So... What did you do on your summer vacation?... (feel like you're back in grade school listening to some writing assignment after school begins yet?)
My trip to Maine was perhaps the most enjoyable I've ever taken. I can't count trips when I was a little kid, as at that point you find things as mundane as pocket lint interesting...
Details below...
First stop was Yarmouth. Yarmouth is where I stay every year when I run up to Maine for Christmas trees for my family. There is a quaint little motel there, with reasonable rates, and it's always quiet. Yarmouth is just south of Freeport, and that's the main attraction in the area. Freeport is home to L L Bean. There are a whole bunch of outlets there as well, but they wouldn't exist without Bean.. If you have never been, Bean is an outdoors store. They carry hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, biking, camping, etc... They also carry really nice clothing, and outdoor wear. So, much money was spent there and the outlets... As a side note, back down in Yarmouth, is the home to DeLorme. DeLorme is a mapping company, so if you need a map, that's the place to go... Very nice selection of stuff, and the worlds largest rotating globe in the lobby. (40' diameter)
After a couple days there, and a quick hike through Wolfs Neck State Park, we headed up to Mount Desert Island. MDI is an island right off the coast. (and I mean right off the coast, I might be able to throw a rock across the water separating it from Maine proper) We stayed in Bar Harbor, which is the main tourist area there, though there a re a few other towns on the island. We walked around and spent some more money there as tourists can't resist doing... Afterwards, we started the hiking that I went there for. (hiking = good, its hard to spend money on a trail) Acadia National Park is located on MDI, as well as a couple smaller islands, and a peninsula. I went there once as a kid, and remember thinking it was impressive. Now as an adult, I still think its impressive, and I'll be going back as often as I can afford to. First hike was up the north ridge of Cadillac Mountain. 2.2 miles up that trail, gaining about 1100 feet in elevation. We went up and back down that trail with half an hour at the summit in about 3 hours. (couldn't dawdle, we had to catch the last shuttle bus from the trail head home) Sadly, it was a very foggy day, and we couldn't see much more than a couple hundred feet in any direction, but it was beautiful none-the-less. The next day, the weather decided to cooperate, and it was overcast, but pretty clear up to the cloud layer. We headed up Cadillac South Ridge. South is 3.5 miles from where we caught it, with a gain of 1300 feet to the summit. We took a little detour around Eagles Craig loop for some better views, so that added to the length just a bit. By the time we got to the top, there was enough haze to obscure things beyond 7-10 miles I'd guess. Still gorgeous, and no complaints... On the way down, we decided to hike down a different trail, called Cadillac West Face. Now, if you've been paying attention, you noted the elevation gained, over the distance traveled. You also may have noted we hiked the ridges. Note now that I said west FACE. I wish all this had occurred to me then... At any rate, West Face drops 1300 feet over a tad more than a mile. Most of that elevation drops off in possibly just over a half mile of trail, as the crow flies (ignoring switchbacks) it probably drops it in 800-900 feet. Translation... STEEP!... I started thinking I wanted my repelling gear now and again... Making matters worse on that trail was the water. I don't know if it was the rain water running off, or just perpetual mountain leakage, but some areas are soaked on that trail, and the rocks have developed a slimy coating of lichen. Let me say this once. Don't try to go down this trail. Up would be difficult, but ok, down is asking to fall off the mountain in a big ugly, dashed on some rocks kinda way. They seem to have renamed the trail recently to Bubble Pond trail. I think they're doing a disservice to it, its a face, not a trail... Before you tell me I should have read about the trail in a trail guide, I tried. We had “the” trail guide to the park, and it gets nothing more than a foot note saying “steep, rocky”… The last hike we took was along the Ocean Path, down along the south west side of the island. This is a super easy trail, that everyone takes. You gain/loose 210 feet over 1.8 miles. It is nothing but gorgeous views from Sand Beach, through Thunder Hole (missed it thundering as it was high tide sadly... next time for sure...) down to Otter Cliffs. You can stay along the path, but you will want to take some of the side paths out on to the cliffs for amazing views.
Naturally after hiking all day, one must relax afterwards... Large quantities of seafood, and good beer were consumed each night as we talked about the day's hike, and what we would do the following day. After four years without a vacation, I could not have dreamt a better trip... The scenery was near perfect (pesky fog) the company was wonderful, and the food excellent... I know where I'm going next vacation already...