not seem like a big deal, but the nights were still cold and we were using lots of firewood so we really appreciated the gesture.
Knowing that we were staying almost a week, we took our time setting up the camp site. Many times on the trip we had only camped for a night or two in one place. In those cases we took a minimalist approach, setting up only what we needed and leaving the rest packed in the car. Now, with the luxury of time, we happily pulled out all of our camping gear. We set up the tent, the table and camp chairs and the propane stove. We broke down our firewood and stacked it by the fire pit. We even strung up the tarp to shade us during the day and protect us in case of rain. We were staying for the duration, come hell or high water!
Our home for the week.
We loved the free firewood, but the best thing about our campground was the proximity to one of Acadia's best trails, Cadillac Mountain South Ridge. This seven and a half mile hike is a favorite of many hikers for the stunning ocean views at the summit. As we looked at the camp brochure, we realized that the trail head started almost directly behind our site, not even 50 feet away! As soon as we saw that we decided it would be our big hike for the week. But Shaun, being Shaun, decided to take a little sneak preview that first afternoon. He threw on his sneakers and said he was going to do a quick run up the trail, but he would be back within an hour.
The start of the South Ridge Trail, just beyond our camp site
My husband is quite athletic and he loves running in particular. So whenever he goes out for a run and says he will be back in an hour I assume he will run a bit longer than what he says. On this day, I was writing while he ran so when an hour passed and he didn't return, I just kept doing my thing. Even after an hour and fifteen minutes, I was not at all concerned. I was just a tiny bit worried after ninety minutes, and by the time it approached two hours I was very concerned. I was so concerned that I had laced up my hiking boots, left a note at the camp and started to make my way over to the trail when he finally came bounding out of the woods. Was he hurt? Had he gotten terribly lost? Attacked by a bear? Nope. He just saw the mountain and had to run up it. And that, my friends, is how Shaun operates. He was actually quite surprised by my concern! And here's the thing. He was so excited about having done this run that there was just no way I could be mad at him. We lit our camp fire, cooked up our dinner and sat by the fire together until Shaun could no longer keep his eyes open. Like I always say, the man only has two speeds; fast and passed out.
After his nutty run, you would think he would be junk the next day, but nope, he was raring to go! We had gotten lots of recommendations from the rangers for hikes, so that day we did the Gorham Mountain trail and part of the Ocean trail. The hike was a great reminder of why we love Acadia. It had the scenic trails and babbling brooks we had encountered at almost every park, but this one included sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. We ate our lunch on the side of Gorham Mountain, looking out at the ocean. It was a very good day.
Gorham Mountain Trail
Of course, we had to climb things too!
Along the Ocean Path
On Tuesday it absolutely bucketed down rain, but we didn't care. We had our tarp protecting the tent and we were only twenty minutes from Bar Harbor, a wonderful little town at the north end of Mount Desert Island. We decided to spend the day in town. After taking care of a bit of laundry, we walked around the shops and had a great seafood lunch at the Thirsty Whale. After lunch we stopped in at the Atlantic Brewing Company for a tour of the brewery and of course, a tasting. We headed back to the campground late in the afternoon, but just to clean up and change clothes. It was still raining so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the Burning Tree restaurant, a cute little place right down the road from the campground. It was a great way to spend a rainy day.
The next morning the weather was gorgeous again so we headed back out on the trails. I still wanted to do Cadillac Mountain, but Shaun had already done it so we compromised. He drove the car up to the parking lot at the top and hiked down half way. I started at the campground and hiked up halfway, and then we both finished the uphill climb to the summit together. I missed out on taking the trail back downhill, but since it was ground I had already covered, I didn't mind at all. After hiking uphill for hours, I was pretty happy to sit down in the car!
The hike up the South Ridge of Cadillac Mountain was worth every step.
It was a beautiful day.
The views from the top were spectacular.
We did a few more hikes in Acadia over the next two days. Together we hiked Jordan trail and Bubble Rock and even hiked a section of sandbar in Bar Harbor that is only accessible at low tide. We split up for a few hikes as well One day Shaun hiked Beehive, a notoriously steep trail that involves climbing iron rungs up an exposed cliff. I opted to hike the Bowl trail instead, a lovely nature walk leading down to a pond. Every day that we hiked was amazing in it's own way. And every day we would return to our campsite, cook up dinner and sit by the fire in our camp chairs, talking about our day.
From thick forests...
...to cliffs overlooking the ocean...
...to Sandbars, we loved every hike
We knew it was all coming to a close then, but we weren't sad that week. Even as we put out our last campfire and packed up the car one last time, we both knew we had just had the experience of a lifetime. Personally, I felt like a different person in the best possible way. I've been thinking a lot about the whole experience and I will leave that for one final post, but I know one thing for sure. Love and Gratitude are two of the greatest words in the English language, and these days I am full of both.
Farewell Acadia!
No comments:
Post a Comment