Acadia Part Deux

   We did so many fun things in Acadia National Park in four days I had to split the blog post into two. The point is, if you are looking for an inexpensive outdoor family vacation, there is something in Acadia for everyone

Day 3- Thursday-

We had to get up early for the third straight day. We had to be at Ship Harbor trailhead for 7 am. We went on a ranger guided bird walk. We had signed up for it on Wednesday at the Visitor Center. It is free to go on the walk but you do need reservations because they limit the program to 20 participants.  Anyone that goes on the bird walk this time of year is a pretty experienced birder. All the families are back at home because of school. I'd say, of the 18 people (two no-shows) fifteen of us were experienced.

The small gull dead center with the smudge on its head
 is a Bonaparte Gull

There weren't a lot of birds in the woods. We saw an Osprey on a snag near the water. I've seen tons of Osprey this year, but people vacationing from far away may not. We saw Common Eider ducks and a Kingfisher. By far the best bird was a Wilson's Storm Petrel over the ocean. We also had a juvenile Black Guillemot near shore. I got two new year birds Northern Gannet and Bonaparte Gull.

After we left the bird walk we hiked up Flying Mountain. This is a short hike with 270 feet of elevation gain. However, it overlooks the mouth of the only fjord on the east coast. It is pretty, but the sun came out and it got hot really quickly. We were happy to come down and turn the A/C on. 

The opening of Somes Sound from
Flying Mountain

There are two beaches in Acadia. One is on the ocean called Sand Beach. The water is freezing. The other is a pond called Echo Lake. After coming down from Flying Mountain, Laurie and I jumped in the lake. The water was brisk, but it felt good to get the sweat off. The beach is nice white sand. There are changing rooms and a place to wash sand off of your feet. 

After our swim, we ate lunch at the Bear Brook picnic area. This is one of two picnic areas we utilized in the park, the other Fabbri near Thunder Hole. As we were finishing lunch the sky got dark and it started to rain, we went back to our tent for a couple of hours. 

When we emerged from out hiatus we went off to Jordan Pond House again. This time for "supper". Jordan Pond House is world famous for "popovers". They are bread dough shaped like a muffin. They are very airy with very little inside. They are served warm with butter and jam. Not exactly a traditional supper but getting them was on the "to do"list and we were running out of time.

Popover

After our snack we walked to another bridge, my favorite, Cobblestone Bridge. We hung out there a while taking in some Gatorade

After our walk to Cobblestone Bridge we had 90 minutes to kill before dark. We went to Bar Harbor to get our obligatory ice cream cone. I got White Macadamia Nut Coconut. At best, it was average. 

Lastly, we drove to Sand Beach for a "Stars Over Sand Beach" ranger program. There were a  lot people because of the Night Sky Festival. The sky cleared enough to see some of the constellations. After it was over we went back to camp.

Friday-

If you read all of that and thought we did a lot on Thursday, then you are going to love Friday. 

We got up early on Friday so I could go hiking. There are a couple of scary trails in the park that go straight up cliff faces.  One of them is The Beehive. It is a 500 foot mountain with a sheer cliff facing east. A trail builder drilled iron rungs into the rock for use as ladders and hand holds. Because he did this, adventurers can hike up a cliff instead of rock climb.  It is not recommended for those with a fear of heights because you will be hiking up the side of a cliff.

This is the cliff on Beehive

Laurie couldn't hike The Beehive because she had massive blisters between her toes. I planned on getting up, hiking, and driving back to her. Instead she got up with me. She dropped me off at the trailhead near Sand Beach and hung out by Thunder Hole a mile down the road. This added the same mile to my hike, but I got to walk along the beautiful Ocean Path.

Iron rungs to be used as a ladder

A shelf to walk along the cliff

A ladder above me

I'm not one for selfies, but I liked the sign

Like I said the path goes up a cliff. It starts out as a rough trail until you reach the cliff face in about five minutes. Then you climb up and over rock slabs. In precarious places the iron hand holds and ladders are the only way up.

 Once on top, I made it over the summit to an overlook of The Bowl. This is a very pretty mountain lake completely surrounded by rounded peaks. It was very pretty. I looked at the lake and came down the backside of the mountain. Going down the Beehive Trail IS NOT an option. From the bottom I walked to Thunder Hole via Ocean Path.

