Friday, July 15, 2022

Bar Harbor and Acadia!

 Damn you Tim Horton’s. Damn you craft breweries. Damn you delicious lobster in drawn butter! When we left for this trip we saw ourselves hiking like crazy and losing at least 10lbs each but I don’t think that is happening. We have not weighed ourselves, but based on the hikes to donut ratio, it is a safe bet we have not. And our desire to hike diminishes a little more with every degree the temperature goes up. Zoey can only take about 15 minutes of hiking at any temp over 70 before she becomes overheated so we have been going for more walks than hikes.

So here we sit, eating our donuts, drinking beer and getting plump. We made it back into the U.S. on the 13th without any problems. I was a little fearful of the amount of booze we were bringing back from the distilleries and breweries but the border agent only seemed to be concerned about fruits and vegetables. After a quick look through our fridge she handed us back our passports and sent us on our way. 

Before leaving Canada we had one day in the Yarmouth area and two days in Digby. Our Yarmouth day was a laundry day, after which we went and checked out the Cape Forchu Lighthouse.

Probably one of the most modern shaped lighthouses we have seen so far. The original lighthouse in this location was in service from 1840-1962. In 1961 they constructed this new "apple core" shaped lighthouse to replace the old one. It is said that this shape takes the wind better than the old style. 

We walked through the original Keepers quarters and walked the trails around the area where we found these interesting signs. 

After that was done we went to the town of Tusket where we spent a Harvest Host night at the Tusket Falls Brewing Co. Nice brewery but not suitable for anything over 35’.

When we got to Digby, we found an awesome boondocking spot on Sandy Cove Beach about 8 miles outside of town. Quiet, secluded and beautiful. We walked the dogs on the beach and even let Zoey loose a few times.

See that boat in the background of the picture above? Here, I zoomed into it. 

Our truck is in the upper right

There is some sea glass there but not a lot.

One thing that we found fascinating about The Bay of Fundy was the tide. The tide changes here are the most extreme we have ever seen rising and dropping over 20’ in a cycle. Totally crazy! These two shots were taken from the same spot hours apart.

Those people on the beach in the first picture would be 20' under water in the 2nd picture. We talked to a couple of locals who were fishing the pier at Sandy Cove and they said it is comical watching the tourists setup their picnics and BBQ’s at low tide only to see them scrambling to move everything when the tide starts coming in! The guy we talked to lives just down the road. He smokes fish for beer money and even gave us a package of squid that he had with him telling us how to prepare it. We stopped by his place the next morning to buy some smoked kippers and Pollock. He said he would not be there but to go in and take what we wanted out of the fridge and leave some money on the counter so that is exactly what we did.

On the afternoon of our second day we caught the ferry from Digby to St. John’s New Brunswick, a 2 ½ hour ride. The seas were a little rough so you felt like a drunken sailor walking around. I got a little queasy, Barb was just fine.

Once we got to St. John’s we spent the night in the Reversing Falls parking lot. Plenty of room here for any size rig. The reversing falls was interesting but not breathtaking. The falls flow normally when the tide is going out and goes “uphill” when the tide comes in.

When we got up the next morning we stopped by Tim Horton’s and stocked up on Timbits (Donut holes) before heading to the border. Our destination for the day was Eastport, Maine. Maine, we added another state to our “visited listed”!

Eastport is a quiet little tourist town, not crazy at all. We went directly to Sullivan Pier where we spent the day walking the town. We were able to spend the night right on the pier where you can see our truck in the upper left hand corner of this picture.

 We had a nice relaxing day watching the lobster fisherman load traps onto their boats, talked to the mackerel fisherman on the pier and visiting the shops in town. This town had not one, but two Roadside Attractions for us to photograph!

Dakota found some shade next to one of the trap trailers as we watched them load a boat. 

Did you know Eastport has the last remaining traditional stone ground mustard mill in North America? Neither did we but Raye's Mustards is advertised throughout town so we just had to pick up a couple of jars for ourselves!

Of course no stop is complete without stopping by the local brewery. In this case it was Horn Run Brewing. Oddly, we did not take any pictures. 

