"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.
Having never spent much time on this part of the island, we didn't know exactly what to expect.
The trail begins like most in Acadia National Park: in a wooded, forested area.
For much of the first part of this hike, the trail was flat. With a gorge to the left of you and granite boulders scattered throughout, it was an easy and comfortable start.
With spoon in hand and pacifier in mouth, Acadia was pumped to be soaking in the beauty of the Beech Mountain trail.
Lily was enjoying it as well. Getting a chance to trot 30 feet in front of us, run back, and do it all over again was something she was looking forward to this entire trip.
As we approached the first intersection, where we would need to begin climbing toward the summit, the trees, bare at the bottom, shot straight up, searching for any sunlight they could find.
It must have been right around that intersection that Acadia decided to spit out her pacifier. And we'd never see it again...
Also toward the first intersection, we came across some unique fungal and root scenes.
But once you get to the point that you have to make a turn to reach the summit, you begin to climb. And you climb a lot. There are granite steps here and there, but there are also sheets of inclined granite.
There are occasional outcroppings from the path, much like what you have on the Ocean Path trail, that allow you to get different vantage points of the island around you.
As you get closer to the summit, you can see the fire tower in the distance and you can feel wind begin to pick up as the trees disappear and the granite rocks take over.
There's a slight scramble maybe a tenth of a mile from the tower, but after carefully searching for the easiest route, I was able to navigate with Acadia strapped to my back.
Once you get to the top, you are greeted with a spectacular view of Somes Sound and, I believe, Southwest Harbor in the distance.
We had such good luck with the weather that the 70 degrees, low humidity, and mostly sunny skies felt physically and mentally refreshing with the breeze at the summit.
And as we got closer to the fire tower, wouldn't you know it, but it was actually open. Perhaps it was the holiday weekend, but we had a chance to climb up and get an even more dramatic viewpoint of Mount Desert Island.
Lily wouldn't be allowed up top, but a couple of friendly hikers offered to watch her while Cara, Acadia, and I made our way up.
The views from the fire tower were worth the anxiety filling my blood vessels as I took each step.
After reaching the summit, checking out the fire tower, and chatting with some fellow hikers, Cara and I began our descent back to the parking area.
I think it was right after we left the fire tower that Cara and I started to talk about how great this hike was. It was quickly becoming one of our favorites in Acadia National Park.
But it may have become our top-rated hike on Mount Desert Island the second we made a turn on the path, it opened up, and we were treated to this breathtakingly beautiful scene of granite rocks, bright blue skies, and Long Pond at the bottom of the valley.
Smiles all around once we started our path down and along the trail. Acadia would have smiled, too, if she was awake.
I truly don't know if there is anything more picturesque than seeing the bright blue pond matching a bright blue sky, broken up only by the pink granite rocks and vividly green trees.
I think after having visited the park twice - and I know there are still a significant amount of hikes to do - getting to the summit of Beech Mountain and then trekking back down with a view like that means this is a must-do hike in Acadia National park. It's my favorite that we've done here.
Once back at the vehicle, we were fortunate that we did start our hike so early. The small parking lot was completely full and there were already four or five vehicles waiting in line for somebody like us to get in their car and leave.
After an invigorating morning hike, we were getting hungry. At this point, we wanted to get some food, check out some of the harbors on the island, and wait to see if we would meet back up with Lou and Emily, who were getting ready to begin their hike.
We snacked up quickly to buy us some time until we figured out what to do. From there, we thought about heading over to Bass Harbor to see the lighthouse. We didn't last long over there as the traffic getting to the lighthouse parking lot was backed up and word spread down through the vehicles waiting that the lot was full.
While we hoped to see the lighthouse and park, we figured we could do another, shorter stroll somewhere else.
But first - food.
While in Bass Harbor, we found a place called Maine-ly Delights Restaurant. A quaint place across from the ferry station, Maine-ly Delights was both dog-friendly and delicious. Cara and I couldn't leave Maine without getting a lobster roll and an iced coffee from a local shop.
If the Beech Mountain hike was peaceful, eating lobster rolls and drinking coffee on the shores of Bass Harbor was peaceful in its own right. The staff at Maine-ly Delights was incredibly friendly and very curious about the portable chair we had Acadia in.
All was well and spirits were high when we finally got back into the Vue to do some more exploring around the island.
The latest update we had from Lou was that they were just at the summit of Acadia Mountain, so we still had some time to kill - although that makes it sound negative, and it wasn't - before potentially meeting back up with them.