The Bowl, just past Beehive summit

After my hike, Laurie and I drove back up Cadillac Mountain. There is a Hawk Watch there from 9-1 everyday in the fall. This is just like the Hawk Watch I go to at Wachusett every year. The only difference is the main species. At Wachusett, you are mostly going to see Broad Winged Hawks. On Cadillac the main species are Kestrels and Sharp Shinned. We sat with all the birders for a couple of hours. We had the perfect weather for hawk migration (north wind to push them south and sunny weather so they can ride thermals)

Birding was terrific. We saw many species including five bald eagles. We had a couple of hawks buzz us. I only got one good picture, it is the Northern Harrier below.

We left around 12:30 and drove to the Wild Gardens of Acadia. This is a little walk around gardens of wild native plants. It is at Sier de Mont Spring at the intersection of Rt 3 & Park Loop Road. It is pleasant and nice to learn about some native plants. 

In early afternoon we went to Bar Harbor. We walked out to Bar Island looking for starfish and Sea Urchins at low tide. Unfortunately, any star fish in shallow enough water to see had already been picked up by seagulls before we got there. 

The trees in the back are Bar Island.
This sandbar is completely submerged at all but the two
hours on each side of low tide

We had reservations for the 3:45 Lobster/ Seal Cruise on the Miss Samantha. After pulling out of port the captain picks up 4-5 lobster pots. They all had lobsters in them. Then the naturalist gives us a life history of lobsters. She explained how to sex them and measure them. I learned a lot. 

You can win tickets for an upcoming boat ride if you
take a picture of yourself kissing a lobster
and put it on Instagram. Not really a big deal, right?
You wouldn't believe how many adults wouldn't
even touch it. 

The second half of the trip goes along Egg Island. We could see Harbor Seals swimming in the water.  The trip was definitely "touristy" but it was a lot of fun. 

Black Gillemot

Harbor Seal

Lighthouse on Egg Rock 

After the boat ride, I gave Bar Harbor ice cream another chance. I got Blueberry ice cream. Again, it was just okay. 

From Bar Harbor we had a 45 minute drive to Ship Harbor Picnic Area. As part of the Acadia Night Sky Festival, there was a Star Party. A Star Party is exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of people with telescopes and astronomy nerds (count me as one) get together and look at the stars. Very generously, the public is welcome. The people with scopes happily let laymen view the stars and planets through them.

The path to the telescopes was illuminated in red lights. Red lights
will not ruin your night vision like white lights will.

That little dot left of center is Mars. Sure it is not really worthy
of being shown off. Still it was such a fun night, I wanted to
remember it. 

We got there before dark. The sky was crystal clear. It was cool, cloudless, and low humidity. We could see four planets along the Elliptical (in order from l to r they were Mars,Saturn, Jupiter, and near the horizon, Venus). All of the guys with scopes had the planets locked in. We saw Saturn's rings and Jupiter with five of its moons multiple times. 

After dark, the kind people put the scopes on other sky objects. We saw a couple star clusters with half a million stars each. We saw the Andromeda Galaxy, M22, and the double star in the Big Dipper. The Milky Way was out in full force. It was spectacular. As you can imagine, this was a very crowded event. We spent about 90 minutes there then headed back to our campsite for our last night under the stars.

Below are a few more random photos from the trip. 

If you have any questions about a trip to Acadia/Bar Harbor feel free to ask in the comments. If I know the answer to your question(s) I'll gladly help you out.

If you want to enhance the scenery, try to get a boat in the photo

Unless it is an obnoxiously large cruise ship

A hint of color in the leaves

A dock in Bar Harbor

Jordan Pond House

Carriage Road at Cliffside Bridge

Acadia National Park- So Much to Do- Part 1

I've been to many national parks. I have never been to a national park that disappointed me. Some of course have more spectacular scenery than others. Some have more animals than others. The one thing I can say about Acadia National Park, it probably has more things to keep you busy  than any other park. We went there from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday morning. We found so many fun things to do that we never found time to get off of Mt. Desert Island to buy a lobster roll.

If you like spending time outdoors, it is impossible to get bored on a trip to Acadia. Here is a list of just some of the things one can do in the park or surrounding area. Of course, we did not do all of these in three and a half days, more on what we actually did below the list.

