Acadia National Park

I haven't blogged in a week because I was on vacation to Acadia National Park. Acadia was one of 10 most wanted places to vacation in the country. It also has the advantage of being only a six hour drive so it would be a cheap vacation.   DJ, Amber and I went from Thursday until Thursday.  Rather than give you a day by day replay and write 4000 words, I'll just tell you about the park.

Overview:

Acadia is on Mount Desert Island. It took 6 hours to get to and I live on the Rhode Island/ MA border. Its about 90 minutes from  Bangor ( the closest interstate exit). The National Park is about 40,000 acres. It does not take up the whole island. There is some private land mixed in along with some towns, the most famous being Bar Harbor.  The National Park is really an outdoors persons paradise. There is a wide variety of landscapes. The ocean shoreline makes for dramatic scenery. There is deep woods and bald mountain tops. Streams and mountain lakes are common. It is really impossible to get bored. There is such a wide variety of things to do. Just to name a few things hiking, biking, fishing, tidepooling, sight seeing, scenic drives, kayaking, ranger programs, picnicing, bird watching, photography, and whale watching. I'm sure there are many more.

Hiking

Hiking is great in this national park. Almost all of the summits are bare. Its nice to climb a mountain and get a 360 degree view. Also none of the " mountains" are that high. The highest point is only about 1500 feet. We did three hikes.

The first was over two mountains, North and South Bubble. South Bubble is home of Bubble Rock a glacial erratic. A glacial erratic is a rock that was brought from one place to a another by a glacier. Bubble Rock is the size of a living room and it balances at the top of a mountain.

He hiked the Gorham Mountain Trail to the top of Gorham mountain. On this trail were caves and cliffs. The scenery at the top was impressive looking over the ocean.

On our last day we hiked over four mountains. It was a 5.5 mile loop. We hiked about 1500 verical feet. It was cloudy and drizzly. The pictures were dreary, but we could see in all directions from the four summits and the views were awesome, if a little grey.

Bike Riding

Cobblestone Bridge on a Carrige Road

When the park was formed, John D. Rockerfeller Jr. Designed and paid for carrige roads. He did not want the scenery ruined by car noise and fumes. So he designed these carrige roads for horses and hiking. Now they can also be used by bikers. They are made of gravel and really well maintained. We did a couple of bike rides on them. Most of the time our destination would be bridges.

Rockerfeller built a series of bridges along the roads. They are all unique and beautifully designed.  We tried to see them all, but missed two. Along the carrige roads, Amber took a steep curve to sharply and skinned her knee pretty bad. They were steeper than expected so after a couple rides we left the bikes at the campground and hoofed it.

Tidepooling

Tide pooling was my favorite thing to do. We went three times. We took a walk on the Ship Harbor trail to the water. This wasn't really a tide pool, but I did find some sea urchin shells so I'm counting it. A half mile away is Wonder land ( 2 words) I had tide pools but most of the higher ones were picked over by  tourist. DJ and I walked down to the slippery rock weed. We didn't find to much intesting. We did see a bald eagle fly by. Amber and I saw a starfish but it was found by another group.

The next morning at low tide we walked the 1/3 mile out to Bar Island. This is an island at high tide, but at low tide it is connected to a sandbar to the mainland. On our way back from the island, we walked in the water. We found tons of starfish and a few live sea urchins.  Fun has had by all.

Ranger Programs

We went on four programs and two campground programs. We went to the Missing Mansion which was atalk about George Dorr the person that got the park started. We did a summit talk at the top of Cadillac Mtn on a cloudy day. We also listened to a talk on Botany Basics. At the campground we saw a presentation for taking better pictures and listeneing to sounds. The sound program was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The ranger was like a stand up comic and I laughed for almost the whole hour.  Also we went to Sand Beach at 9:30 pm to listen to a talk about stars. It was mostly cloudy so we didn't see many but the International Space Station came by and we saw that. Awesome!

Animal sightings

Acadia is a birders dream place. With all the different ecosystems there are birds everywhere. We kind of ran out of time and did little actual birding. We did see a Black Throated Green Warbler. We saw 4 bald eagles all while doing other things. We saw 8 deer including some bucks. Toads, frogs and tadpoles along with leeches at the waters edge. At the ocean we saw the forementioned starfish and sea urchins. While walking to the ocean we saw a red rellied snake. That was a new snake for me. I picked it up and it secreted a disgusting smelling liquid on me ( defense mechinism).

