The White Mountains-Beautiful!!!

Today is a day we have been looking forward to for awhile now.  We went down to the local train station in North Conway and took the "Notch" train for a 5 1/2 hour excursion into the White Mountains to Crawford Notch Station.

In the lobby of the North Conway Grand Hotel

Treston & Tucker- Nonnie & Poppy finally found a moose

Rain was predicted today, but held off until we pulled back into the station at the end of the trip.  We arrived at the station as scheduled and already the yard was busy with activity.  A steam locomotive was sitting on the round-about puffing away.  This engine is sometimes used on special occasions.  We were pulled today by engine 252 which is a diesel locomotive.  I am glad it was a diesel engine as we climbed the mountain.

Train station at North Conway

Original sign for Crawford Notch

We were second to board and were seated with a nice couple from Florida.  The Polska's have both recently retired and are members of a railroad restoration club near Jacksonville.  Howard was a great source of information about the railroad in general.  We had a kindred spirit as they are also baptists. We were also seated in the dining car together and it made for a pleasant afternoon on this 5 1/2 hour trip.

The Polska's-Thanks for an enjoyable afternoon

We pulled out of North Conway and traveled generally north following the course of the Saco River.  We travelled through Bartlett, Willard, Crawford Notch, and on to Fabyans Station where the engine was switched to the other end of the train and we made the reverse trip back down the mountain.  We passed over Frankenstein Trestle which is 800' long and 80' in the air and the train stopped on top of the trestle for photographs and to take in the view.

The Notch Train at Crawford Station-  It was cold and windy.

The foliage was beautiful in the lower elevations, but by the top the trees had already dropped many of their leaves.  It was cold at Crawford Station with a brisk wind.

 

I rode in the open car near the back of the train much of the trip up.  I was able to lean out to get some shots of the train in the curves and to photograph the scenery without shooting through glass.  Howard kept me aware of what was coming next and to be ready.

The dining car named in honor of Hattie Evans who raised four children as a widow - Houses were once erected along sections of the rail line for the section foreman who maintained the line.  Mr. Evans was responsbile for section 139 which was one of the steepest sections of the line.

The Evans' section home was built on the rock foundation in this picture and just hung on the side of the mountain.  The train picked up the 4 children of the family and carried them to and back from school down the line at Bartlett Station each day.  The train was unable to stop for the pickup, so Mrs. Evans positioned her children every 40' along the track and they stood with their hand on their side and elbow out.  The trained slowed and the conductor would reach out and grab each child and lift them aboard.  Mr. Evans was later killed in a tragic accident while working on the line.

This is absolutely some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.  It rivals Jordon Pond (almost)!

We move again tomorrow.  It is raining tonight and hopefully it will not be foggy in the morning.  I don't want to drive in fog here in the mountains with moose on the loose.  We plan to backtrack a short distance back into Maine and then cross New Hampshire on the Kancamagus Highway.  Our goal is to be in Vermont by the end of the day.

This is a wooden snowplow which was pushed by an engine to clear the tracks of snow.  It is currently being restored by railroad volunteers in Bartlett.

In Hattie Evans dining car

IF THE FOLIAGE IS NOT PEAK IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, THEN I DON'T BELIEVE MY SENSES COULD HANDLE THE LEAVES ANY MORE VIBRANT!

 

 

 

Saturday, October 5 Travel Day

We left Bar Harbor and traveled to Bangor and turned south.  The scenery was beautiful.  There are more reds and yellows in the trees than at home.  It is hard to capture the depth of the color in a photograph.


Sunrise on Saturday with the Bar Harbor Inn and Spa on the right.

Main Street in Bar Harbor.  The streets are blocked for the arrival of tour buses.  Buses and ships are the lifeblood of the economy.

The Bar Harbor Inn from the front lobby entrance

We came upon a Shaker Community.  Unusual group of people.  The tour closed with the people in front of us and we were unable to stay.

Building at the Shaker Village at New Gloucester, Maine.  The area has a huge lake called Sabbathday Lake.

Barn at the Shaker village

There are lakes all over western Maine and are beautiful.  The little towns have the high church steeples and old buildings.  Out in the countryside there is the obvious sign of poverty.  The jokes about the south being a "trailer park" could just as easily be applied to this area of the country.  Nearly everyone out in the country was busy cutting and stacking wood yesterday.

We decided to go looking for moose and so called and made reservations (the last two seats) and continued to drive.  We went through Naples and Bridgton, Maine.  Breathtaking beauty!  We made our way to Fryeburg and got caught in the fair traffic.  The Fryeburg Fair is one of the largest fairs in all of New England.  There are over 100 permanent exhibit hall buildings.  There were signs for parking for $5.00 and stating "only 20 minute walk".  There is only one way in and out in these towns and it was gird lock.