Hiking, Freshwater fishing, Saltwater fishing, Deep Sea Fishing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Sea Kayaking, Biking either the loop road or carriage roads, horseback riding, take a ride in a horse drawn carriage, Ranger program, Campfire program, Birding, Whale Watch, Nature Cruises, multiple other boat rides/trips, Tidepooling, Walk through the Wild Gardens, check out the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, get popovers at Jordan Pond, find all of Rockerfeller's bridges, Drive up Cadillac Mtn, Take in the first sunrise to touch the United States, Watch the Sunset, Star Gaze. These are just summer activities. In a month the park will be buzzing with leaf peepers. After that, cross country skiers will take over.

These are just things to do in the park. In Bar Harbor of course you can go out to eat, get an ice cream, shop, etc...

We did so many different things, it seems the best way to show you what we sampled is to go in order.

Tuesday afternoon-
Upon getting to the park we stopped at the Visitor Center and watched the film. We signed up for a boat trip to Baker Island for Wednesday. Then we drove to the summit of Cadillac Mtn. We stayed on top for over an hour

Frenchman's Bay from atop Cadillac Mountain

The town of Bar Harbor. The island on the left is Bar Island.
Notice the sandbar going out to it. You can walk out at low tide.
The right island is Sheep

After driving down Cadillac Mountain he went to our campground and checked in. We set up our tent in Blackwoods Campground. The site was smooth (crushed stone for a tent pad) and the bathrooms were clean.

Next we drove to Jordan Pond House. We stopped at Jordan Pond and walked one of the Carriage Roads to Cliffside Bridge. We saw a Porcupine along the way.

Jordan Pond and "the Bubbles" North Bubble is on the left
South is on the right. We hiked South Bubble Wednesday.

Cliffside Bridge

After we walked back to the car we went back to our campground. There was a campground program at the amphitheater about finding the Primeval Forest. It was pretty scientific and interesting.

Wednesday morning. 

We had to be in Bar Harbor before 8 am to catch our boat to Baker Island. Baker Island is owned by the Park Service. It used to be inhabited by a family that lived on the island. The house is still there, and it gets used occasionally. There is also a lighthouse. You have to make reservations with the boat company to go. There is a ranger on board the boat that narrates the highlights of the trip. He also goes ashore and leads the group.The boat trip to the island took 90 minutes.  It is really pretty and my favorite part of the trip.

The boat ride is with a private company (Bar Harbor Whale Watches). The cost is $49. The trip lasts approximately five hours (8-1 pm)There are a lot of pictures below

View from Baker Island back towards Mt Desert Island

Baker Island Lighthouse

This is the little shuttle boat that took us from the main boat
 Ranger Dusty watching the passangers 

Another view from Baker Island. The boat is what took us from
Bar Harbor to the island. Her name is Miss Samantha

House still occasionally used

As I said, the boat ride was my favorite part of the Baker Island Tour. We saw an eagle (well, some people did) . Laurie and I saw Black Guillemots, Harbor Seals, and Harbor Porpoises. The scenery along the Mt Desert coast is second to none. The sky was perfect and the seas were flat. Just a great day to be on the water

Harbor Porpoises

Harbor Seals 

Sea cliffs

I just liked this buoy

Thunder Hole from the ocean

Classic Maine coastline. Notice how calm it is.
There isn't even any whitewater splashing the rocks

After we got back, we drove the Park Loop Road and we took off for our hike to South Bubble. South Bubble is a short hike of about .5 miles and an elevation gain of 500 feet. What makes it special is a large boulder on top. A glacier carried a huge boulder to the top of this mountain depositing it on the edge of a cliff. We marveled at it for half an hour before heading back down

After we got down from South Bubble we drove back to Cadillac Mountain. We managed to get to the top to catch the sunset. The sunset was really just a bonus. We really went to the top to stargaze. After it finally got dark, we lied on our backs and looked at all the stars for an hour (it got chilly). Acadia is the darkest national park east of the Mississippi River. The sky was clear and the moon was new so the sky was black. We were in awe of all of the stars and the Milky Way. After leaving our tent at 6 am, we finally made it back at 9:30 after a really fun filled day.

Note- Acadia is so dark that the weekend after Labor Day there is an Acadia Night Sky Festival.  The festival ran from Wednesday night thru the weekend. We got to enjoy some of the festivities, but that is for part 2.

