maine part IV - a full day of goodness

North and South Bubble

thank you iPhone

thank you iPhone

 Even though we are on vacation our internal clock still wakes us up at 5:30AM… I guess we could blame this on owning cats and their incessant meowing that begins every morning at 5AM to be fed.  In this case (being on vacation) and having no animals to care for, we decided to go ahead and get up anyway and walk down the gravel path outside our hotel to the water at balancing rock to watch the sunrise.

 After breakfast we headed to Acadia hoping for a much better day of hiking.  We started with an easy trail around Jordan Pond, which by the way is the clearest lake in Maine with visibility normally at 46ft deep and is used as a water source for drinking.  On the trail we saw a small snake, a few frogs, red squirrels (which are the cutest things by the way) and loon(bird).  The loon echoed throughout the lake and at first it sounded almost like a coyote.  It definitely has an eerie call (you can listen to one here).  Later we did see the bird in the water from afar, but still too far for pictures.  Half way around the lake we decided to try another strenuous trail (not with iron ladders and steep grades like the day priory Precipes trail) to hike to the summit of the South Bubble.  I don't like heights and I was iffy if I was even going to make it to the top of this one, but sure enough I did.  Here we ate our lunch and marveled at the view of the lake and scenery.  We could see as far as Long Pond and even the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.  As we continued onward, I was very thankful as steep of a hike up that there was a much more moderate way down the backside of the mountain.  Once we made it to the bottom, we then finished the rest of the way around Jordan Pond and stopped at the Jordan Pond House for a bite to eat.  They are famous for their popovers smothered in butter and strawberry jam with tea.  I chose blueberry tea (which is another thing Maine is famous for) and I had been itching to try it.  We also chose a plate of cheese with chutney, candied walnuts, honey and bread.  Yum!  On our way out I also purchased chocolate covered blueberries and almonds from the gift store.  I am pretty sure I won't be sharing these!

 We figured since we were here and well fed we may as well hike the North Bubble.  Half way up the mountain we realized we ran out of water! Ahhh!  Thankfully we only had 1/8 of a mile left to the top.  This hike didn't have quite as nice of a view as the South Bubble, but none the less beautiful.  

 After a full day of strenuous hiking (6+ miles) we were beat!  For dinner we chose Gaylyn's Restaurant.  sadly enough for the early bird special which was before 6pm, so is that really THAT early right?  After dinner we took an evening stroll around town of Bar Harbor, had an ice cream sundae and picked up blue berry black tea from the tea shop. Yum!