The Great East Coast Road Trip Vol. Seven

The alarm clock rudely awakened me at 4:15 in the AM.  The sunrise sure comes early in Maine.  I had a packet or two of cold oatmeal, got dressed and packed my backpack for the hike up Cadillac Mt.  I wasn’t sure what to expect with trail conditions and whether or not my knee would hold up.  She gave me fits on my thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail and the largest elevation gain there is only a few hundred feet.  I was going to climb over 1300 feet this morning in dawn’s early light.  Oh well. 

I set off on the Cadillac South Ridge Trail at 4:54 with a full moon illuminating the landscape.  It was December 11^th and there was a chill to the air.  The temps were in the 30’s, perfect for hiking up a mountain.  I soon discovered that this hike was not going to be easy.  The trail was severely eroded with roots and rocks reaching up to trip me.  I was too stubborn to turn on the headlamp; the romantic in me wouldn’t let the artificial light ruin the brilliance of the full moon (although the trees did a great job blocking said moonlight).  

The Moody Blues song “The Day Begins” from the Days of Future Passed album surfaced in my memory when writing this blog post (This album is fantastic by the way.  It was one of the first concept albums as it follows a day through its arc).  It was a great touchstone and provided a perfect soundtrack to frame my thoughts:

Cold hearted orb that rules the night

Removes the colours from our sight

Red is gray and yellow, white

But we decide which is right

And which is an illusion

I pushed on up the steep, wooded trail until I emerged into an opening of barren rock overlooking Bar Harbor.  The town was still in slumber as the faint glow of the dawn slowly crept across Atlantic Ocean.  I wasn’t planning on coming to Eagles Crag on the way up by my affinity for darkness led me to miss an intersection a ways back on the trail.  With the moon shedding more light as the trees diminished in area and stature, I pushed on, eager to see what lay ahead.  The higher elevation had turned what water there was to ice, making for a tricky hike as I tried to avoid slipping off the mountain.  The trees eventually faded away, opening up the views on all sides (the views here were slightly better than from atop Timm’s Hill…). 

Pinprick holes in a colourless sky

Let insipid figures of light pass by

The mighty light of ten thousand suns

Challenges infinity and is soon gone

Night time, to some a brief interlude

To others the fear of solitude

The moonlight was still the dominant light source, helping me pick out the blue blazes that had been painted on the mountain and the rock cairns that guided me along.  I made it to a perched lake named the Featherbed (what a great name for a pond) and took a break.  It was at this point I realized the dawn was progressing a lot quicker than I anticipated.  I came all this way, only to sleep in too late and miss the sunrise.  Wow.  Fail.  I put the pedal down and booked it the last mile.  The hell if I was going to miss this. 

The Full Moon getting ready to rest after a good nights work

I arrived at the summit with time to spare and a solid sweat running down my brow.  Being a cool Sunday in mid-December with the road to the top closed down (the only way to get up there in the winter is a 3.5 mile hike either up the road or one of the trails), I was hoping to find myself alone, but company awaited me.  There was a group of 6 or 7 others who had come from the next island over.  They walked bikes up the road so they could ride them down after the big show.  The wind was brisk, driving temps down before the warmth of the sun hit America and causing me to layer up pretty fast.  The group of locals invited me to join them in sun salutations to stay warm.  I’m not much of a yoga guy (although after reading a few recent articles, my interest has been piqued), but doing the sun salutation right before we witnessed the first sunrise in the US, seemed like a great idea.

We huddled around in eager anticipation of Helios cresting the horizon.  The warming rays were finally unfurled.  We were the first people in the United States to see the sunrise today!  I don’t care what you think, but that is pretty cool.  I’m never first to do anything so it was a nice change of pace.  We gazed over the Atlantic and cheered our glasses of wine as the sun rose ever higher in the East while the full moon set in the West.  It was a beautiful sight.  The other people packed up to start their chilly descent, but not before giving me a few tips on where to go near Millinocket, the next destination in Maine of my journey.  I thanked them and we parted ways, leaving me alone to soak in the sunrise.

Brave Helios, wake up your steeds

Bring the warmth the countryside needs

I looked down on Bar Harbor and saw how beautiful it is this time of year, but most of the town is closed down, awaiting the return of the tourists and summer residents.  I guess I’m a little different because I relish what the late fall/early winter has to offer.  Crisp mornings and sunny days, followed by nights lit by a full moon.  What more do you want?  Maybe, I like Bar Harbor precisely because it’s the offseason.  I share Acadia National Park with a smattering of fellow hikers and the town has plenty of parking available (and bars still open).  The locals are friendlier with the summer onslaught over and can settle into a peaceful routine.  The only visitors are the hardy ones, looking for a little solitude themselves amongst the surrounding beauty.  I think the locals appreciate that.  They get to enjoy the solitude of winter contrasted with the mass chaos of the “in-season.”

Rock cairn guiding the way

The Featherbed

Glacial striations?

The way down was much easier with the full power of the sun allowing me to easily avoid the patches of ice.  Hiking a trail in the daylight is quite different from hiking it at night.  The night hike gives you a more intimate feeling, as your senses are more attune to every undulation of the trail as it writhes along the terrain.  Your feet become your eyes at night.  The daylight exposes grand vistas and hidden sights allowing you to forget about where each foot is stepping. 

I passed a guy who was celebrating his 60^th birthday with a climb to the top of Cadillac Mt.  What a great present to give yourself.  After retracing my steps, I made it back to my tent right in time to take a late morning nap.