Others taking in the sunset

Living the salt Life Again- Short Version

The albie fly, while not the best lure for the day still
scored me dozens of feeding stripers.

I had the last two days off from work. I spent both days down by the ocean. Here is the short version.

Thursday

YESTERDAY WAS HOT!!!!!

I got to the ocean at 6:30. It was so hot and humid at 6:30.  I could shake my head and sweat would pour off. My friend, Dick, came down to fish with me.  I caught a bunch of stripers on an albie fly and float, hoping to get a bonito. It was so hot that by 9 am I was done fishing. The fish were still biting but, I couldn't take it.

I left to go birding in Charlestown. I saw at least 5 Western Sandpipers, which is a lot for around here. As the name implies, most of them live on the west coast. A few show up on the East Coast, but 5 in Charlestown is a lot. I also saw White Rumped Sandpiper and two Pectoral Sandpipers.

I went fishing again at the same spot I fished in the morning. It was loaded with fish. I caught so many that I got bored and left before dark. My friend Dave, and his son Jon, caught even more than me. The hot lure was the Jumpin' Minnow. However, I stayed with my single hooked Albie Fly. I caught more than my fair share of fish anyway.

Friday-

The weather was much nicer today. The high at the ocean was around 78 and the humidity was much lower.

I went birding because of a report I read. Caspian Tern and Buff Breasted Sandpiper were seen in Charlestown. I went down and saw the tern but dipped on the sandpiper.

I drove back up north to fish the rocks. By the time I got there the water was dirty. The fish had stopped biting, and the bait had disappeared. Still, it was nice out and there worse things I could be doing than standing on rocks, enjoying the breeze, and casting my surf rod.

Pictures below of Western Sandpiper. It is the bird with the long droopy bill

Nathanael Greene Homestead (NGH)

This is a picture I took of his portrait in
Second Bank Portrait Gallery,
Philadelphia, PA

If you drive on Route 95 by Exit 7 in Rhode Island you will see a brown sign that says "Nathanael Greene Homestead this Exit". I have driven by the sign dozens of times during the years, yet I never checked it out, that is, until Sunday afternoon.

Nathanael Greene was a key player in the Colonies fight for independence against England. His rank in the second half of the war was second only to General George Washington. He was put in command of the southern troops in 1780. He was one of three generals to serve the full 8 years of the war. Greene was born in Warwick, RI, but the house he built, that we visited is in Coventry, RI

The NGH was built in Coventry next to a foundry that Nathanael and his brother Jacob ran. It sits close to a river which is roughly a hundred yards in the back yard. Laurie and I visited it on Sunday afternoon. The cost is $8. It is only open Fri-Mon 10-5. Any other info can be found at their website.

http://nathanaelgreenehomestead.org/#

You go into a Visitor Center where you watch a fifteen minute film that chronicles the life of Greene. After that, a docent takes you on a tour of the house. You go into each  room and they explain artifacts in the room, how the Greene's would have lived, and which items are original to the house. The docents all seemed to be high school kids. The kid that gave us the tour was an absolute history buff. He knew far more about Greene, the Revolutionary War, and even Russian History (we may have gotten a little off subject in our conversation) than was required for the job. I would guess in busier times and a bigger crowd, it is probably less than a 45 minute tour.

Nathanael Greene Homestead, Coventry, RI

The tour lasted about an hour but that is probably because our conversation about current events and politics. After we walked out of the house, we walked down to the cemetery where many people were buried including other Revolutionary War soldiers, but not Nathanael Greene.

Books were one of the most expensive items in Colonial times
and fire was a real danger. So Greene kept his books in this
leather chest. In case of a fire he could pick it up and throw it out
the window. Which is a lot easier than trying to throw a
bookshelf out the window.  

One of my favorite things about the house was one of its visitors. Marquis de Lafayette. He was friends with Greene and visited him up in Rhode Island. I just find it fascinating that two heroes cared enough for each other to visit.  The house had many artifacts. Some were original to Nathanael Greene, some to the time period. Others were reproductions to help visitors understand living at that time.

Greene used this desk when he was"on campaign"
with the army writing letters, orders, and reports

After the war, Greene was given a large land grant in Georgia and died there at the age of 43 of sunstroke.

