Downeast Maine

The ZARventure train made it to Downeast Maine!  We pulled into Forest Ridge Campground in Ellsworth which is about 20 minutes north of Acadia National Park.  As advertised, the campground has large sites and quiet nights (as well as flat sites and well maintained gravel roads).  We had been itching for a workout so as soon as we were set up, we headed into Bangor to do a BODYATTACK class at Bangor Brewer Athletic Club.  The facility was nice and the instructor, Holly, was awesome!

Arriving at Forest Ridge Campground

The next day, we headed into Acadia National Park with the goals of driving the Park Loop Road and hiking up Penobscot Mountain from Jordan Pond. However, one of the routes we chose was closed along the way, due to peregrine falcon nesting, so we had to alter course slightly but still made it to the peak. We were a little surprised the trail closing wasn’t posted anywhere at the visitors’ center or at the start of the trail and were also a little bummed not to see any peregrine falcons…I guess they were too busy procreating to say “hello”. The hike was relatively strenuous with some steep and rocky parts but Zev took it like a champ.  The only issue with the hike, and I was concerned this may go on throughout the week, was that it was foggy, making our views of the pond and from the top of Penobscot less than ideal.  Alice may be part vampire as she had no problem with this.  We finished off our day in Bar Harbor with our first taste of Lobster at Stewman’s Lobster Pound in downtown Bar Harbor

Near Otter Point

Jordan Pond through the fog

Jordan Pond trail

A happy Zev in his element

Name that insect!

Time for a quick break

Just keep climbing!

Russ and Zev on Penobscot Mtn

Which way to go?

Mastering the boardwalk

Deer Brook Bridge

Zev in action

Whose arm is that?

Zev kissed a whale and he liked it

We ventured back into the park on Wednesday (7/19) to hike up Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in the park.  We missed our turn to the Cadillac Mountain South Ridge trailhead and since getting back to it required going around the 27 mile, mostly one-way Park Loop Road again, we decided to take our chances starting from Jordan Pond like the day before.  Thankfully, it was a bright, clear day and the view from the top of Cadillac was amazing as well was the contrast from the day before.  We started a little late, so by the time we were half way back down the mountain, it was getting dark.  We ended up altering our route to walk on the main road back to Jordan Pond since we didn’t have a flashlight.  By the time we made it back to the truck it was completely dark and we were one of the last cars in the parking lot.

Enjoying the view

Looking out from Cadillac Mountain

Peek-a-boo!

Admiring the view and Cairn Stones

Eagle Lake, descending Cadillac Mountain

“What is this green stuff?!”

“You want me to do what?”

A good napping spot!

A sunny Jordan Pond

For our last hiking day, we made it to Schoodic Head Peninsula which provided great views to the northeast.  From our research, we learned only 1 in 10 visitors to Acadia National Park make it over to this area of the park (so much less crowded) which is just east of Mount Desert Island and south of Winter Harbor.  Afterwards we drove back over to Southwest Harbor to enjoy lunch at Beal’s Lobster Pier before heading south to Bass Harbor Lighthouse.  Alice had a paint and sip to attend at Forest Ridge and I took Zev to Sonny’s Driving Range near Bangor.

View from Beal’s Lobster Pier

Southwest Harbor

Downeast Maine was one of my favorite places on the trip so far.  The area is absolutely beautiful and Acadia National Park is stunning.  We liked this place so much we decided to stay an extra day and push off to Kingston, Ontario on Saturday.

We caught a big one! Looking a little skinny, time to visit Grand-Winnie!