We needed a relaxing day before heading into our next adventure, as we were about to enter the fray of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park! We had been warned by locals and other tourists alike that this area was crowded and congested. We had also heard that Acadia is one of the most beautiful National Parks you will see. By all accounts those people were telling the truth. When we stopped at the Visitor's Center to get hiking maps and information. As soon as I entered the visitors center my anxiety started going up. Did I mention we do not like crowds? We were in line for 30 minutes before it was finally our turn. I am glad we waited as we learned that we could not take our camper on the main loop though the park due to low clearance bridges. We could have taken one of the free busses around the park but the Precipice hike that we really wanted to go on was closed so we opted for a hike that Jim and Diana recommended. It was slated as a "strenuous" hike which is exactly what we wanted. We have some donuts to wear off! Plus it is in an area we could take our truck camper. 

The park employee said that it required a lot of scrambling and we should expect to stand in a "conga line" in some areas unless we get there early. We don't like crowds so early we shall be! 

None of our "go to" websites showed free camping spots in the area and there were no Harvest Hosts in the vicinity either so we opted for a campsite at Bar Harbor Campground. At $44/night (w/e) we thought it was a pretty good deal. We also took advantage of their free wifi, showers and laundry facilities. Better yet is the fact that those free busses stop right at the campground and can take you pretty much wherever you want to go!

Once we got settled we took the bus to downtown Bar Harbor. What a zoo! In addition to the normal tourist traffic there was a cruise ship in town too. We walked in a lot of the shops, waited in line for 20 minutes at a couple of places that we found treasures we wanted to buy, and walked the waterfront. I only took one picture the entire time we were in town. 

Not one of my favorite places I wanted to be. 

That night we set our alarm for 5am in an attempt to hit the Bubble Rock trail before most people were out of bed. The sun rises at 5:00 so we thought the timing would be perfect. When the alarm went off on Barb's iPad and we got up we were both puzzled that it was still pitch black out. Until we realized that the iPad was still on Atlantic time and it was actually 4am! Oh well, we are up now, may as well hit the trail! We thought we would be the only ones crazy enough to get up this early but we were wrong. Although not busy, there were dozens of cars parked at overlooks waiting for the sun to rise. 

When we got to our parking area we found we were the only ones there. So off we went!

You can go either way on this trail. We decided to climb up the steepest part rather than going the other way and climbing down the steepest parts. I think we made the right call. The trail started out pretty mellow as it descended towards Jordan's Pond. Not too bad we thought. 

Once we got to the pond however the trail went straight up for 0.4 of a mile. Lots of scrambling and rock crawling, I would not call it strenuous but it does get your heart pumping and the views are spectacular!

Taking a little breather

Another Breather

Of course Barb had to do one of her yoga poses along the way!

Once you get to the top, it levels out as you gradually get to the summit of 7,300. 

Then off to the side is Bubble Rock which was precariously deposited on a ledge by a glacier centuries earlier. Very cool!

The way back down the other side was very gradual with lots of steps. A lot of families will hike this side up and back, skipping the scrambling on the other side. 

That's it from Bar Harbor and Acadia. Now we start making our way south to Pennsylvania. A week from today we are meeting our daughter and family for a camping adventure with them!

37 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Glad your border crossing went smoothly. Hope your hike to Bubble Rock burned off at least one pint of beer. The Reversing Falls aren't super impressive unless you spend a day and catch them three times when they go one way, then are totally calm mid day, then head the other way. It requires heading back to the same spot for each event. Hope you got your fill of mussels and lobster. Did you get any Digby scallops while there? Dakota is adorable resting in the shade.

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    1. Lord knows we don't have the patience to go back three times in a day!

      I was just telling Barb that we are probably done with mussels and lobster since we are heading inland. I am good not having lobster for a while but I am hooked on those mussels and will miss them!

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  2. Bet you are looking forward to the camping adventure with your daughter/family! What a beautiful hike that was! Thank you for sharing that because there is definitely no way I'll ever be walking that myself :)

    betty

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    1. We like to challenge ourselves with those hikes while we still can. Who knows how much longer we will be able to do them!

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  3. Oh too bad Precipice was blushed. You’d have loved that hike! Lots of good eats and drinks on your trip!

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    1. That was the one hike we were looking forward to. Apparently there are peregrine falcons nesting in the area and it is temporarily closed.

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  4. We’ve spent many a quiet morning on South Bubble, just as you did. It’s the best time to be there. Good job!

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  5. The Bay of Fundy has the highest recorded tides in the world. You guys sure have lucked out boondocking in some great spots during this trip. We had 3 cruise ships in port at Bar Harbor but enjoyed the area even though it was crowded. Glad you tried and got into those mussels. That’s a great looking hike to knock off a few brews and donuts! Safe travels!
    Colibaba’s

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    1. The tides there were crazy! Not like the 3' or so tides we are used to on the Oregon coast.