We went on the Moose Safari last night.  This guy has a permit to spotlight.  We boarded a bus with 24 others and drove at about 60 miles per hour down the road through the White Mountains.  Connie and I had a bench seat at the back of the bus since we were the last to book.  We had seat belts, but was whipped around like a rag doll.  He flipped on lights on each side of the bus and drove breakneck down the roads, would throw on his brakes and slide off the side of the road and use a hand-held spotlight to check the bogs (drainage areas where water is standing with the salt run-off from the roads).  Nothing there-and gun it again.  We did this for 3 1/2 hours.  Nary a moose to be seen!  We had to settle for this ole boy at the trading post we stopped at for a short break.

Elwin's Bus for the Moose Safari.  He offered us a free trip next year since we didn't see a moose.

"Bullwinkle"

That's all for Saturday.

Acadia (from the outside looking in)

(My original post was unknowingly removed.  I will attempt to recreate as time permits)

 

 

We were up early on Friday morning, but still recovering from the day before.  I looked out the window and saw clouds in the sky and the eastern sky beginning to lighten.  I couldn't resist grabbing my camera with tripod and heading down to the pier to watch the dawn of another day.  The sky changes by the second as the sun rapidly pushes up over the horizon.

 

 

After breakfast we took a walk along the Shorepath.  This was built along the seawall in the late 1800's.  It starts at the town pier and extends for over one-half mile around the harbor.  It goes by some very expensive real estate.  The path is actually owned by the property owners, but they have allowed the path to be used by the public continuously since it was built.

The Shorepath

 



There are beautiful blooming plants all over the city and island.  The grass is exceptionally green and there are red and purple blooming plants.  They are not damaged by the heat as would be the case back home in Tennessee.  Time is short however.  The temperature is consistently in the 40s at night now.

 



Blooming plants-the red is Chokeberry which is related to the rose

We had a trip booked on the "Islander" for a 3 1/2 hour cruise around the coast of Mt. Desert and some of the adjoining islands.  We departed just after lunch on a small craft which allowed us to get in close to shore.  We left Bar Harbor, traveling past our motel and then down the coast.  The Bar Harbor Inn & Spa has a long history.  It was originally established as the "Oasis Club" and then later became a reading room where authors and poets would come and read their work.  Pulitizer lived in Bar Harbor and was often found there.  He was a newspaper publisher and the Pulitizer Prize was named after him.  During World War II the Bar Harbor Inn was taken over the by the US Navy.  Navy aviators practice dropping torpedoes in the harbor.  There is an island just off the coast which had the profile of a Japaneese battleship and the torpedoes repeatedly blasted away at the granite clifts.  In 1947 a huge fire swept over the island destroying much of the island with the prize homes.  The Bar Harbor Inn expanded and became the only hotel remaining in town.

Connie and a "Titantic Moment"

 

The Bar Harbor Inn & Spa from the water.  The Reading Room Restaurant is to the right.

 

Bar Harbor Inn-the east wing.  Our room is on the top second floor just left of the center with the drapes open

Martha Stewart's home can be seen near the top center.  It is located in Seal Harbor.

The home of Dick Wolf-creator of "Law & Order"

Bear Island Lighthouse

Lobster fishing is a difficult life.  Fishing goes on regardless of weather.  The traps are moved to deeper water as the water temperature decreases.  A typical fisherman has 800 traps in the water and will pull up and reset 200 a day.  A good catch is two to three keepers per trap.  The traps are baited with an oily fish and the bait is now being imported since there are restrictions on the Herring catch allowed.  A keeper is in the 1 1/4 to 5 lbs. range and can not be a reproducing female.  A lobster fisherman must wait as long as 9 years to obtain a license and must work under another lobsterman to be able to apply.  The fisherman has a distinctive color system on his buoys to indentify his traps and must display this color pattern on his boat when he is working the traps.  The fishermen would leave the docks at daylight to start working their traps.  Many of the traps in the Bar Harbor area were set in water that was 150' deep.

Lobster buoys-Different color patterns are used to identify each fisherman's traps

Egg Rock Lighthouse

Great Gray and Harbor seals resting on the rocks during low tide at Egg Rock Lighthouse

 

The seals were moaning and fussing with each other.  You could hear them over the sound of our idling boat engine.  The fussing seemed to be over competition for the chose spot on the rock to rest.

 

Egg Rock-voted by Maine residents as the ugliest lighthouse in Maine.  This light could be easily seen from our hotel room at night.

 

The bar in Bar Harbor.  This strip of ground appears during low tide and connects downtown Bar Harbor with Bar Island seen in the distance.  You may walk or even drive across the bar which is made up of rock and ground up shell.  It is present for approximately 3 hours and then disappears as the tide comes in.  If you get caught by the tide you will have a 6 hour wait until the bar reappears and you can come back.  The tide rises by 12 to 13 feet at Bar Harbor.

 

 

Acadia (a smidge more with a lot of work)

Everything on me hurts!!

We left early with plans to go down the east coast of Bar Harbor Island on Hwy 3 and get as close to Acadia grounds as possible and walk from there.  They can't shut down every road because residences including huge mansions are interspersed with the park.  Martha Stewart has a home somewhere in this area, but not sure exactly where.

