Day 06 - Acadia NP Day 03

After yesterday’s amazing ride around the island and surrounding area, today would be hiking Acadia part deux. We went back to 2Cats for breakfast, and were the first in line when they opened at 7am. We got a great table inside only to learn that a party of eight, including two rambunctious children, would be seated next to us. Our waiter, Tobias, graciously moved us to another room. Jerry ordered the Maine wild blueberry pancakes, Rob had traditional eggs benedict despite him saying he would not order anything due to being full from the night before, and Michele had apple cinnamon pancakes. So yummy!

With full bellies we got the bikes uncovered and hit the road at 8:30am. We contemplated taking the island shuttle bus to our hiking locations today but realized the first shuttle didn’t begin until 9am. We opted instead to take the bikes and leave early enough to get a parking spot at the trailhead.

Today’s weather was forecasted to be perfect, high 60s, sun and scattered clouds. We arrived at the Bubble Pond parking area before 9am, got in our hiking gear and found the trailhead. Last night we found a trail recommendation online (Joe’s Guide to Acadia). He recommended the Bubble Rock trail, which is a famous view in Acadia of a gigantic boulder carried by glaciers and left at the very edge of a cliff edge on top of the mountain. There are two mountains in this area, the South Bubble and North Bubble, both of which face Jordan Pond, another famous park attraction.

Before long we were on the South Bubble trail ascending to the summit. Jerry decided that after conquering the Beehive trail two days ago, that he needed a more challenging route to the summit. He just popped up out of nowhere!

At the top, the mountain was domed with more of the local granite. 

Around the corner a bit we found the famous boulder. Wow!

After gawking and goofing off a bit here (Rob tried to push it over the edge), we found the path downward to Jordan Pond, which is seen in the previous picture. Little did we know that the “spicier route” as described by Joe’s Guide, was fairly challenging in the down direction. 

Other hikers were going up, but not us! The route is best described as a granite boulder and rock avalanche. We survived the trip down, and after resting our wobbly legs a few minutes, we started the more sedate 3-mile trail around the lake. 

The two rounded humps are the mountains we just descended. Halfway around the lake we discovered a restaurant and decided to grab lunch. Rob and Jerry each ordered the fresh squeezed blueberry lemonade and Michele got iced blueberry herbal tea. The waitress brought out the drinks and with them little carafes of sugar water. “For the lemonade. It’s really tart.” She wasn’t kidding! A 10 on the tart scale. The sugar water did help. Jerry ordered a grilled cheese and Michele got a salad with grilled chicken. Rob was still full from breakfast. It was a really nice restaurant and gave us a break for the next three hours of hiking still to do.

After lunch we began the second half of the lake path, and were met with a very different hiking experience. The majority of it was via wooden raised pathways (split logs on short stilts) to help protect the plant-life from all of the human traffic. 

Near the end of the trail we got this wonderful surprise, a Common Loon mama on her nest with an egg underneath.

Her feather markings were impressive and geometric and her black head was incredibly smooth as if it was painted on. We finished the Jordan Pond trail and got on the Bubbles Divide trail which runs between the North and South Bubbles. Having already ascended the South Bubble, we made our way up the North Bubble. After so many miles and already having climbed up and down one mountain today, our legs were a bit tired. The views were worth it!

The wind started to pickup and a little bit of rain began to fall. We took that as our cue to head back to the bikes. We descended faster than we went up and were so glad to sit on the bikes’ cushy seats again. We estimate we did about 6-7 miles of challenging hiking today. On the bikes, a quick trip to the Visitor’s Center was last on the agenda to get a stamp for Rob and Michele's National Park passport. The Acadia movie was a bit sappy, so we didn’t stay long there.

Back at the hotel, we freshened up and met 30 minutes later for dinner. We walked back to Main Street to Paddy’s Irish restaurant that faced the waterfront. Great views and food so good that Michele even ate the crab/lobster/cheese fondue dip and tried Rob’s lobster bisque. She still had a hamburger for her main course, so not a seafood lover yet!

After dinner we meandered over to the docks and saw our “pirate ship” out for its evening sail.

We found enough room to each get ice cream, then headed over to the grocery store to pick up lunch items for tomorrow’s trip into Canada.