Day 1 - Acadia National Park

I left New City a few minutes past 4:00 am headed towards Acadia National Park. I arrived at a little past 12:00, exactly as planned.

My plans for the day were to do some bike riding on the carriage roads in the park, drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, and if time permitted, go into the village of Bar Harbor.

I had no problem finding a parking spot at the Eagle Lake entrance to the carriage roads. After getting into my biking gear, making a lunch and some drinks to take along, I headed out on the bike. It was a great ride. I rode the big loop around Eagle Lake, Jordan Pond and Bubble Pond. It was about 11 miles in total, and it took about an hour and a half, including time for a lunch stop. Since it was still pretty early, I decided to stay on the bike and ride the carriage road towards Witch Hole Pond. From there, I was able to take a very short ride on the "regular" roads into Bar Harbor.

As luck would have it, I arrived at low tide, which meant that the sand bar to Bar Island was passable, so across I went on the bike. I got across to Bar Island and considered taking the trail to the top of the "mountain", but the tide chart that was posted made me decide not to take any chances ... The idea of having to call for a water taxi to get me back across wasn't very appealing. So, back across I went and then I rode down the main street of Bar Harbor. I found a likely spot to grab a beer and took a little break.

After that, I wanted to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain. I was debating between riding my bike back to Eagle Lake or taking one of the free shuttle buses. It was only about a 3 mile ride on the road, so I decided to ride it. It wasn't a bad ride, though there were a few big hills ... on my road bike, they wouldn't have been any problem at all ... on the mountain bike, they were moderately difficult. I got back to the car, put the bike gear away and headed to the top of the mountain.

It was a beautiful day, and the views were awesome (will upload pictures some other time). I spent a little time at the top, and then decided to get on the road to my campground for the night. I arrived at the campground at around 6:00 and set up the cot tent. After that, I grabbed a shower and made dinner. After dinner, I relaxed and did some reading, and then it was time to get to sleep.

Tomorrow, I head to Fundy National Park in Canada, via St. John, New Brunswick.