Big Payoff, Little Effort

We said good-bye to Wendy and Dan as they headed home today. ;o( We left the cottage around 11:30 to hike the Beech Mountain Loop Trail, a new one for us.  I liked it right from the beginning due to the bathroom in the parking lot!  

This is the only hike in the park with a fire tower at the top.  It was fairly steep but only took us about 20 minutes to reach the summit.

Pretty incredible view from the summit and we were able to climb to the first level of the fire tower. 

Cranberry Islands

We had our snacks at the summit and we got to meet this pretty girl from Boston.

Hi Sugar!

Her owner said she was nervous around people but he brought her over to say hello and after a few sniffs and head scratches, she rolled over for some tummy rubs.  A very sweet girl.

We hiked down the rest of the loop trail and were glad we did.  It was a much more gentle trail which took us about 30 minutes; however, we stopped to enjoy the view of Long Pond.  It really was a spectacular day with a light breeze and temps around 77*.

We left there and drove to Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse where we ate our lunch among the rocks and the shore.  

Love this speckled rock!

The tide was in so we couldn't get a good view of the lighthouse but it's there...

There was still time for a short bike ride so we left Bass Harbor and drove to the Visitor's Center where we changed into our bike shorts in the car.  Not an easy task considering the limited amount of space ;o)  Mission accomplished and we headed off to ride the Witch Hole Pond Loop.  

We have ridden this loop before, but never starting from the VC.  Wendy and Dan have ridden it several times from this direction, describing the beginning as the "worst hill in the park", which we initially doubted.  OMG...it wasn't terribly long but it was VERY steep.  Wendy texted us to ride it without stopping.  HA, I had already stopped twice by then, as had Bill.  It was so steep that when Bill pushed off to get started again, the front wheel of his bike came off the ground, tipping him over backward.  He fell off and ended up running DOWN the hill to avoid being hit by his bike.  I missed it all as I left first and didn't stop until I reached the top, where I was waiting for him by this sign.

No Shit!

Thankfully, he wasn't hurt and we proceeded on our way.  This is a nice easy ride, not too many big hills and we didn't make any wrong turns.

Witch Hole Pond

Half Moon Pond

It was fairly late in the day and I really loved the way the sun struck this field, turning it a beautiful golden color.

As it turned out, we rode this loop on the same date in 2009.

We watched a beautiful sunset from Cadillac Mountain,

then drove into town for dinner.  Our plan was to have pizza at Little Anthony's but the traffic was so bad we couldn't get near the place, so we ended up at Pat's Pizza on the other end of town.  We got back to our cottage around 8:00 after a very nice, full day.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)