We drove to the end of Schooner Head Road and hit a roadblock.  We turned around and drove back until we found a place to park on the side of the road and set out from there.  We walked down to the barricade and was just starting around when a ranger appeared and walked over to us.  After a few comments about my accent he actually laid out a hike for us which took us along the "Ocean Path" trail to Sand Beach and Thunder Hole.  Sand Beach was beautiful and so unusual.  Thunder Hole is a narrow cavity in the granite rock and the waves crash in trapping air in the cavity.  This explodes back out like a clap of thunder.  Unfortunately, you have to time the tides and by the time we walked in, the tide was rapidly falling and there was no sound.  We would have made it in the car.

At the Schooner Head entrance-the gate is locked

Schooner Head Point-notice the home on the clift

Sand Beach-one of the few points in Maine which does not have a rocky coastline

Looking south toward Otter Clifts-I am surprised by the blooming plants.  Notice the pink granite.

We hiked back out and made it to the car, meeting some really nice folks along the way.  I may have to rethink what I think about "Yankees".  We walked a little over 5 miles this morning.

There are some great "hiking paths" this week in Acadia

We ate lunch and went down to the Chamber of Commerce to inquire about a way to get to Jordan Pond.  The lady yesterday was of great assistance, but the person today was of no value whatsoever.  To every question I asked she just told me the park was closed.

So, I took Hwy 3 again and found our way to Seal Harbor.  From there we parked and struck out on foot.  You can walk in the middle of the road and not worry about traffic.  Every picture of this area that I have seen is filled with people.  Not mine!

We walked to Jordan Pond House (where we had planned to eat lunch one day out on the lawn overlooking the lake) and then went down to the lake.  We started to walk around the lake.  It looked to me to be a mile or so around, but after 20 minutes of walking it seemed we were just started.  It ended up being 3.2 miles around the lake.  Jordan Pond (they call lakes ponds up here) is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  The "pond" is 187 acres and is a depth of 150 feet.  The water was pristine and deep blue with the mountains in the backgroud.  The birches and maples are changing color and this was reflecting in the water.  A pair of bald eagles flew over and we heard the screech before we looked up and located the pair soaring over the lake.  The path around the lake was great on one side and difficult on the other with pink granite rocks and boulders.  We then progressed to a mile of walking on split logs.  You had to keep your head down and watch your footing closely.

View of the "Bubbles" from the back lawn of Jordan Pond (where we planned to eat lunch).

Some of the foilage around the  lake pond

A sample of the granite boulders along the west side of the pond

The stones turned to a mile of the split logs

At least the walk to the car was downhill.  We met a young couple from "South Jersey" to converse with back down and it did not seem so long. 

All together we walked at least 12.7 miles today.  We have marked off a few more things, but I am disappointed to not see a sunrise from Cadillac Mountain.  I just can't walk the 6 miles up before sunrise.  (The trail is 4 miles, but we would have to walk at least 2 miles just to get to the trailhead now.  We are disappointed to not ride on the carriage roads or to eat at Jordan Pond House, but God has blessed us with a chance to see some parts of Acadia when it looked as though that would also be unattainable.

In front of one of the Carriage Road stone bridges scattered in the park.  We are 11 miles into the 12.7 walked today.

Tomorrow, we are taking it easy.  We have a 4 hour boat trip planned for the afternoon in which we see the sights and mansions of Mt. Desert Island from the water.  Hopefully, this is not a Gilligan Cruise.  It is on a small craft with only 35 aboard.

The post is lengthy and if my fingers were as tired as my legs, it would have been a one-liner.

Good Night!

Acadia (sorta)

It has been a good day!

We were up early to watch the sun rise from our balcony, breakfast, and then walking through Bar Harbor.  It is quiet early in the morning, especially without the cruise ships in harbor.  We did have two more ships to come in during the day and it makes a huge impact on the traffic.

Sunrise

We talked with the Chamber of Commerce and learned that many roads on Mt. Desert Island (Acadia is scattered throughout Mt. Desert Island) were open because there are small towns on the island and can not be cut off.

We took a chance and drove to Southwest Harbor.  This took us through Sommesville and the iconic bridge which you see with almost any photo of Acadia.

The Sommesville Bridge

We traveled on to Southwest Harbor (a small lobster fishing town) and on to Bath Harbor.  Bath Harbor also has a busy lobster dock, but also has the Bass Harbor light.  The lighthouse is located on the southern most tip of Mt. Desert Island and is a location I wanted to see.  The area was barricaded to traffic, but we walked in along with some 25 others and the sight was spectacular.

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

We traveled on to Northeast Harbor (just across the bay from Southwest Harbor, but 16 miles by road) for lunch and then drove back to Bar Harbor.

Northwest Harbor Marina

Just before sundown, we boarded the Margaret Todd which is a 151 foot schooner and sailed for approximately 90 minutes.  The bay was relatively calm with good winds and the only noise was the wind flapping the sails (and the live musician who played the guitar and fiddle).

Hoisting the sails

 

Sunset on the water

We talked with others on board and learned they had gone into the park in different areas by walking off the public roads.  So tomorrow we will try to get into another area of the park and check off some more of our planned areas.