Kebo Mtn.

We left the cottage at 10:03, 55* and mostly cloudy and drove past the parking area again, hoping to score a space for the Cadillac North Ridge Trail but it appears we are not meant to hike that one this year.  We proceeded with Plan B again, Kebo Mtn.  Although my list of hikes completed has this checked off, neither of us remember it...at all...and there are no notes about the hike, which is very unusual for me.  I said maybe it was before my OCD completely took over ;o)

I think we found the last parking space in the Sieur de Monts Springs parking lot!  WooHoo ;o)  We headed out around 10:40, took the Hemlock Trail to the Kebo Mtn Trail to the summit. 

Hemlock Trail

An early trail marker "Strath Eden Path"

However...this was the completely, totally wrong way to go!  We got off the trail a couple of times but thankfully Bill found his way back without too much difficulty.  It had poured rain last night and it was very obvious that it did some damage to the trails.  We should have reached the top from the other side!  Also thankfully, the summit is only 407'.

The guidebook touts "great 360* views".  Here's the best one I could find.

If you look super, duper close you might see the ocean.

The way down, which should have been the way up, we did see some Showy Mountain Ash

and some peeks of the Kebo Valley Club, the 8th oldest golf club in the nation.

This section of the trail was recently reworked and was pretty easy on our legs.

Once we found our way down, we were still unsure which way to return to the car but Magellan figured out a way, although it turned out to be the long way!  

We ended up on the Great Meadow Loop, the Hemlock Road and the Jesup Path.  There was evidence of some early color along the Hemlock Road.

Admittedly, the Jesup Path is one of my favorites.  It's a nice boardwalk with benches located along the way.  We stopped and had lunch here but were a little disappointed that we didn't see any wildlife and it was very quiet...no birds, no frogs, no nothin'.

The View at Lunch

The ferns were beautiful!

Overall, it was an easy hike, even though we totally screwed it up.

We planned to go to the Asticou Inn for more popovers but it was too early so we headed to Northeast Harbor to walk around and kill some time.

It's a cute little town with a small Main Street and a large harbor, although there are a lot of places to visit on the town map.

We wandered into a couple of stores but didn't see anything we absolutely needed to have.  I did, however, want a cold beverage and we ended up in the 123 Main Street.  A small, clean "grab 'n' go" establishment with fresh sandwiches made daily, lots of yummy pastries (many gluten free) and cold drinks.  Since we were still planning on popovers and tea, we ordered lemonades.  

They were very good, not too tart and not too sweet.  We were siting on the available couch, just chilaxin and the owner brought us a palmier, saying she couldn't watch us sit there without something sweet and we should try this French pastry.  Well...it was delicious!  A very light sweet pastry and easily divided, although we both could have eaten the entire thing alone.

Very sly sales technique on her part because it was so good, we bought two to take with us.

By the time we left, we decided we didn't need to go for popovers, so we headed home.  But first, we searched out a "hidden gem" that I saw posted on a FB page I follow called I Love Bar Harbor Maine.

As it turns out, it isn't far from where we stay.  It's a small lake at the very fringe of Acadia, called Lake Wood.

We walked down a short hill from the small parking lot and voilá, there it was.  Funny thing...there were two women along the shore who turned out to be sisters.  They grew up in Bar Harbor, their father had been a summer park ranger for years and neither one of them was aware of this lake.  It had a nice beach and one of the sisters has a neighbor that says he swims here all the time.  This will be beautiful when the foliage is peak and the sky is blue.

We sat in chairs by the shore and read for awhile and I visited with Wendy.  It's totally different when the tide is out and is going to be one of the perfect places to spend my everafter.

Bill grilled chicken early and we went to Hadley Point to watch the sunset.  There was a large cloud bank along the horizon and we thought it would be a wasted trip, but we were very surprised.  The sunset was spectacular.

These were from my cell phone but Bill took better ones with the "real" camera.  

(insert sunset photos here)

We ate dinner when we got home, I took a shower and we watched the season openers of the Chicago shows.

Thanks for stopping by...
:o)

Riding Around Schoodic

Woke up to a cloudy sky and it appeared to have rained overnight.  We left around 10:40, more like our usual departure time, 66* and mostly cloudy.  As we only had about 30 miles before running out of gas, we stopped in Trenton for gas ($2.46/gal) and Aroma Joe's in Ellsworth for a hot beverage, then on to Schoodic Peninsula, which is part of Acadia National Park.

We got to the parking area at 11:57, down to 64* but the sun was trying to break through the clouds.  Schoodic is a beautiful place...lots of rocks and waves and there's no charge for parking, although you still need a park pass.

We made our way to the Wansqueak Harbor parking area, unloaded our bikes and headed out on the bike path to cover the 2.7 miles to Frazer Point.  Neither of us remembered that the bike path is seriously uphill 90% of the way and the crushed gravel is difficult to maneuver.  However, the smell of balsam along the way was marvelous. 

It took us about 30 minutes to reach Frazer Point, where we ate lunch.  Of course, it spit rain on us the whole time but we sat at a nice picnic table near the water.

My colorful wrap

This is a really nice little park along the Schoodic loop road.  We had a nice view over the water toward Winter Harbor.

