The 3+ hour 110 mile drive to Bar Harbor from New Harbor
yesterday was another stressful one. A lot of the roads were really rough
(too much for one cat’s stomach) and US 1 through the coastal towns was narrow
and full of traffic. We should have taken another route but only
hindsight is 20/20. Once again not a good place for a big fifth wheel,
but Jim managed to get through the congestion without losing his cool (almost)
and we arrived in one piece. We’re in a first-come-first-served
campground and were lucky to get a space. There were only three sites
left which were big enough for us. It’s a nice enough campground but the
only ocean view is from quite a distance up at the far end. We’re
fortunate to be able to see the ocean at all because campgrounds aren’t usually
on prime real estate.
Squeezing through the town of Rockland, ME, on US 1.
Unusual bridge over the Penobscot Narrows. One lane on
each side of the supporting structure.
Today dawned foggy and cloudy……again. We started out
at the Acadia National Park Visitor Center which was mobbed with people.
A Saturday at the end of summer……go figure. Our schedule put us here over
the weekend so we just have to deal with the crowds and hope Monday and Tuesday
will be a little less busy. And, boy, are there crowds……maybe not as much
as you’d find in July or in better weather, but an awful lot of people and
vehicles. We thought there would be fewer cars because of the free
shuttles around the park but not so. Every parking lot was jammed, cars
were parked down the sides of the road….some out in the road. At a couple
of places we wanted to see we couldn’t find a parking place anywhere so had to
skip them. We’ll try again later if we have time. There are
fantastic views everywhere and lots of trails for those who are able to
hike.
We drove up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest
mountain on the east coast at 1530 feet. Its top was in the clouds so
there was no view of anything.
Jim with a diagram of what we’d be able to see if the
mountain weren’t under a cloud bank.
Halfway down the mountain was a pull-off where we were lucky
to get a space. Cars were parked out in the road for about 100 feet…..a
two-lane road with a curve and these cars were taking up half of one lane
leaving no way for traffic to pass without going halfway across the oncoming
lane which had no shoulder so there was no way two cars could pass one
another. We didn’t hear any crashes so guess everyone either squeezed
through or backed up.
View of Bar Harbor and Frenchman Bay from Cadillac
Mountain. The long island on the left is Bar Island which connects to Bar
Harbor by a sand bar which is walkable for about 90 minutes either side of low
tide. The ones to the right of it are the Porcupine Islands – Sheep
Porcupine, Burnt Porcupine, Long Porcupine and Bald Porcupine which is out of
the picture to the right. Bar Island was once called Bar Porcupine.
I haven’t found any information on the naming of these islands but perhaps
someone thought they looked like a row of porcupines in the water. Their
forms, shaped by glaciers during the last ice age, are actually called
sheepbacks or whalebacks. The name of Frenchman Bay is thought to have
come from French gunboats hiding behind the islands to attack British ships
during the French and Indian War. Rum Key which is at the far right (out
of the picture) was used by rumrunners during Prohibition on their illegal
liquor forays to and from Canada.
We stopped to see the Thunder Hole although it wasn’t at the
right point in the tide. Conditions have to be just right for it to
really explode and the best chance would have been several hours later in the
day.
People waiting to hear the thunder.
This is all we got but it showed us how the blow-back
works. We could hear the thunder although it was nowhere near what
happens under better conditions.
This is what happens when everything is just right.
Unsuspecting people have been washed out to sea. Water is driven
into the trough which has been created by eons of water wearing away the rock.
It forces air back in the hole which causes the water to burst out with
explosive force and thundering noise. See the picture inset to the left
which shows the hole dug out by the water.
Right now it doesn’t look like the weather is going to break
during the remaining three days we’re here, but we’re going to get our chores
done tomorrow (laundry and groceries) so we’ll have the next two days open in
case the sun comes out. Good weather or bad, we’ll do more of what we did
today……drive around Mt Desert Island and the park and see as much as possible.
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