Downeast Maine Part 3

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Starting Wednesday and continuing through the weekend will be the the Acadia Night Sky Festival. This is the 10th year for the festival and from the list of events, it appears to be pretty well put together. Many of the events are free and seem to be scattered all across Mount Desert Island. We pick out a few of the ones that sounded interesting and hope to be able to work them into our busy “schedule”. 

The first talk we want to go to is in the Northeast Harbor library late in the afternoon. The title is ‘Near Earth Asteroids - Observing Them and NASA's Plan for Making Planet Earth Safe’. It sounds quirky enough to be interesting. We got to the library 15 minutes prior to the start of the presentation. The room definitely filled up. Good thing the fire marshal didn’t show up since we may have been over capacity. It turned out to be an interesting talk although we don’t feel any more or less safe about asteroids hitting the earth. 

We still had about two hours of daylight left after the talk so we head out to do a hike to Hunters Beach. We find the small parking area with room for one more car and head down the trail which parallels Hunters Brook on its way to the ocean. We spot the head of a seal out in the cove as we approach but it is too far out to get a decent photo.

Hunters Beach

There is a geocache off of a side trail that heads back up above the waterline but more or less follows the coastline. The trees, especially the maples, are starting to turn their fall colors. Even the low blueberry bushes are turning a vibrant red. It was definitely a pretty hike. After finding the geocache, we opt to continue following the trail we are on rather than simply backtracking our route. Fortunately the trails marked on the Garmins were reasonably accurate and we worked out way back out to Cooksey Drive and simply followed the road back to parking.

Maple Changing Colors

Red Blueberry Bushes

It was getting close to sunset, so we decided to head back to camp but ended up taking a route that just happened to bring us to the Seal Cove Dock overlooking Seal Harbor. It was such a pretty setting and the sunset looked to be a fairly decent one. There was a lobster tap sitting on the dock that gave us the opportunity to take a close look at one. By the time the sun had set, we had a handful of people there doing the same as us.

Lobster Trap at Seal Harbor

Seal Harbor Yacht Club

Glowing Wall

Sunset

Time for Dinner

The next day we picked two night sky events both in the Seawall area of MDI. The first one wasn’t until 7PM so we packed our dinner and headed that way in the afternoon. Our first stop was at Charlotte Rhoades Butterfly Park in Southwest Harbor. This is a small park with only enough parking for several cars, but it has lots of flowers and even more butterflies. We checked out the flowers and managed to get a picture or two of some butterflies. The monarch caterpillars are much easier to photograph!

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

Monarch Butterfly

From here, we head past Bass Harbor for another short but popular hike. We had already done the Ship Harbor Trail earlier in our stay here, but the Wonderland Trail is only about half a mile further down Seawall Road. It’s a fairly simple hike and since we were there near low tide, we were able to walk out along the rocks of the coast looking for things in the tide pools. If you only have time to do one of these two walks, I would recommend Ship Harbor Trail as it was a prettier walk.

Low Tide Along Wonderland Trail

Colorful Tidepool

Small Cove at Low Tide

We were done with our walk well before the start time for the night sky talk but the ranger let us into the campground and told us how to get to the amphitheater parking. We wandered around the campground to see what it was like before having dinner and then going to the presentation. Of course the speaker’s microphone was on the fritz so it was a little challenging to hear much of the talk. Afterwards, the huge crowd headed out of the campground and went over to the walkway along the coast where 40-some telescopes were setup! We stayed for a bit but there were so many people there that getting to look through any of the scopes was taking too long so we found our way back to the car in the dark and went home.

Chris had been eyeing a hike on Beech Mountain not so much for the hike itself but for the fire tower located on top of the mountain. This is just slightly odd since she is afraid of heights. We have done some pretty serious hikes in the past where a fire tower was our destination only to have her get partway up the tower and freeze. It’s not clear how frequently this tower is open but it was open on Saturdays while we were in the area. This is the only remaining tower on MDI and one of the few remaining in the state of Maine. It started out as a wooden structure but was rebuilt with steel in the early 1960’s. 