There was a new, improved fishing pier, which provided good views in another direction.

We actually managed to take a decent selfie ;o)

From here we rode along the paved (yay) loop road back to the parking area, 3.4 miles, where we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the area a little longer.

One of the views along the loop road

The sun was trying so hard to shine and it felt so good when it did!

It was another 3 miles back to the car.  For most of the way, this road travels right along the shore and most of it is one way traffic. The smells and the views make the trip very enjoyable.  We made it back to the car at 3:05.

We stopped at McDonalds in Ellsworth on our way home for iced coffees, along with muffins for tomorrow.  We arrived at the cottage at 4:45 and unloaded the car in the rain.  

We had left the windows open and the cottage was pretty chilly.  We turned on the heat, sat in the recliner and read while it POURED rain.  Thankfully we weren't still hiking or biking in the park!

We headed into town around 5:45 and stopped at the Katahdin Art Gallery because we (well, I) want a nice fall picture to hang above our bed during the fall/winter months.  It will replace the ocean one that has hung there year round for years. We (well, I) hemmed and hawed and finally made a decision, asking the owner if he could print it larger for us.  We ended up getting an unmatted print, 22 x 33, which he printed and packaged for us while we waited.

photo by Steve Bart/ Katahdin Art Gallery, Bar Harbor, ME

I can't wait to have it matted and framed, just not sure who to trust to do it.

From there we went up the road to use our gift card at Pat's Pizza, where we could park for free, rather than pay for another hour's parking at $2/hour.  The parking meters, which were installed earlier this summer, have netted the town of Bar Harbor $1,000,000 MORE than was originally projected!!!

Of course, Pat's Pizza is not open on Tuesdays!  So instead, we drove to what used to be Little Anthony's, which is now The Tailgate, paid for another hour's parking and ate dinner there, instead.  Got home by 8:30 and watched another segment of the Ken Burns "History of Country Music" program on MainePublic TV.

I could see stars when we got home ;o)

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

It's All About Plan B

Got up early in order to get a parking space so we could hike the Cadillac North Ridge Trail.  Apparently, you need to get up at the crack of dawn in order to park in the park!  I liked the "good ole days" better when Acadia wasn't so darn crowded.  

We left the cottage before 9:00, which is unheard of for us!  It was 68*, mostly cloudy and breezy.  Got to the parking area, all eleven spaces, by 9:06 and didn't someone pull into the only available space two seconds before us. ;o(  Pulled over a little beyond where we wanted to park and didn't that same damn car go past us.  Apparently, they pulled in to see the view, of which there isn't one, and pulled right back out again.  GRRRRRR  

We drove out of the park and back around, hoping to catch an open spot, only to have the same damn thing happen again.  One space open and a car pulls into it Right.In.Front.Of.US!!!  Apparently we were not meant to hike that trail today.

Sooooo, we drove to the parking area at Sand Beach and decided to hike The Beehive.  Not my favorite hike, makes me very anxious.

We hit the trailhead at 9:50

It seemed there were a number of new iron rungs and handholds but I was still super anxious.

There are a number of great views of Sand Beach but the light wasn't the best for taking pictures ;o(  and I'm too technologically challenged to figure out how to adjust it on my phone, which just totally makes me mad.

We reached the summit in about 50 minutes, not too far off our previous times of around 45 minutes.  

Took our summit photo, which for some reason, was not easy and it didn't come out very well. (sigh) 

(I'll insert the photo here when I ever figure out how to get it out of my Airdrop!)

There are some nice views of the Porcupine Islands from the summit.

There's a little color.

From the summit, we headed down the other side and toward The Bowl, a pond among the mountains.

I found this rock in the path.

We have had lunch at The Bowl several times and were surprised to see "our" rock was free from other hikers, so we sat and ate our lunch.  It was still cloudy and breezy, but fairly warm, around 68*.  Not bad but I prefer a sunny day.

Did I say "breezy"?  Well, "someone" didn't stow their plastic lids appropriately and one of them blew into the water.  Thankfully, the wind was blowing toward us.  

That does not belong in there.

Since I thought the "someone" involved was me, I took off my boots and socks and went in after it.

The water was cool but not freezing, quite nice actually.

Only after I climbed back out, did I learn that the "someone" was NOT me, but was, however, Bill.

(more photos to insert...)

We headed back to the car around 11:53 and got to the car about 12:30.  We used the restroom and walked to Thunder Hole, stopping at the gift shop for a cold beverage.  Bill spotted this cool mushroom.  I had to take two pictures because the first one had my finger in it.  Good grief!

Not much happening at Thunder Hole but we sat on the rocks for awhile and enjoyed the view.  The ocean was pretty calm today.

Back to the car and off to The Asticou Inn for popovers and tea.

Nice view of Northeast Harbor and the gardens at the Inn.

The sun actually came out for a short time.  WooHoo!!!

We arrived back at the cottage about 3:30 and had plenty of time to sit in the adirondack chairs and read.  The sun stayed in Northeast Harbor. We stayed outside till about 5:00.  

I came in and took a shower.  Bill grilled steak tips for dinner.  We watched a segment of the History of Country Music on Maine Public TV.  

A pretty decent day for a Plan B.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)