Bar Harbor July 1 – August 30, 2022
We spent two months in this area. Wow! – I know two months seems like a long time, but we kept pretty busy. This was our long summer stop, so we had our mail shipped, ordered from Amazon, caught up on maintenance and did some spring cleaning. Bar Harbor is a small town on Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine, right outside of Acadia National Park. Acadia encompasses most of the island plus a portion of Schoodic Peninsula, Isle au Haut, and portions of 16 other islands. We found lots to do in the park including, hiking, biking, picnicking, scenic walks, and driving the Loop.
Our first order of business was to take a trolley tour to get the lay of the land. The tour started in Bar Harbor and toured the Loop Drive (road that circles the park) and hit the highlights of the park, including Cadillac Mountain, Thunder Hole and Jordan Pond House.
Thunder Hole is supposed to make a loud thunderous noise when the water flows in, but I did not hear anything.
We had lunch at the Jordan Pond House (the only restaurant in Acadia) with Michelle and Bob (friends we met in Cape Cod). The popovers with the homemade strawberry jam were delicious and the outdoor seating was scenic and had a great view of the pond. Of course the company was awesome.
We walked the Ocean Path which had beautiful views of the – wait for it – the ocean! The path wandered by the coast and the loop road for about 2 miles. On the trail we walked by Sand Beach (still not as pretty as Panama City Beach), Otter Cliff and Thunder Hole.
We hiked (more like walked) the path around Jordan Pond to hike (more like rock climb) up South Bubble Mountain to see Bubble Rock. The walk around the pond was great, the hike up the mountain was very rocky and steep. The view from the top was spectacular.
This is the relatively easy path around Jordan Pond.
We drove over to the Schoodic Peninsula one day and rode the trails on our bikes, hiked a short one mile trail to the western side of the island and had a picnic lunch. We sat on the rocks at Schoodic Point (the very tip of the peninsula. While the point was pretty, I thought the view during the hike was amazing.
Acadia has approximately 45 miles of carriage roads that weave around the mountains, lakes and ponds. The roads were constructed and donated to the park by John D. Rockefeller. The carriage roads are a great way to see the park. We rode the trails about three or four times per week. Most days we rode for two or three hours and then had a picnic at one of the many beautiful sites. I absolutely loved the carriage roads.
This is a waterfall on the bike trail. There was very little rainfall in the first month. The second picture was taken closer to the end of our stay. We had some rain!
Steve loves selfies!
Next up, more of our stay in Bar Harbor.
“One Particular Harbor” by Jimmy Buffet