escotiaworks.com: We Are Back In Acadia National Park

Joe and Ned are Ready to Hike

We are back in Acadia National Park? Yes indeed. When we left last time I said I would be back but I didn't know it would be this soon and unfortunately without Mary. Well we so close how could we resist.

After making camp Friday night a thunderstorm came through which had me worried that we would not be able to get onto the mountains. But come Saturday morning it was hazy but not raining. We made a stop in Southwest Harbor to visit the Little Notch Bakery for breakfast and a loaf of bread then the library to check email. Then to Bar Harbor to get a map since I mailed my maps home when we left two weeks ago and pick up some cheese. By this time it was dry so we headed to the trailhead.

The trail we picked was the Ladder Trail up Dorr Mountain. It only had to ladders to the boys dismay. To my dismay it is mostly granite stairs going straight up the mountain. Parts of it made me think of the passage in The Return of the King where Gollum leads Frodo and Sam into Mordor by way of the stairs to Cirith Ungol. Fortunately there was no giant spider just great views and many blueberries.

The Stairs of the Ladder Trail

A Tight Squeeze

The Summit of Dorr Mountain 1270 ft

I had a few ideas of the way to take back down once we were at the summit of Dorr Mountain. But as I looked at the map and over at Cadillac Mountain I thought, "we can do that." So we extended the hike to climb up Cadillac and then down to Bubble Pond where we would catch the Island Explorer Shuttle bus back to the car. Sounds easy.

The half mile to the top of Cadillac is one hardest half miles I have hiked. The stairs up Dorr Mtn had really done me in, more than I realized. But, we made it and I lived to tell about it. We stopped at the top of Caddilac Mountain to admire the view and then started down the western side to Bubble Pond. It was a hard mile and a half mostly down large slabs of granite. We made it just in time to catch the shuttle bus and soon we were back at the car.

We had dinner in Southwest Harbor and that night we had a campfire. We were so tired that we didn't watch it long and went to bed.