Wrap up

Most of our time was spent doing the above things. It did rain most every day, but there were windows to get out and do something each of those days. No I did not do any fishing We ate popovers at Jordan Pond House, ate ice cream at Bar Harbor and he went out to eat at a BBQ place because the kids would rather eat BBQ than lobster.



Bubble Rock

Amber especially had a great time. She had never really hiked. She loves animals and enjoyed all the programs. She becme a junior ranger, by completing activities in a book, interviewing a ranger and going on a program. She is very proud of her Jr. Ranger Patch and certificate.

In my opinion the scenery is not "spectacular" Two hundred foot ocean cliffs do not rival the Grand Tetons or Zion Canyon. However, everywhere you looked there was always another great photo op. The scenery may not have been mind blowing, but it was beautiful and varied.  The bridges were photogenic. The cliffs and mountain tops were pretty. Many little brooks made for great pictures.

Product Review Canon Powershot A2200 Camera

I'm going to come right out and say it: This camera is awesome. I wanted a small camera for taking with me on hikes or in the kayak. I wanted something that would fit in my pocket and not have to carry around my neck. My friend Dave has one of these cameras and he raves about it. After I sold one of my articles in a magazine a couple months back, I decided to buy it as an investment. Magazines are always looking for pictures and a small camera is so much easier to transport than a big one.

The Canon A2200 has 14.1 megapixels. It has a 4x optical zoom. This zoom is not going to get the job done if I see a deer on the other side of a meadow, but for portraits or fish pictures it is plenty. I have a big camera for photographing distant wildlife with a 20x zoom. The 4x is not only great for close ups but also wide landscape shots.

Other features are: it comes with its own battery and plug in battery charger. It can also record video. It comes in three colors, blue, silver, and red.

 I can set the camera to take multiple shots, and I can set the timer for any amount of time I want. For example, right now it is set to take five pictures but the first picture isn't taken  until 20 seconds. I can tell you from experience, 10 seconds ( the standard delay on most cameras) is not enough time to press the button, get the proper distance and hold up a slimy, wiggly, fifteen pound carp.  After the first pic, there is a 2 second delay between the rest, just enough time to move the fish to a different angle.

The reason I love this camera is I am blown away by the clarity of the pictures. The color is so bright. When I have good light I can get great close up shots of anything. It will focus on your subject as close as a couple feet away.



The price is also well within most any budget. I paid $89 for mine but sometimes it goes on sale for $79. That's a hell of a deal for a camera of this quality. The photos don't lie.

June Carp, Check, Barely!

Today was the first time I got to go carp carp fishing this month. I caught a carp. Not a big one, it went maybe four pounds. I'm glad I caught it though. I'm not going to have many opportunities to carp fish the rest of the month. I'm going on vacation from June 21-28. I'm on call June 20 and June 30. That would only leave me tomorrow and Tuesday and the Friday I get back. I also have to get some work done to my car. Like I said, glad I got one today. 

New Hampshire Act 2012 Scene 2

Our campsite

Laurie and I went to New Hampshire from Wednesday night until today Friday night (got home about 7pm).  We had planned on going up a couple weeks ago, but had to postpone the trip due to DJ's finger surgery being scheduled the Friday we would have been gone. So we went up Wednesday night after Laurie got out of work. We did an awful lot in two full days. We saw a bunch of animals, did some hikes and I got to do more fishing than I expected.

Wednesday night:   Left home about 5:15. Found a campsite for dispersed camping when we got there. Had chicken salad sandwiches on bulky rolls for supper. Went to bed listening to a chorus of spring peepers and other frogs.




Thursday:


Stair Falls

Woke up about 6:45. It was cold so we jumped in the car. Our plan was to hike some waterfalls on the other side of Mount Washington. On the way we saw a pair of turkeys.  We went down Dolly Copp Road and found the first trailhead. We hiked out to triple Falls. The hike was only about 10 minutes each way. The falls were not that impressive. We then went further down the road to the next trailhead. Before we got to the next trailhead we found a wildflower meadow. There were so many white flowers clustered together it looked like snow.  Our goal was Hitchcock Fall.

