Friday, June 21, 2013

June 21 – Great Head Trail and Cadillac Mountain

We keep saying we are going to take it easier but it never seems to turn out that way. We are having a run of great weather and it just seems a shame to sit around the RV.

It was a cloudy this morning but very quickly became very sunny and warm.

On our drive to the hike we stopped at Schooner Head Overlook. It wasn’t really an overlook but a path down to the water for more rock scrambling. I would have liked to see this giant cave in a storm but I probably wouldn’t want to be standing here and that was the only place you could see it.

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There was a beautiful mansion across the bay with a great view.

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Jennie is getting braver in her quest to watch the waves up close.

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The Great Head Trail starts from Sand Beach as did our Ocean Path hike from the other day, except that we start from the north end of the beach. Here is a picture from the end of the hike after we looped back. Notice the nicer weather. The hike goes straight up even with the water line and then we walk along the top to the point. The trail heads farther north along the top of the rocks and then inland before looping back to the start.

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The guide book said we might have to wade across this pool but the tide was low enough that we could go around.

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We saw a girl walking along the edge. On one footstep she was ankle deep and then next she sank into the water and sand up to her waist.

The path, such as it was, did a bunch of short zig zags up the rocks. You just follow the blue blaze painted on the rocks,

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Looking back down on the beach.

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Made it to the top

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Now we go out to the point along the ridge.

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Someone offered to take our picture after I had taken theirs.

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A look across the bay to the Ocean Path out to Otter Point that we did on Tuesday.

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Out at the end there were more vertical cliffs to edge up to.

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We carefully made our way down closer to the water.

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And had lunch.

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With our usual audience.

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I spent some time checking out the tide pools.

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You can just see Jennie’s red hat beneath the left most seagull in the picture below.

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Climbing back up we loved the deep rusty colour of these rocks.

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We saw this little tree struggling to grow.

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Onward to some even higher vertical cliffs. These ones even made me a bit nervous.

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We found a bunch of irises.

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Heading back inland.

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And over the top of the head again. The trees were very short up here. We are not very high but I guess they are exposed to some severe weather.

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Back down to the beach.

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I was hot enough to put my feet in the water. I didn’t stay hot for long.

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The only people in to any depth were the kids.

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Jennie declined to partake.

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We decided to drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain as it was very clear now and the forecast called for a few cloudy days. The mountain is the tallest on the eastern seaboard but only about 1500 feet high. The views at the top were pretty good mainly because it is so much taller than anything around.

The top is a wide open area of flat rock with views everywhere except to the west. This is the view back down to Bar Harbor with Bar Island in the center and a cruise ship in port.

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A view across Frenchman’s Bay to the Schoodic Peninsula, that is also part of the park.

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There is a nice little path that skirts the edge.

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The view southeast. Otter point is just over Jennie’s head and Great Head is just to the left of the middle in the picture below.

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There is another parking lot with the western views. Everyone comes here to watch the sunset.

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Looking down on Eagle lake, that we biked around on Wednesday.

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It seems that it is also a popular wedding spot. There were two groups doing a bit of pre planning for their weddings tomorrow. They checked with each other that they had different times.

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Heading back down and home.

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