Acadia National Park
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 25 Aug 2007 04:57
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44:17.712N 68:16.826W
Just a few notes about Bar Harbor, the Thuya
Garden, Asticou Terraces and Acadia National Park...
We did the tourist thing and spent an afternoon in
Bar Harbor. Very pretty waterfront, nice view of more lobster pots and
some gorgeous New England style cedar-sided 'cottages' built by the rich and
famous back in the early 1900's.
In Northeast Harbor, there is dinghy access to the
Thuya Garden and Asticou Terraces. Once at the garden, there is a short
path through the woods that connects up with one of the many hiking paths and
'carriage roads' that wind through Acadia park.
The path up the terraces from the harbor shore was
created in the 1920's and the garden was created later in the
1950's. The land was privately owned until the late 1920's when
it was willed to the residents of Mount Desert Island. Basically, anyone
can walk the terrace paths and view the garden. Very nice. The first
picture below shows part of the garden.
We walked from the garden to one of the Acadia park
trails and spent the afternoon walking through the network of trails
and carriage roads ('carriage roads' were created in the 30's to encourage
travel through the park via horse drawn carriages, bicycles or walking, and
discourage automobiles). We walked over many granite bridges
along the way, and the second picture below shows one that we
encountered. I suggested a hike up one of the many mountains, but couldn't
convince Don that it would be a good use of his time. 'I think we are
getting plenty of exercise' was his response. Way too
practical.
The path we took ended up at Jordan Pond,
where the bubble mountains can be seen rising above the pond. See the
picture below. I think you'll understand why Don fondly referred to these
as 'the boobs'. Needless to say, I had to pry him away from the view in
order for us to catch a bus back to the harbor. : )
We enjoyed the park and this entire area immensely,
and could easily spend a week or two here, but time is ticking and we
have to move on. The 4 nights we've spent here are a record for
us as we haven't spent more than 3 nights anywhere else so far.
It was good to stay put for a while, but we've got a lot of miles to travel
and more cool places to visit here in Maine. We'll be leaving tomorrow
(Saturday, 8/25) and heading southwest to an island in the Penobscot
Bay (we haven't decided which island yet because we are seriously waiting to see
which way the wind will take us - we are determined to sail!).
Anne
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