On the way to Hitchcock Fall were two smaller waterfalls. The nicest was called Stair Falls. We made it to Hitchcock Fall. This Fall is pretty big but most of it is blocked by trees. After our hike back to the car we drove to Burger King where I managed to drop $20.


From Burger King we were going to do another waterfall hike, but I was sick of hiking to puny falls, so we changed plans. We were going to hike to Sawyer Pond, but Sawyer River Road was closed so we changed plans again.  Laurie let me fish Saco Lake for a little While. I fished about 45 minutes. There were a lot of trout, I got four or five with many more hits. While at Saco Lake we watched a fox cross the road and walk down some railroad tracks for over three minutes.

Trout at Saco Lake

Then we went to Chutters. This is a candy store with the worlds longest candy counter ( 112 feet). We spent about a half hour in the store and Laurie bought some fudge. Now that Laurie had fudge, I was free to do anything I wanted. I fished Echo Lake in Franconia Notch, while Laurie walked down to the Old Man of the Mountain Memorial. I didn't get anything in Echo, s I headed to Profile.

My maiden voyage in the float tube
I'm smiling, but I hated it!

Echo was almost glass calm, however Profile was windy, so is the nature of the Notch. I used my float tube for the first time. Laurie used the kayak, and it was her first time. We both were nervous in our new vessels at first. Laurie enjoyed the kayak, much more than I enjoyed the float tube. I did manage to catch four trout though. After fishing and kayaking, we went back to camp where I cooked up some mac and cheese. We then went to bed listening to a chorus of spring peepers and other frogs.



Laurie's maiden voyage in the kayak

Friday:

 Got up this morning a little later than yesterday and packed the tent. We were on the road, by 8am. We went down to the Waterville Valley exit. I took Laurie down Sandwich Notch Road. We went to Upper Hall Pond. I put the kayak in while Laurie got some sun. I caught 6 very small brook trout. One cool thing about Upper Hall, its loaded with newts. After about ninety minutes, I came in and Laurie went out in the kayak while I sat at the waters edge enjoying the view. Laurie saw the newts and we heard a loon call twice. I love that sound.

We put the kayak on the car when Laurie came in and headed south down Sandwich Notch Road, I was talking about the bear that had crossed the Cape cod Canal earlier in the week and we turned a corner on the road to see a HUGE male black bear. It was beautiful. It bounded down the road a few paces before it went into the woods. We got good looks at it. It was Laurie's first bear.



Beede Falls

Then we went to Kiah Pond. We got pictures of frogs and tadpoles. I caught 2 shiners in the five minutes I fished. We ate a quick lunch. We saw a lot of shiners in the water also. Tons of butterflies were around.

On out way off of Sandwich Notch Road on a whim we stopped at the trailhead for Beede Falls. It was a short walk to the Falls. It was a pleasant surprise. The falls is about 25 feet tall and there is a large pool at the bottom. I really enjoyed it, especially compared to the disappointing waterfalls from 24 hours earlier. I'm glad we stopped


Then we drove to West Rattlesnake Hill. The view from the top is amazing. There is an overlook facing Squam Lake ( Golden Pond). Its a steep but short hike to the top. Well worth the effort. We came home after our hike. We got stuck in traffic on the way home, but oh well it was a hell of a two days. 

Summary:

We packed a lot into two days in New Hampshire. We hiked to three waterfalls and to a view of Squam Lake. In not to much fishing I caught 14 trout all on the fly rod. We saw a ton of animals

2 turkeys, fox, black bear, newts, frogs, butterflies, brook trout, shiners, tadpoles

View from West Rattlesnake Hill

  

Catching up

On my two days off, I did some " catching up" fishing.  I didn't have any commitments or places I had to be. I decided not to go to New Hampshire because I wanted to watch the Celtics. That didn't turn out the way I wanted, because now its  11:30  and my stomach is to sick from the loss to sleep.  So I write

What the hell is "catching up fishing"? I'll explain. I've got a couple articles coming out, but I needed pictures for them, so I went fishing for fish to take pictures of.  I also did some fun fishing, basically from Thursday night until Sat night I've either been outside or watching the Celtics.

Thursday evening, went to fly pond and caught 5 rainbows.