There are numerous hiking trail options to get there. Based on the suggestions from the internet, we pick a loop that will be just over 2.5 miles. The road to the trailhead brings us to a nearly full parking area. We find the trailhead on the north side of the parking lot and hang a left at the split. Either path would work but the one we pick is shorter, albeit steeper. There are views of Long Pond on the way up if you remember to stop and turn around every so often. Like many of the hikes in this area, much of the path is over large openings of exposed granite. Between the combination of cairns and blue lines painted every now and then, we manage to make our way up. None of the hike it super steep and as long as the granite is dry, traction is excellent. 

On the Way Up

Exposed Granite Trail

Since the parking lot was full, is shouldn’t have been surprising that there were a dozen or so people when we got to the fire tower at the peak. This one was very sturdy and the wind was light so Chris found the courage to head up the several flights of stairs to get to the 20 foot or so platform. It helped that their is good fencing next to the stairs so falling chances are nil. We have great views in all directions. The large glass windows have awnings to protect them when the tower is closed up. Inside the room up top is a horizontal map of the island with a rotating contraption with sights permitting a ranger to accurately determine the angle a fire is from this tower. With a second tower doing the same, the fire could be determined.

Beech Mountain Fire Tower

View from Inside

Chris Smiles at Top

Start of South Ridge Trail Viewed from Tower

After returning to ground level, we continue south along the South Ridge Trail as it heads back down Beech Mountain. Some of the trail was under construction with new steps going in. It would have been interesting to see how some of the larger rocks were moved into place but being a weekend, nobody was working. Near the base, we follow the Valley Trail back north towards the parking lot. This was a beautiful hike made more fun by the tower being open.

Tower from South Ridge Trail

Colorful Foliage

Our Beech Mountain Track

After lunch, we headed just to the other side of Long Pond for another hike. This one up Mansell Mountain. Admittedly, we could have just made it a continuation of the first hike, but we opted to move the car. At the southern tip of Long Pond, we picked the Long Pond Trail and head north along the western side of the pond. After a quarter mile, we take the intersection to the left up the Perpendicular Trail. I suppose the name of the trail might have been a clue as to what to expect. This trail seems to go straight up the side of the mountain. Much of this trail is over steep granite boulder strewn areas where flat rocks have been positioned to make a rather elaborate set of steps. We were definitely glad we were heading up on this trail since heading down might have been challenging on the knees and somewhat frightening. At some of the steeper sections, metal bars have been drilled into the rock to form a ladder of sorts. The views on the way up are nice every so often but the actual peak of Mansell Mountain is below the tree line so there isn’t much to see but for the sign. 

Looking Across Long Pond at Beech Mountain

Looking Down Steps on Perpendicular Trail

Iron "Ladder"

More Stone Steps

View on Way Up to Mansell Mountain

You're at the Summit

We did meet another hiker at the peak as he headed in the opposite direction. A brief chat provided a recommendation on what trail to take on our way down. Our plan had been to head south from the peak on either Mansell Mountain Trail or Razorback Trail before heading back to the car. He suggested we head past Razorback and pick up the Great Notch Trail then head down the Great Pond Trail. It would make our hike much longer than originally planned but he said the views were worth it. Fortunately our Garmins have the trails marked so we could confirm he wasn’t some crackpot just messing with us. Better yet, he was correct, the views were great! We slowly worked our way down the mountain and eventually made it back to the shore of Long Pond which we followed back to the car. This turned out to be a 5.5 mile hike with 1100 feet of elevation change - about double our morning hike on Beech Mountain. 