      Mackerel fishing is a big thing along the piers, kinda like crabbing out west. Fun to watch.

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  6. Goodbye from Canada. Glad you had such a great time. :)

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  7. They checked your fridge? I've never been checked even in the big RV. Bah Hahbah is one of my favorite places ... you just have to miss the tourist traffic. Lobster rolls, whole lobster ... forget the donuts!!

    That's my kind of hike ... at least trail traffic wasn't too bad and since you worked off all those donuts, you can have MORE! Zoey looks like she was having a blast!!!

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    1. We did not see a single person until we got to the top, more of course on our way down.

      Zoey loved running up and down the beach. She thought she was so special being off leash!

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  8. Love your experience with the local fisherman - those are the best unexpected treats in this life! Maine is definitely beautiful, but the smaller villages were our favs, and we only had lobster once :-) Now wouldn't you have felt terrible if you'd moved that boulder?!?!

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    1. We felt pretty safe that we weren't going to move the boulder. Well, maybe if we had one more donut.

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  9. My first "Anonymous" comment while others have been showing up all summer - alas the last comment was moi.

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    1. That is so random and weird why it does that sometimes and not others.

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  10. I see your first fault. You have failed to use the acronym, WWDD. That stands for "What Would Dino Do". You can apply that to everything in life. For example, I would not go to those expensive breweries every day drinking massive quantities of beer. Yuch! I would not eat Lobster every day swimming in butter. Nope. Nothing but salads and granola. Hiking would be good but I would actually Parkour down every trail. I warned you from the start to fight your inner Jethro and Bambi.

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    1. Our motto has always been to do the opposite of what we think you would do. It has served us well so far!

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  11. By the way. I love the blog and am a big fan. Super positive. That's my motto.

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    1. Always the optimist! Thanks for being such a big fan and a supporter of our blog. If you would like to support us further, I could put in a link which would allow you to send us money 💵 for our next donut 🍩 or 🍺 adventure!

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  12. The hike looks awesome. I knew the crowds were going to be an issue for us also, but we still need to make that trip. I love the camp spots along the water. The experience of going in a guys house and taking fish and leaving money is a story to be told again and again.

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    1. So many sail boats up and down the coast. More, as you go further south, you guys would love it up here!

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  13. Hello there, just surfed in and am enjoying your blog tremendously. Fun photos and a fun read, thank you!

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    1. Well, thanks for stopping by, hope you do so again soon as we love to hear from new readers!

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  14. my favorite images...the ones you started with, i LOVE those signs and the ones you finished with, the rocks. another great post, it's such a shame that everything is always so crowded this time of year!! we live in a resort area and we often stay home for that reason!!

    brave of you to climb those rocks!!

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    1. That Bubble Rock was pretty cool. Incredible how it just hangs in there all these years.

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    2. and "based on the "hikes to donut ratio", it is a safe bet we have not lost any weight" you crack me up!! the last time i read this i forgot about that when i got to the end!! and don't even get me started on lobster and drawn butter!!

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    3. It's hard to pass up a Tim Hortons! We have tried Dunkin Donuts a few times and they just don't measure up!

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    4. answering the question you left on my blog: the husband and i do a lot of the work ourselves. we have a company that cuts the law and they do some/general maintenance (edging, blowing) but the rest we do. he does all of the mulching and i keep up with the dead heading...once the beds are mulched we don't get a ton of weeds. we both work on the vegetable garden. we live in a tourist area that gets very crowded and since we have the pool, we are home a lot during the summer! and we have underground sprinklers!!

      and dunkin, not our thing. the one by our house is terrible!! we don't have tim hortons here.

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    5. That is a labor of love indeed! At least it keeps you busy and out of trouble!

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  15. Oh wow that is quite a hike. My kids would love it and I would be freaked out by how precarious their every step was. lol
    I have never been to Acadia in the summer.. it is beautiful in the fall. Must try to visit it in the summer months as well.

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    1. If you do visit in the summer, be ready for crowds. I bet it is beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing!

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  16. Great hike! Glad you got back into the US with no problems. For some reason the US border guards really like to check what is in your fridge and pantry. Happens to us every time. We also always have to have made in the US dog food.

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  17. They've never asked us about our dog food, that's a new one for us.

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