Thursday night- Watched Celtics beat the Heat

Friday- I went out on Falls Pond and tried to get some pics of panfish. That was tougher than expected. The fish were fussy and the sun was hot. I did hook a nice bass though.

Friday night- Amber slept over. We went catfishing at Lake Tiogue. Also not very successful. We got one hornpout. Amber had a big white cat on, but it got tangled up on the bottom.

Saturday-  Went blue crabbing for pictures. Got some pictures, but a three foot eel came by and started " death rolling" my chicken drumsticks, scaring away more crabs

Saturday evening- Went to fly pond, Caught one trout and some sunfish, unless the weather cools, I think I'm done there. The trout are still there, but the warm water is making them uncomfortable.

Saturday night- Celtics loose to the Heat!

All in all, a very active two and a half days. I was exhausted after crabbing, but a shower and some relaxing and I felt refreshed. So I went trout fishing knowing it might be my last time for the summer in MA/RI. Next weekend ( Thurs and Fri) Laurie and I are going to New Hampshire. I'm looking forward to that!

Purgatory

The Chasm

 Last week Laurie and I went to Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, MA. It was our back up plan since we couldn't go to New Hampshire because of DJ's broken finger surgery. So on Thursday we did a day trip to Purgatory.


We walked through the chasm, then walked back on the rim. Its not a long walk and we were done in less than an hour. After walking, we had a picnic at one of the tables. We ate chicken salad, chips, homemade macaroni salad and soda. I don't drink much soda, so for me its kind of a treat.

Waiting on a woman

Catching ten trout wasn't even the most interesting part of my night

I went to the fly fishing only pond tonight. When I got there, a group of  six kids about 20 years old were fishing the pond. I had seen them fish this pond a couple times before. I put my kayak in and started fishing. Within a few minutes, I landed two trout. Thanks to three days of cold rain, the fish in the pond were energized. The cooler water, got the trout  hungry and active.

While I was fishing, a couple other guys showed up. That was eight people fishing from shore. The problem was none of the eight fishermen were using fly gear. All of them were using spinning and baitcasting gear. That is illegal in this pond. There are only a couple ponds in Rhode Island that are fly fishing only. You can't miss the sign that lets you know that it is FFO.

Wouldn't you know it, an enviremental police officer showed up.  All eight of the fishermen got tickets. I think a couple of them did not have fishing licenses. I can imagine the fines they recieved.

I don't feel bad at all for these guys. If your dumb enough to fish a trout pond, that is fly fishing only without a license, then you deserve a ticket. Trout ponds are the most patroled places in the state. Money from fishing licenses go towards raising trout. Therefore, the police, don't want rule breakers poaching them. Rhode Island Enviremental Police could care less about carp, if these kids were fishing a carp pond in the woods, they never would have gotten caught. Only an idiot, would fish a this pond more than once and expect never to get caught. Also, Trout Unlimited considers this "their" pond. They would not take to kindly to seeing guys using spinning gear. Hell, They hate me using my kayak ( the difference is the kayak is legal).

Enough about that. After they got their tickets they all left, I had the pond to myself. The fish kept hitting. I ended up catching 10 trout. I also had four or five more on. It was the best night I ever had at this pond. It is loaded with fish. As long as the weather stays cool, they should continue to bite.

Lastly, another interesting thing happened. I was paddling to the south side of the pond about dusk. I saw an animal swimming in the same direction. I assumed it was a muskrat. As I got closer, I expected it to sound ( dive). It never did. It turned out to be a bunny rabbit. It swam all the way across. I didn't even know rabbits could swim. What an interesting night.

May was a Fluke

 I didn't fish nearly as much this May as I normally do. Last month went by so quickly. I can't believe its June. Sadly, it seems like striper fishing in Rhode Island may be over. I'm going to give Jamestown a shot this week.  If I don't get any stripers, I'm going to come up for different ideas this summer. I will probably burn less gas going fishing on a daily basis and save most of my week's allotment of gas on going to New Hampshire on my two days off.

The reason I wrote fluke in the title was because I got one the other night. I caught it fishing one of my favorite bay locations. It was just legal. Therefore, it came home with me. Fluke is the most delicious fish on the planet. It was the only fish I caught that night on a perfect tide. If the fluke wasn't so delicious it would have been a real disappointing night.