Maine: Day 3

MY FAVORITE DAY.  THE DAY THAT MADE ME LONG FOR MAINE LIFE AND DREAD OUR RETURN TO SOUTH FLORIDA.

Our first adventure of the day led us to Bass Harbor – home of a large portion of Acadia National Park, located on the Southwest section of the Island.  This was a very chilly morning, with temperatures barley reaching 65°, extremely overcast, and windy.  Bass Harbor Light House is situated amongst a rocky cliff, perfect for an off-path climbing adventure.  

 The pictures do not do the steepness of the cliffs justice, I spend roughly 25 minutes ushering the courage to venture along the cliffs, as close to the waves as I could muster.  Thankfully along my descent, I met a nice family from Pennsylvania who provided me encouragement since Stephen and Patrick adventured down the cliff at record pace.  

help

 omg help 

Candid of the Philadelphia family - they were super shy

We spent about an hour and a half exploring the cliffs and tide pools amongst the rocks, when we worked up an appetite for what else; Maine lobsta.  We drove about 10 minutes to the local dive - Thurston's Lobster Pound.  Since my last experience cracking apart lobsta was less than ideal, i opted for a staple in my diet, the BLT.  Some members of our lunch party went with the whole steamed Maine Lobster, we had some time to kill to explore the docks and came across two Adriondack chairs overlooking the bay.  

Show Boating

Thankfully our lunch took well over an hour, so we were able to allow the to sun clear the clouds for the remainder of our day

Following lunch at Thurston's, we journeyed to Ship Harbor Nature Trail at Acadia National Park.  As first impressions go, I was expecting a lackluster hike through woodlands with a few peeks at the coastline.  I had very little expectations for what was about to come.  After about a ten minute walk, my mind stopped working and all I could fathom was the view before my eyes.  

Taking in the view

It felt as if we had discovered a secret beach no other explorer has come across.  In place of white sand were millions of smooth and perfectly rounded pebbles.  If you looked to the right, nothing but evergreens and forest; to the left, rocky beach and coastline for miles.  It truly was the most extraordinary trail of the trip, and perhaps that I have ever experienced.  

A little different from Florida Beaches

To my annoyance, Stephen and I left the rocky beach to continue along the trail.  We were faced with smooth cliff after cliff of pristine and picturesque views.  A large clearing of low, flat, rocks encompassed the tip of the island.  We ventured as far to the ocean as we could without getting soaked from the waves crashing along the rocks.  Shallow tide pools and miniature waterfalls was the gem awaiting us at the end of the Ships Harbor trail.  We spent an hour just sitting among the rocks, watching the tide roll in, dipping our feet in the frigid water.  We saw a seal poke his head above the water about 10 yards off the rocks.  I never could of imagined the scenery we would witness at Ships Harbor.  

Two of the Frazer men 

While trekking the 1.3 miles to the car, the Frazer's decided to trail blaze the remainder of the hike, and we were able to discover ample deer droppings and animal tracks.  Tensions ran high when the brothers Frazer couldn't agree on a direction to take, however we eventually found our way out of the woods after many branch scratches and bug bites.  Little did I know this would serve as a minor foreshadowing for the last day of the trip.  

After a minor bout of trailblazing, we piled in the van and drove the world famous Park Loop Road.  This 22 mile drive takes your around the perimeter of Acadia National Park with many famous stops along the way; We were sure to stop at Thunder Hole.

In the center you can see the cavern that causes the Thunder

Thunder Hole is a small inlet, naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves roll into.  At the end of this inlet, is a small cavern where, when the rush of the wave arrives, air and water is forced out like a clap of distant thunder. Water may spout as high as 40 feet with a thunderous roar.  Unfortunately, the conditions were not ideal and we only saw a few minor splashes.  The scenery was till beasuiful and I kept my eyes peeled for a seal sighting.  

Anticipating the Thunder

As always, we concluded our day with cocktail hour at Borderlea along with badminton and crochet.  We decided (or the cocktails decided for us) that we would stay in for dinner and have family taco night, and turn in early night in hopes of hearing the fox.  

I told Stephen numerous times this was my favorite day so far.  The cliff climbing, trail blazing, and the hopes of reenacting the Little Mermaid on a rock with a wave crashing in, made for a true Maine experience.  I started to speculate why anyone would EVER leave Mt. Desert Island; trade in the postcard worthy scenery for flat, wet, humid Florida.  And then I remembered the winter; how the land transforms into a barren, arctic tundra and I felt a little more sympathetic towards snowbirds.  

-xx