Looking Down Razorback Trail

Looking Down Great Notch Trail

Panoramic View

Looking Back Up Our Trail

Our Mansell Mountain Track

As is often the case, the day after a big hike is a slow day for us. We head north to the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery. Besides the hatchery, there is a 2 mile walk in the woods on the land that’s part of the facility. In theory, it was to be open, but a sign at the gate warned us the gate was going to close early. We parked and walked in, not wanting to get the car stuck in case our walk was longer than expected. There were a couple geocaches here as well, although one required calculating the final coordinates based on information from a sign that was inside a locked building. Through the chain link fence gate, I could see the sign about 25 feet away. I was able to shoot a picture of the sign describing the life cycle of the salmon and then zoom in on the sign using the camera’s display to answer the 6 questions. Not an ideal situation but it worked.

Water from Green Lake is brought into the hatchery through a wooden pipe! A leaky wooden pipe at that. It’s over three feet in diameter and maybe 1/4 mile long. Think wooden wine barrel but on steroids. There was water squirting out between the boards all along the length of the pipe. Leaks that streamed water onto the adjacent roadway were “plugged” by placing a rock over the leak. It doesn’t stop the water from leaking but does keep it from flooding the road. Hard to believe this relic of days past is still in use. The trail was nice and we ran into a local couple walking their dogs down to the lake for a swim. 

Leaky Wooden Pipe

Green Lake Dam

Green Lake

Looking for another good hike the following day, we head to Great Pond Mountain Wildlands in East Orland. As we head to the trailhead parking lot, we pass Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery. We don’t visit that many hatcheries, so doing two in a row is a bit odd but this one looked to be open so we stopped to check it out. We spent 30 minutes wandering around the building seeing the various displays and some of the tanks with salmon looking to be released. We continued to the trailhead and brought our lunch along to a picnic spot along the Dead River.

Salmon Tank at Craig Brook

Lunch Spot on Dead River

Back up on the main trail after lunch, we continue north for a bit longer before it turns uphill. The trail is actually a gravel jeep road in pretty good shape so the walking is easy. The trails are also pretty well marked with signs at the major trail junctions. A few miles into the hike, we are presented with a trail to the east that heads to the summit of Great Pond Mountain. We decided we had the energy for it and started up the trail. This section is definitely a trail versus a road but is still reasonably good hiking. There are lots of open granite sections and as we continue the additional 500 feet of elevation to the summit. Along the way, we start to notice lots of short, inspirational sayings written on the granite path or nearby roads in chalk. They had to have been fairly recent since they were still in good shape but we never stumbled upon the artist.

View on Way Up to Great Pond Mountain

"Your Kindness Can Change the World"

"The World Needs You"

"You Matter"

The peak of the mountain is quite broad with lots of open granite allowing exploration in all directions. The views were pretty incredible. We were able to see the Penobscot Narrows Bridge over 7 miles away. If you are in the vicinity, we can recommend this hike as an alternative to crowded ones within Acadia. Our whole loop ended up being 8 miles with about 1450 feet of elevation gained. This hike could be reduced to a few miles by parking at a different trailhead and only doing the mountain portion of the hike.

Our 8 Mile Track at Great Pond Mountain

The following day was our “down” day which worked out well since the remnants of tropical storm Gordon came by and dumped about 1.5 inches of rain on us. Fifteen hours into the rain, I started to get some drips falling on me from the light fixture above! Never a good sign. The spot was close to where the TV antenna mounts on the roof, so I go up in the downpour to at least cover up the area with plastic until I can come back up to investigate under better conditions. I subsequently found a couple small cracks in the sealant at screw heads that I resealed and so far so good.

We learned a couple lessons the day after the rain. One, that we already knew but had forgotten, was to not expect a parking spot near Jordan Pond after 10 AM. We tried to park there to do a hike to Pemetic Mountain on the east side of Jordan Pond. We ended up driving to Wildwood Stables to re-evaluate our options only to discover there was a trailhead nearby that would work just as well and parking was not an issue there. The Triad Trail starts just at the top of the carriage road from the stables. This was where our second lesson was learned. Hiking the day after heavy rains is probably a bad idea. The wooded portion of the trail was bad from all the debris that had washed across the path and this section of the path seemed to be lacking in blue splotches on the trees so we were having trouble just following the intended trail. Worse, when we arrived at the large open granite stretches, water covered granite is extremely slippery. We had a few spots where it took some time for us to safely navigate the slick conditions to continue up the trail.

