Hike and bike at Acadia

We had been wanting to try out our new hiking boots so on Sunday, we decided to drive back into the park for a hike.  We went to the Visitor Center first to get some recommendations for a hike that would be enjoyable but not too long and not too difficult since this was the first time we had gone hiking in a long time and to break in our new boots.

The visitor center was located so far away from the parking lot that we were beginning to think all hikes started at the parking lot.  :) 

After speaking with a very nice ranger, we decided to hike the 3.3 mile trail around Jordan Pond.  We started at the same place as where we had stopped and looked at Jordan Pond on Friday

and walked counter-clockwise around the pond.  The wind was much stronger today.  The pond was white-capping (which was surprising since it is practically surrounded by mountains).

The hiking trail was shaded most of the way.

We saw this duck sitting on a rock around the pond.

Another view of the Bubbles.

We crossed a small rock dam...

with a marsh and cove to the right of it.

The water was coming over the small dam in places.

We saw several evidences of beavers along the way.

Those beavers must have some very sharp teeth.

From the north side of the trail, we could see the rock ledges with water coming down them from recent rains on the other side of the pond.

Frequently, along the trail you would cross the “mini- rock canals” constructed along the path to let brooks and streams flow down to the pond without eroding the trail.

There were some huge boulders along the trail.

There was a loon that followed us for several hundred yard but every time I would stop to take his picture, he would swim under water.

Finally, I caught him.

We arrived at the west edge of the pond.  This is the view looking back toward the east edge.

We crossed a couple of wooden bridges at the west end of the pond.

We walked on a little further until we found just the right spot for a picnic.

This part of the trail was very rocky and you had to be careful where you walked.

We continued walking around the south side of the trail.

The last half mile of the hike was a series of elevated wooding logs that had been cut in half and laid flat. 

It was kind of fun to walk on but you had to be careful because some of the logs were a little slick.

It started sprinkling rain towards the end of the hike for about 10 minutes.  The different types of terrain we had to walk across plus the beautiful views of Jordan Lake made a great “first” hike in our new boots.

On Thursday, our last day at Bar Harbor, we decided to bike the carriage trail around Eagle Lake.  Eagle Lake is located on the west side of the Bubbles.

Eagle Lake was beautiful too.

The carriage trails are very well compacted and great for bike riding… 

…and they run throughout the park.

What was different about this bike trail was it had several gradual inclines you had to pump and pump and pump up

and declines you rode down so quickly you were sure you had to be pumping up a lot more than gliding down.

Like our hike on Sunday, our bike ride ended with it starting to sprinkle; but the rain felt good and cooled us off from our bike ride.