After an exhausting Wednesday biking and hiking, we decided to one-up that on Thursday, our final day on Mount Desert Island.
The day began with everybody in the van ready to go at 8:45 a.m. By the time we did everything we wanted to do, it was past 9 p.m. when we finally returned home.
Our first hike took us back toward Jordon Pond to do hike the South Bubble Trail to the famous Bubble Rock.
The hike was very similar to other hikes in Acadia with rock steps and a wooded path that would occasionally open up to breathtaking views. While on the South Bubble Trail, one opening in the path let us look out toward the North Bubble.
The South Bubble Trail is not a very long hike. I think it was around 1.5 miles, but it was absolutely worth it. When you first get to what appears to be the summit, you see a rocky ledge in the foreground, trees nearly everywhere else, and some water in the background. Put that all together with a beautiful blue sky, and it was a wonderful way to start the day.
I don't know for sure, but I think that's Bubble Pond in the photo above. We biked along Bubble Pond on Wednesday and on Thursday we got to see it from above.
Like I said above, on the South Bubble Trail, when you finally get to a big opening, you think it's the summit. It's not, however. It actually leads to Bubble Rock.
Bubble Rock is glacial erratic. That basically means that when glaciers were moving around and receding on Mount Desert Island during the ice age, they were carrying huge boulders and rocks. Bubble Rock was one of those boulders and it sits precariously on the edge of the South Bubble Mountain. Hopefully, the photo of Cara and I in that top photo gives you an idea of how big the glacial erratic is.
The actual summit of South Bubble Mountain isn't too far from Bubble Rock.
After checking out Bubble Rock, we needed to make our way back to the Jordan Pond House. That's where we ended up parking our car because parking at the Bubble Trail was full. To get back to the House, we took the Bubble Divide Path down to Jordan Pond. It was a steep and rocky descent.
It was a long descent and at the end of the Bubble Divide Path, you get to Jordan Pond.
It was interesting to see Jordan Pond from this side. And because it was such a nice day, the hike along the Jordan Pond Path was more of an easy walk with a comfortable breeze with more scenery of Acadia National Park.
As we got close to the Jordan Pond House, we could look back at the Bubble Mountains. In the photo below, you can see the South Bubble Mountain on right. That's the mountain we hiked to get to Bubble Rock.
After getting back to the Jordan Pond House and getting in a much-needed bathroom break, we hopped back into the van and drove toward Sand Beach. We drove a little past the beach on Loop Road and arrived at the Gorham Mountain Trailhead.
Getting to the summit of Gorham Mountain was about a one-mile hike through woods to start, but it eventually opened up see the Gulf of Maine the rest of the way.
Although the hike opened up and we were in the sun for the final portion, the water provided a great cool breeze that made it bearable.
Here's a quick video from our hike to the summit:
After reaching the summit of Gorham Mountain, we continued on the trail. The descent took us to part of the Bowl Path, which is what we were on to do the Beehive Trail on Tuesday. Once at that trailhead, we continued along the Ocean Path, which we did on Sunday evening, all the way back to the Gorham Mountian trailhead.
From there, we headed into Bar Harbor. In the Frenchman Bay is Bar Harbor Island. During and around low-tide, a sandbar appears. At that time, you can walk across the bay to the island. I don't have any photos of either the sandbar or the island, but we spent about an hour just walking around and checking out the different tide pools.
While still in Bar Harbor, we decided that we'd end the day by doing a sunset visit to Cadillac Mountain. That wouldn't be until around 8 p.m. After walking along the sandbar, it was only 5 p.m., so we had some time to kill before getting dinner and driving to Cadillac Mountain.
Our first stop was at the Atlantic Brewing Company, which recently opened a pourhouse in downtown Bar Harbor. The beverages were fantastic (I even brought a six-pack back home with me). It was at the ACB that we asked our bartender for a good place to go for dinner. He recommended Side Street Cafe, and it did not disappoint. Everybody got something they loved, and it made for a great final dinner on Mount Desert Island.
Once we were all full from food and drink, we made our way to Cadillac Mountain for sunset. Along our ride, we noticed that there was an intense fog and mist making its way around the mountian.
Not only was there this incredible fog quickly taking over the mountain, but it became insanely windy. It was not the picturesque sunset you'd might expect, but it was absolutely unique and, without a doubt, worth it.
I took a couple videos of the sunset to help give you an idea of what the mist and wind felt like:
In the end, the sunset gave us all enough time to reflect on the beauty of this National Park. We were extremely thankful that we had the opportunity to enjoy such a serene place.
When we got back, everybody went into a frantic packing mode because we wanted to get on the road as early as possible Friday morning.
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