We have only one full day to explore as much as Acadia National as we can. Our plan is to start the day with a drive around the coast, hike the Acadia Mt. Trail, picnic at Echo Lake Beach, visit the towns of Northeast harbor and South Harbor, and finish the day at the summit of Cadillac Mt. for sunset. There are so many things to see and do on this island, Mount Desert Island, that you could spend at least 2 weeks here doing something new everyday. We are already planning to come back. It’s only 28 hrs. away 😦

I love how the ground is covered by green velvety moss. Jacob thought the edges of the forest were well manicured, “they must pay someone to cut the grass here, it looks great!” he thought it was grass until I pointed out that it was moss.
This is harbor nation, every town in supported by its harbor. Seafood is the main form of income, and tourism, the lobster and clams are as fresh as the can be. The wood boats in the harbors are beautiful, and make for great pictures!
The pebbles line the beaches and stream. There is sand on the beaches but it is different than what we are used to along the Gulf Coast Beaches. While the Gulf Coast is lined with white powdery sand primarily composed of Quartz, from the Appalachian Mts. weathering over millions of years, and pulverized shells, the sand around Desert Island is course, kitty litter texture, composed of a variety of minerals from the surrounding mts. including; pink of Feldspar, black of Hornblende, and white/clear of Quartz.
I hope you can see in the picture that the rocks are pink. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any home with you.
The drive around the Island was so breath taking.
When we arrived at the trail head of course I had to stop at the out house, it was a long drive and coffee doesn’t help.
On to the Acadia Mt. Trail, which was recommended to us by the park ranger. He said that it was an easy hike that should only take an hour. So we wore regular tennis shoes. This looks pretty easy!

Still not so bad….then we come around a corner…
and this is what most of the trail consisted of…it what way is this considered “easy to moderate”? There were people with small children and babies who had to carry them most of the way. Bad call on not wearing hiking boots!
The views were awesome at the top!

Big Foot?
After this 2.5 hr. hike, we hopped in the car to go to Echo Lake Beach. Jacob wanted to go swimming after working up a good sweat, but I knew there was no way I was getting in the water, it’s just too cold for this gal! Instead of swimming we had lunch and basked in the sun. It was super windy the people who got in quickly got out. Looked like torture in my book. It was a gorgeous day to lounge in the sun and we took full advantage of it.
I guess the settings on the camera got messed up because all of our pictures at Echo Lake are like this….I guess we’ll just have to go back!
Before sunset at 7:25pm, we had to head back to the camper to shower and walk Roux. On our way there we ran into my Aunt and Uncle again, too funny! The reason we showered before sunset is because we have to use the generator to power the water heater and water pump, our battery is not able to power both, and generators can only be used between 8am and 7pm.
Off to Cadillac Mt…..WOW! The views up here are amazing and you can drive all the way to the top. It looked like half the town was there with us. I’m so glad we didn’t miss this site. Maybe next time we come to this area we can catch the sun rise too.

As Jacob likes to say….Bon soir!