So, maybe no more than five minutes from Maine-ly Delights was a short, flat loop called Ship Harbor Trail. It takes you around in a figure-eight out and along Ship Harbor, a small inlet just next to Bass Harbor.
Because of the ease of this trail, it was moderately trafficked, especially early on.
But the trail did eventually clear out a bit for us, especially once we got to a rocky beach along Ship Harbor.
This gave us an opportunity to let Lily off-leash again. She had a blast chasing rocks and swimming in what I can only imagine was a refreshingly cool 50 or 60-degree water temperature.
If you think of having to bide some time before figuring out what to do next, I can think of no better place to do so than along the shores of Mount Desert Island.
In the end, the Ship Harbor Trail turned out to be just as beautiful and relaxing as any other hike or viewpoint we've experience in Acadia National Park. It's an incredibly easy and family-friendly albeit highly-trafficked stroll along rocks and water.
Cara and I would consider ourselves hikers. No, we haven't spent nights backpacking through the Appalachian Trail or anything that intense, but we can handle a few miles up and down and through valleys, gorges, and up rock scrambles.
We've done some memorable trips and hikes in National Parks that have left us absolutely exhausted. Sometimes when we visit a new place - or even make a return trip like we did in Acadia National park - we'll look for trails to hike.
Often when we look for hikes, we skip over the "easy" trails in lieu of something more moderate or strenuous. While it's true those types of more difficult hikes can provide spectacular views throughout the entire journey, I think hiking Ship Harbor proved that even the "easy" ones can leave an impact on you as somebody who loves to experience the outdoors.
As we finished up the Ship Harbor Trail and got back to our vehicle, we got in touch with Lou and Emily, who were just hanging out at their camp after their hike. We made a quick stopover to say our goodbyes and then made our way back to our campsite.
But not before running into Otter Creek Market to get some ice and a few candy bars. The joke here is that we made nearly daily stops at Otter Creek Market on our first trip Acadia National Park. We thought of it like a mini-Walmart (it's maybe 1/100th of the size) because anything we forgot and need to pick was available at this market.
After getting back to our campsite, it was a mix of relaxing and slowly beginning to pack up. The plan was to pack up the Vue as much as possible, get to bed relatively early, and then get on the road whenever Acadia woke up in the morning (we thought sometime between 4 and 6 a.m.). It'd be 11-12 hours of daytime driving on Labor Day weekend that would keep us exhausted throughout.
But as we started to pack up and the sun started to set, our new neighbors (on the other side of the previously-mentioned annoying ones who thankfully left) rolled in. They were a group of five or six and immediately got their Bluetooth speaker hooked up and brought out the alcohol. You could just tell from those first five minutes that this was going to be another long night.
By about 7:30 p.m., Cara came over to me and said what I was thinking: we should just go. If our neighbors are going to be partying late into the night, and we aren't going to get any sleep, why not get no sleep and just drive back? The pros absolutely outweighed the cons. It'd be night and Acadia would sleep throughout most of the trip. We'd also have an opportunity to stop with the Menzels in Wilkes-Barre (a little more than two hours from our place) in case we got too tired.
With the decision made, we kicked it into hyperdrive and packed up as quickly as possible. We got on the road at 8:30 p.m. GPS said we'd get into our place just past 7:30 a.m.
And so we were off. Unfortunately this time, we were leaving Acadia National Park.
Leaving when we did was absolutely the right call. There was no traffic. Acadia slept. And one of us could drive for a few hours while the other slept and then we'd change places at the next stop.
Although we probably could have made it all the way back to Lewistown, we decided to stop into the Menzels for a couple hours. The grandparents could play with Acadia while the parents could sleep a few hours before heading home. Arrival in Wilkes-Barre was a tad before 7 a.m.
And also didn't hurt to wake up from the nap to a delicious breakfast.
A huge thanks to the Menzels for hosting us, even for just a couple hours, while we could regroup before making the final push.
And, so, by about 2 or 3 p.m. on Labor Day, we pulled back into our home in Lewistown. We had survived, and we were exhausted.
Taking an eight-month-old and a dog more than 11 hours to an island in Maine might sound crazy to you - and maybe you're right - but when you're with the right person, have a fantastic baby as well as an excellent dog, who cares if you're crazy?
Cara and I would do this all again in a heartbeat. Who knows? Maybe we will.
Until next time, folks...
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