This may be why the night hike was difficult

The trail is eroded down to the bedrock

After waking up and having lunch, I headed into to Bar Harbor and wasted an hour or so talking on the phone – big Packer game that afternoon.  I peeled off the phone and made my way to the Beehive Trail.  A couple at the bar the previous night had mentioned how crazy of a hike it was so, of course, I had to check it out myself. 

Beehive Trail is a little rocky in places

Let’s just say they don’t have trails like this in Wisconsin.  The trail takes you straight up a rock face using iron rungs and ladders.  A slip or fall would not end well.  I have trouble getting some of the trails I lay out in Wisconsin approved because of “safety issues” but then I see a trail like this, in a National Park no less, and wonder how they can get away with a great trail like that.  People are too scared of adventure and getting hurt these days.  I say if you get hurt while on a trail, it’s your own fault.  Mother Nature isn’t always easy. 

Up we go!

Now this is a trail!

The trail gets a little tight on this ledge

Anyways, I scampered up the Beehive in time to catch the sunset.  Seeing the sun rise and fall from atop a mountain is an awesome experience (So I was the first person to see the sunrise and sunset that day?).  This may not have been the 14ers in Colorado, but I’ll take it!

The sun falling behind the horizon

For the trip down the Beehive, I took a less strenuous route and came across the first section of trail in the park that I saw constructed correctly.  Nice tread with a great looking backslope make for a pleasant walk.  I stopped by the Thunder Hole to watch the moon begin its ascent across the night sky.  The night ended with a drive to town to catch the rest of the Packer-Raider game.  The Pack was crushing Oakland to a pulp as I had a little dinner, which I washed down with the sweet nectar that is PBR.  Today was an all around great day.  

From the Moody Blues “Late Lament”:

Breathe deep the gathering gloom

Watch lights fade from every room

Bedsitter people look back and lament

Another day's useless energy spent

The coast of Maine was great, I met a lot of wonderful people and saw some amazing sights, but my crazy road trip had to leave town.  I was headed to the interior of Maine to find a little Wilderness, 100 miles of it to be exact.  

The Great East Coast Road Trip Vol. Six

Saturday began with cloudy skies and relatively warm temps, as I slowly got the gears turning and lumbered out of my tent. I wandered around the campground for a while, fetching water and eating cold oatmeal. I headed to town to check things out in the daylight and figure out what I was going to do that day. The blanket of clouds overhead began to thin and form holes. It was turning into a beautiful day.

Acadia National Park is crisscrossed with carriage roads that pre-date the park when the Rockefellers and other wealthy families used the area as their own personal playground. The carriage roads today, give visitors great access to the park and the beautiful sights. Beginning December 1 though, all the roads in the interior of the park are closed down to allow snowmobiling, leaving the small section of road along the Atlantic Ocean as the only open road in the park. This was the section I wanted to visit.

I’ve been to the ocean in places with beaches – Florida, Southern California, Jamaica, but never witnessed big waves crashing against rock and cliffs like I’ve seen in TV shows and movies about the Pacific Northwest (The Goonies). Acadia provided me with the views I’ve been looking for. The waves may not have been big, but you could still feel the power they hold as they battered the rocks just a few feet in front of me. One slip, overzealous step, or large wave could’ve meant curtains for me. Even with my awareness of the danger the cold waters presented, I danced from rock to rock, trying to find the best view and perfect camera shot (I always thought I possessed great talent to hop around on rocks and boulders). The ocean was not my demise, at least not yet.

I look so happy

I traveled down the coast and found Sand Beach, a rare sight along the Maine coastline. Walking along the beach, I got a little too close and a wave swept up over my shoes. I only wanted to feel the water with my hand, not soak it up with my shoes and socks. Whoops.

I moved onto Thunder Hole where the waves are funneled into a cleft in the cliffs, producing huge spray and the thunder sound. The thunder was quiet for my visit, but I got an idea of what she was like in top form as a few waves launched water into the air. I got talking to a guy named Everett who lived in the area. He liked to walk down to the Thunder Hole and see how it’s acting up on a regular basis. Apparently it can be quite impressive (skip to the last 30 seconds). We talked about the park as he informed me of the history and some neat facts. He pointed to the cliffs just south of us and said they were the highest cliffs along the Atlantic Ocean until you get to Rio de Janeiro. Those are the tidbits I like. I asked him where I could find the Internet in Bar Harbor so I could do a little planning for the rest of my trip. He wasn’t sure, so Everett invited me over to his house. I’m not one to turn down a strangers offer to help, so I gave him a ride back to his place. I found the info I was looking for and we proceeded to talk away the afternoon.

Thunder Hole (The calm before the storm?)

Everett told me a story about how when Martha Stewart bought a house on the island, she wanted to use the phone at the general store but the clerk said the phone was just for employees. Martha said she really needed to use the phone, but the worker would not relent and then Martha busted out the “Do you know who I am?” Martha got a tap on the shoulder and an elderly gentleman said “Ms. Stewart, they don’t let me use the phone either.” It was David Rockefeller.

Everett said I could stay at his house or take a shower if needed, but I passed because I already had a great campsite and had to get up early the next morning if I wanted to catch the sunrise from atop Cadillac Mountain. Before I left, I showed him a few of my pictures because he was a photographer and he was not impressed. I have a lot of work to do if I want to get better at photography.

I drove around the island checking out the small towns bathed in the falling light of the setting sun. It was quite beautiful. With night getting comfortable, I headed back to Geddy’s for a few drinks. More conversation was had as I finished sampling the local beers. A few hours later, I called it a night. I set my alarm for 4:15 so I’d have enough time to hike the 3.5 miles to the top of Cadillac Mt. and be the first person in the US to see the sunrise. It was a crystal clear night as I sleep soundly in anticipation of my trek.