Slippery Granite Ascent

Bates Cairn Marks the Path

Pretty View on Way Up

Triad Mountain Peak

Interesting Rock

The Triad Trail eventually intersected the Pemetic South Ridge Trail. Even though this stretch of the trail was open granite, it had mainly dried off so it was a simple walk to the summit. We had a beautiful view of Jordan Pond below for our lunch. We had some options for the route back. We could continue north and follow the continuation of the Ridge Trail down but Chris was concerned it might be challenging with the wet conditions. So we headed back the South Ridge Trail and then went west of the Triad Trail. We had a spot where the actual trail was not matching our Garmins but we eventually worked our way back to the carriage road. I was within a hundred feet or so of the safety of the road when my foot slipped on the wet granite and down I went. No major damage or injuries but Chris knew to be extra careful at that spot as she got to it. Our adventure turned out to be a 5 mile, 1600 foot elevation hike. This would have been a great hike if not for the wet conditions and we only have ourselves to blame for that predicament. 

View Heading Up Pemetic Mountain

We Made It

The View of Jordan Pond was Our Lunch Stop

Another Incredible View

Heading Back Down

More Blueberry Bushes Changing Colors

Splotches of Fall Colors

Twin Maples

Our Pemetic Mountain Hike Track

The next day we decided to go back to Acadia to see a place called Thunder Hole. We had been there early in our stay here, but that time was near low tide. This time we planned on being there at high tide. Plus we had the benefit of Hurricane Florence as it approached the coast down in the Carolinas, the surf was being kicked up all the way in Maine! We decided to drive into Bar Harbor and take the bus instead of dealing with parking in Acadia. We got there with 30 minutes to spare so we could take a quick tour of St Saviour’s Church in Bar Harbor about a block form the Village Green. They have pretty stained glass and are open for visitors. 

On the bus ride into the park, we were chatting with other passengers about things to see. Having been here for three weeks so far, we have started to feel quite knowledgeable about the different sights. I felt sorry for one couple that was on a cruise that had stopped in the harbor. Not that they weren’t going to enjoy Acadia for the few hours they had to explore, but they were supposed to be in the Bahamas. But with the hurricane coming in, the cruise stayed north and visited Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Bar Harbor. They only discovered the change of plans as they were checking into the cruise. I suspect the packing list is quite different between the northern and southern options. I hope they made the best of their visit.

We continued on the Loop Road bus and got off at Otter Point. The wave action was definitely increased from the last time we walked the Ocean Path. We had an hour or so before it would be high tide and figured this would work out well to have lunch on the rocks then head north to Thunder Hole. We stopped at many spots along the way to be amazed at the crashing waves. 

More Fall Colors

We made it to Thunder Hole 15 minutes prior to high tide and there was a large group of people. The staircase down to the base of the hole was closed but it didn’t take long to see why. The waves were completely swamping the concrete walkway and it would have been a challenge to even hold onto the railing without being carried out to sea. We found a spot to sit down and wait for the action to take place. The orientation of the hole is such that when a wave comes in with just the right force and direction, the water hits the back of the hole making a loud sound like thunder. We sat there for 45 minutes and it happened a handful of times. We never quite got good enough to predict if the next wave was going to be “it”. It wasn’t nearly as predictable the Spouting Horn on the Oregon Coast but still worth the stop. We continued our walk back up to Sand Beach and caught the bus back to Bar Harbor to get the car.

Thunder Hole Platform Submerged

Splash!

Looking Back at Sand Beach