"There is nothing so American as our national parks...The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Our second day started early, which meant it'd end early. Before heading to bed, we rearranged our camp and moved our vehicle to block out those pesky neighbors of ours. Acadia passed out early (and Lily, too!). Cara and I had a campfire for an hour or two after sunset, but a long day eventually caught up to us.
Readjusting our campsite ended up working out like a miracle as it blocked out any noise and light from our neighbors, and we both got solid nights of sleep.
Acadia ended up waking up in the 6 o'clock hour, and Lily was relatively amped, so our campsite was abuzz by 7 a.m. We made breakfast and coffee and started a morning fire.
After getting in touch with Lou, we found out that they were planning to hike the Acadia Mountain and St. Sauveur Mountain Trail Loop. Our research told us it would be a strenuous four-mile excursion. We read some trail reviews. And while it seemed doable, we felt it might be just a tad too difficult with a kid in a backpack carrier.
Acadia Mountain and St. Sauveur Mountain trails are also some of the most popular hikes on the other of Mount Desert Island. After having Lily on a leash the entire previous day, we wanted to do a less-traveled trail to give her an opportunity to hike off-leash (which she is fantastic at doing).
Lou, Emily, Rick, and Emily's brother all planned to start their hike around 11 a.m. By 8 a.m., Cara and I were sitting around the fire thinking that it might not be a bad idea to start a hike. We weren't up to anything anyways. We told Lou we were going to pass on the Acadia Mountain and St. Sauveur Mountain trail and do something on our own.
We still wanted to check out the other lung of the island, so we geared up and packed into the Vue. To get there, we'd have to go up and around Somes Sound toward Southwest Harbor. The trail we had in mind was called Beech Mountain. From what we could tell, it was a lightly trafficked three-mile loop.
Toward the summit of Beech Mountain is an old fire tower that used to be open to the public but isn't anymore.
It sounded as good as any hike we could find on that side of the island. Plus, with us being over there, we could meet up with Lou and Emily later on when they were done with their hike.
So, once we got to the Beech Mountain trailhead, we realized why it is so lightly trafficked: there are no more than 15 parking spots available. And with no parking allowed on the side of the road, you had to get there early and get a parking spot or you weren't going to hike Beech Mountain.