Bike, to Hike, to Bike Adventure.

Wendy and Dan planned today's adventure...bike, then hike, hike and hike some more, then bike again .  It was overcast, windy and cool but rather than cancel, if they were going...we were going along.

We left about 9:50 with a temperature of 57* and winds blowing at 13 mph.  We arrived at the Brown Mtn. Gatehouse at 10:09 under a light rain ;o(

We rode our bikes along the Hadlock Brook Loop.  First time I've ridden with a backpack, which I'm sure weighed about 50 pounds, since I brought along a lot of warm clothes ...just in case! At least there was some water at the Waterfall Bridge.

And the other side...

We rode until we reached the Parkman/Bald Mtn. Trail, although we weren't hiking either of those.  Go figure...

We secured our bikes to trees, changed our shoes and off we went - down the trail and across the road to the Goat Trail, our way up Norumbega Mtn.

It's called the Goat Trail for good reason!  It rises 600 feet in only .3 mile.

At least there are steps!

Serious steepness...

We were often hiking in a light mist, just enough to make the rocks slippery.

No steps here.

This rock seems a little out of place.

It took us an hour to reach the summit.

They are so darn cute ;o)

The view from the summit is obscured by trees (and fog, today) but about 150 yards further down the trail, there is a nice ledge with good views, or so the guide book says.

Pano view

We ate lunch here before heading down.  It was a long walk back, taking two hours, but better than going down the Goat Trail!  

Once we reached the bottom, we had to walk back along Lower Hadlock Pond in order to reach the Goat Trail trailhead, then hike back to the bikes.

It was nice walking along the pond, and once we reached the upper end, there was a waterfall and a nice bridge.  Good place to take a short rest.

This trail is quite shady and damp, which leads to some great lichen and moss.

Very white and soft to the touch

There's no way these pictures do the feeling of this place justice.  I told Bill it seems like a place where fairies live.

There was some strange growth on the trees, too.

This was the first time I hiked in bike pants and by now I felt like I had a pile of poo in my pants.  Not that comfortable...

We eventually made it back to the bikes and back to the car.  I couldn't decide if I should change from my hiking boots into my bike shoes for the final ride and although Wendy said "I'm pretty sure it's almost all downhill from here", I did change my shoes.  As it turns out...it was "almost all downhill" by Acadia standards, but it was most definitely NOT almost all downhill.  ;o)

It took us about 5 hours start to finish, including a 3.9 mile bike ride and a 3.2 mile hike.

From here to The Asticou Inn where we settled ourselves on the deck overlooking Northeast Harbor for a much deserved cup of soup, hot popovers and beverages.

Ahhhhh...great adventure, great company!

We followed Wendy & Dan into town to be sure they didn't run out of gas before reaching the gas station and got back to our cottage about 5:30.  We were pooped.

Watched the Red Sox until it became clear they were going to get creamed by the Yankees, then took a shower.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

A Hiking and Biking Day in Acadia

Monday, September 21, 2015

Cool when we woke up this morning (48*) but clear and sunny!  The four of us left Edgewater around 9:30 and drove into Bar Harbor to walk over the sand bar to Bar Island.  In all the years we have been going to Bar Harbor, this is one of the places we have never visited.  The island can only be reached twice a day, one and a half hours either side of low tide and we never seemed to time it right.  

It's a very quick walk, taking about ten minutes to cross the sand bar and reach the island, then another 15-20 minutes to reach the summit.  We were rewarded with nice views of Bar Harbor and Cadillac Mountain from a different perspective. 

Photo bomb!

Bar Island summit...or not

After returning and looking again at the map, I think we may have missed the summit completely, stopping where everyone else stopped, assuming it was the summit.  Good grief...

We wandered along the water's edge on our way back.

Wendy checked out the water temperature, while Bill played lifeguard...

Brrr, looks warmer than it is

The water was crystal clear.

  

There are lots of rock cairns built along the shore.

Photo by Wendy

If you look closely near the left edge of the photo, you can see the cruise ship docked for the day.

There's lots of life in the tide pools and Dan found one of them.

We arrived back at the car around 11:30, the temp was up to 70*.  

From there, we drove to the North lot at Jordan Pond House and rode the Jordan Pond/Bubble Pond Loop.  This beautiful pair of horses passed us on the carriage road.

We left at 12:25 and arrived at Bubble Pond at 1:10 where we stopped for lunch. It was such a gorgeous day!

There's just a hint of what's to come up on the hill.

We were back at the car and ready for popovers by 2:40; Dan said it was 9.27 miles, uphill both ways!!!

We sat outside today and the popovers were much better than yesterday, thankfully.

We returned to the cottage and enjoyed the remaining sun.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Biking Acadia...Around the Mountain II

This ride kicked my butt, therefore I nicknamed it The Ride From Hell!  Bill found it in the book, "Discover Acadia National Park".  It was described as 18.1 miles, without the difficult sections found in the Around the Mountain loop.  HA!  that is totally false.  I swear this ride was 18 miles uphill and .1 mile downhill.  The book indicated it would take 5 hours to complete this loop; however, it took us about 3 hours to do the entire loop although we stopped for lunch and to take pictures and catch our breath.  I started walking the uphill sections after the first couple of hours.  I just couldn't pedal uphill any more!  

For the most part, this ride takes you through the woods.  However, there are a couple of sections with nice, distant views and you pass over several wonderful bridges built in the 1930's.

The morning was very foggy at our cabin but was clearing by the time we got started.  We began our trip at the end of Eagle Lake and went counter clockwise around the loop.

Eagle Lake with fog on the distant mountains

We traveled along the length of Eagle Lake but it disappeared fairly quickly as we pedaled up a nice, long hill.  Before too long we came across Aunt Betty Pond.

We rested our bikes along Waterfall Bridge

Hadlock Brook

and took a short walk down to the brook, where we ate lunch.

The view at lunch

As we continued our ride, we crossed the Amphitheater Bridge which is the longest bridge in the park at 235 feet.  The construction is absolutely gorgeous.

 

 and the Cliffside Bridge, my favorite.  There were nice views along this section.

 

 

We rode and rode and rode and finally reached Bubble Pond, which Bill told me was Eagle Lake and we were nearly done.  WooHoo! 

Cadillac Mtn from the edge of Bubble Pond

The end of Bubble Pond.  No fog now ;o)

Unfortunately, we had another mile or so to pedal before we reached Eagle Lake and our car ;o(  The fog burned off completely and the day turned out to be a beautiful one with temps warming into the 70's.

If you enjoy riding the carriage roads and want to spend several hours doing so, you will probably enjoy this loop.   There are several other loops you can enjoy if you want something shorter.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)