It was calm weather, high tide and little winds, so we finally got to take the kayaks out. Just toodled across Western Bay and then along the edge of the park. Nice and relaxing! Every once in a while, harbor seals pop up their heads like little basketballs, watch us for a moment, and then continue about their way fishing in the bay.
With the rest of the day off, I decided to try some popular trails on the "quiet side", the west side of Mt Desert Island.
Acadia Mountain is an awesome hike with fun rock scrambling and can be fit in to an afternoon nicely at only 2 miles; combined with Valley Peak and St Sauveur mountains, it made for a 4.5 mile loop. I would love to do Acadia Mountain again - this was fun either direction and would be a great daily workout. Ran into some ladies who said they'd bit off more than they could chew - the rock scrambling could be challenging! Hiked most of this hike with a young girl from the UK who had left her family behind us on the trail. She kept trying to convince me that "jumping" off the rocks was better than climbing down.....yes, if only my knees and ankles were so young. Sorry, I am old, must climb...carefully...absolutely no jumping.
I was not crazy about the trail up the "back side" of St Sauveur, it was messy and unkempt with bad footing and poor marking - I believe it had been wiped out by the hurricane and extreme rains, and hadn't been addressed yet. The remainder of the hike to Valley Peak and down the "front side" (east) of St Sauveur was all spectacular. St Sauveur had lots of berries!
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| Starting with steps |
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| Significant rock scrambling - those with bad knees be warned |
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| Very quickly reaching views - this is looking over Beech Mountain (can you see the observation tower?) |
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| Summit of Acadia Mountain overlooks Somes Sound |
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| Across Somes Sound to the east side |
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| A popular trail today and the weather was perfect |
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| Some challenging rocks, very fun |
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| More steps |
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| Going down the southeast side, knee bending required |
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| Coming down from Acadia and up Valley Peak |
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| Cedar planks in the low-lying areas |
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| Then right back up on granite ledges with views! |
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| Looking back up Somes Sound |
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| The sheltered cove where pirates would get water from Man o War brook |
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| Continuing to Valley Peak |
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| To another fabulous view, at the mouth of Somes Sound |
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| Summit of St Sauveur is mostly treed and without the views |
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| Down the trail is all treed, lots of berries! |
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| Back at the trail head for a shuttle ride home |
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