Acadia Day 1

We had a big agenda that required us to get going early so we got up at 7:30am. The rain had gone for a bit so that was good. We started trying to figure out how to get the rent a car but there seemed to be no available taxis or Ubers. Sooo we unhooked and drove the big rig to the airport to get the car. We managed with ease and were on our way to Bar Harbor by 9:30. It was very overcast so we were going to try the 10:00am Trolley tour of the island. We made it with 12 seconds to spare. The tour was somewhat informative and very uneventful so when we returned to Bar Harbor we had a quick lunch on the water and headed straight back into Acadia NP. Our first stop was the visitors center where we got a trail book and realized Colbie had to attend a ranger program to get her badge...we will deal with that later. We had two hikes we wanted to do, The Beehive Cliffs and Ocean Path. We came up to the beehive first so we decided to do that one but Daddy wasn't sure he wanted us to. We promise to turn back if it got bad and started up the Rocky Mountain following what appeared to be blue marks of paint for the trail. The book says it is a thrilling Acadia classic that heads right up the steep south face of the peak and includes granite steps, iron rungs to climb up and several hand rails for exposed rock scrambling sections. It is 2 miles total and words did not do it justice. We were in control until about three quarters of the way through when we almost panicked thinking we would never get off the mountain. Mom and Kayla were worried about Colbie and dad was worried about everyone. One slip and that would be it in some places. But soon enough, the vertical climb on the rocks ended and we were standing on top of the Beehive with an incredible view of sand beach in the surrounding areas. We were out of breathe and relieved and thanking God! The walk down the backside was much easier but our legs were like jelly and mom and Colbie did take a fall or two. When we got down we started off on the ocean path trail and for the rest of our time at Acadia we did not miss the chance to tell everyone we hiked the Beehive. taking the 2 mile Ocean Path seemed pretty easy now. We had a great time exploring all of the rocks around thunder whole, monument Cove and Boulder Beach. We got in the car to drive the rest of the way up to otter Cliff, and in just a few minutes we saw how quickly the fog rolled in. It was so thick we could barely see in front of us. The coast of Maine at Acadia is full of smooth rocks and jagged pieces of giant granite. We all had a fun time exploring and were shocked but understood how a man fell the same night on the same path we had done. He did not make it. Tired but triumphant, we left Acadia and went into Bar Harbor for dinner and shopping. We hit most of the stores and quickly realized the restaurants closed at 9:00pm because we are still in the off-season. We finally found a beautiful restaurant in a hotel that had a warm fire in the lobby. It was a good day and we got the most out of it. I am sure we will be sore tomorrow.






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Location:Acadia National Park,Mount Desert,United States