Acadia Rocks

     Acadia National Park is 47,000 acres. Once you get there on a crowded bus, there are plenty of trails, for both hiking and biking, and plenty of fresh water lakes to swim or paddle. I swam and paddled in three of them. And of course, plenty of those iconic rocks along the ocean shorelines to explore.

      I asked a Park Ranger how many people get hurt every day, and he said "At least one ambulance run daily, sometimes more, it goes in spurts".

     I saw several artists with easels on the rocks, and I can understand the artisan urge. Probably cubist style?

There's a popular Ocean Trail that skirts the ocean and rocks for several miles. I walked a short section; it was beautiful.

     The gravel-packed Carriage Trails (45 miles) for bicycles was too gravelly for me and too crowded, as I tend to go too fast on my motorized bicycle. So instead of biking, I did several hikes. There are 120 miles of various hiking trails; I did only five of the many loop trails.

     My favorite hike was Eagle Lake to Connors Nubble, on the suggestion of a father/son duo team I had met on the bus. I'm glad I took their advice, it was a great trail. It started low along the lake, then to the top of that mountain in the center of the photo and down another trail. I heard two loons on the lake. They sounded like an oboe, very instrumental and lovely.

The northern view from the top.

The southern view from the top.

Nature changed as I ascended. At the bottom, spruce saplings.

Higher up, gnarled trees struggling to survive.

Lots of roots and rocks. Had to keep my eye on the "blue rectangle" to make sure I was still on the trail.

Wild blueberries at the top! nice reward :)

The trail was sometimes difficult.

Fortunately, I had hiking poles.

         By my third day in Acadia National Park, my mind had done a 180-degree change of perspective. Instead of growling under my breath about all the waits, traffic and crowds, I was now marveling about how efficiently our government employees were helping two million folks enjoy the outdoors at Acadia each year. 

     What changed my mind? Talking with folks on the bus and at the campgrounds. Every single person, young, old, middle-aged, said they loved Acadia and with smiles on their faces (pointing to their young and old kids), proudly proclaimed they've been coming here for years with their kids. Their kids seemed happy and talkative about the trails, too. That's when I realized, all that matters is families are having memorable times. For the rest of their lives, they will probably talk about their adventures at Acadia, on the trails or on the rocks or on the ocean or lake in a boat. The hustle and bustle now seem insignificant and meaningless, eh? 

     By the way, Seawall Campground (on the western lobe of kidney-shaped Mount Desert Island) isn't as busy as Blackwoods Campground (on the eastern lobe of the island). However, most of those wonderful trails to hike and bike are on the eastern lobe of the island. First four nights were spent at Blackwoods, and last two nights were at Seawall. Below is Southwest Harbor (a little village near Seawall) on an early evening of rare rain.

Acadia National Park's Northeast Culture

     I hadn't planned to visit Acadia National Park, just a bunch of rocks and the ocean, so what? But folks told me I must visit the beautiful park, so I made reservations. Because it was their busy time of the year, I couldn't reserve six consecutive days at one campsite, so I made three two-day reservations at two different campgrounds.
     My first check-in meant waiting in line; I was number four and about seven cars were behind me. Each vehicle's registration took about five minutes.

     Everyone is advised to take the free shuttle busses to avoid traffic congestions. So I studied and compared the bike and hike trail map with the bus schedule map which offered seven different routes (color-coded). Little kids at the bus stops helped me decide.

On the bus, it was often standing room only.

Usually transfers are necessary, which means another wait.

When will the bus arrive? There is a sign at each stop that will give ETAs for each bus.

Just one look at all the traffic convinced me the bus was a good decision.

There were large parking lots at several bus depot stations. Perhaps at least 500 maybe 750 parked vehicles at each station.

Bikes, paddle boards and kayaks on every other vehicle it seems.

The favored bus stop was Sand Beach because of the rocks.

I did my best to enjoy it too, but the ocean was way too cold.

This guy seems to be zoning everyone out with a warm beer and earbuds.

     Late in Day Two of my Acadia adventure, I realized a majority of the campers hailed from mostly the Northeast. To them, Acadia's crowds and traffic are nothing out of the ordinary. That was my "A ha!" moment. Next post, a new mindset about Acadia.