The top photo in this picture is of
Marquis de Lafayette

A Salt Life Weekend

Two of these terns are the same. Can you tell which is not
the same? Two are Foresters and one is a Common Tern
Answer at the bottom of the post

There is no better place to be in the world than a New England coastline in September. The air has cooled and the humidity is gone. Shorebird migration is full swing. Most excitingly, there is usually a ton of bait. Behind that bait is a mix of stripers, blues, and albies. September is awesome. 

So why am I promoting September in late August? Because, this year, we are experiencing mid-September fishing a month early. That is right, I have never personally seen this much bait and fish for this time of year, but that is for another paragraph. We begin with yesterday morning...

I woke up yesterday morning at the ungodly hour of 5:15 to meet my bird club at Napatree Point. I had to be there for 7 am. I was a few minutes late so I had to catch up. We went out to the lagoon and on our way out a guy told us of a Red Necked Pharlope. We hustled out and we all saw it. It's a cool little shorebird that swims. When it swims, it will swim in circles frantically. We also saw Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Red Knots and Oystercatchers. I ended up with three year birds and a lifer (Pharlope).

I left there and went to Trustom by myself. It was dead there. I saw more frogs than birds. The most interesting thing I saw was the picture below of a Bull Frog eating a Green Frog. However, between Nap and Trustom, I probably walked four miles, so I felt like I got my exercise in.

The tide had dropped enough while I was walking at Trustom to put my kayak in Ninigret Pond. I paddled out to the mudflats and birded some more. I didn't see any new birds or even any rare birds  in my hour of birding so I looked for quahogs. I found a few in 45 minutes. When I looked up from quahogging, I saw three birders a hundred yards away. They were the people from my bird walk. I walked over to them and made sure I hadn't missed anything. We birded together for another 45 minutes.

One of the many fish today

By this point it was late afternoon and time to go fishing! I rehydrated in the car and headed north. I pulled into a parking lot and brought my gear to the water. When I looked down I saw hundreds of stripers cruising past me ten feet form shore! I made a cast and was on. By the time I let the 25 inch schoolie go, the bass parade was over, but the bait moved in. I had a huge school of bay anchovies right in front of me. However, to my left, birds were working over a huge school of bait (it turned out to be peanut bunker. After a few minutes, the bass joined the party. For the next 2.5 hours I watched blitz after blitz of bass tear into the school of baitfish. I caught a bunch of fish including two keepers all on a walk the dog type of plug (I don't know the actual name, but it works like a Jumpin' Minnow). I also caught a decent bluefish.

The next morning (Saturday, today) I "slept in" but was out of the house at 7:45. I was invited back to Charlestown by the members of my club I saw after quahogging. When I pulled my kayak up, I saw at least ten spotting scopes. Almost all of Rhode Island's best birders were there. So yes, I kept my mouth shut and just learned. I was hoping to see either a Western Sandpiper or a Whimbrel. I hadn't seen either yet this year and both are kind of rare. I have been actively looking for them for two weeks without any luck.

Whimbrel

As today's luck would have it a Whimbrel showed up on the flats. all of us got a great look at it. It was hiding/feeding in some tall grass and all we could see was its head. Then it flew out of the grass right towards us and fed not 30 feet from us. Great pictures were had by all. It hung out for five minutes then flew off. We were lucky to see it, but made reporting it for others a waste of time because it flew far out of sight.

So after I birded this morning of course I went back to see if the fish were still around. To my astonishment they were. I saw stripers blitz for an hour under the mid-day sun. I ended up catching eleven. They were all big schoolies. Unfortunately and painfully I only had an hour. I had to leave and pick up parts for my car. The place closed at 3 pm so I had to leave breaking fish that were literally at my feet at 1:30. I can't tell you how hard that was for me. Today's fish were all caught on an albie fly and a wooden egg. I knew I'd catch stripers on it, but really wanted a bonito if one showed up.



Answer- The Common Tern is all the way to the left. The subtle differences are- the Common Tern is showing a speck of orange on the bill and has more black behind its head. Also, it is a juvenile adults look nothing like this. Welcome to my world!

Thus ending my weekend of living the Salt Life. Next week on my offdays I'm supposed to go to New Hampshire. However, I might have to rethink my plans if September fishing is still going on the last two days of August!!!


Actually, I have one more weekend treat to enjoy!