Another beautiful day! Still slightly sore from yesterday’s hike up Pemetic, we dragged ourselves out of bed and down to Jeannie’s for breakfast. I was able to get my favorite fresh strawberry pancakes, even though they weren’t really on the menu, and Rich had an egg and whole wheat toast with peppery home fries and crispy bacon. Those home fries are some of my favorites. We bought three jars of Jeannie’s famous strawberry rhubarb spread to take home.
Leaden legs always feel better once you start walking again. Today’s hike was the Acadia Mountain Trail to the summit of Acadia Mountain, including a quick search for ROBINSON (which we had found in 2006, but we didn’t recall it having been such a struggle to reach back then)! Following the coordinates we eventually made our way to the correct ledge, fought our way through the pitch pine and scrub oak, and found all three marks still in perfect condition. We sat and watched the sound for a while, knowing that we could enjoy our spot in peace with no one to bother us.
We’re always glad to get away from people when we can. Three girls looked at us with suspicion when they saw us step off the trail. They apparently thought we were geocaching. Really, these goody-two-shoes types would be better off, if they have such an insatiable need to scold people breaking park rules, to go harass the hikers we passed with dangerous dogs off-leash. We told them, and the other people hiking near them (a couple whose photo we had taken at the summit) that we were not geocaching but were looking for an historical survey marker, which they all thought was moderately interesting. Whether they really had a clue what we were talking about, I have no idea.
It was a rough hike both coming and going, with high rocky steps and made even tougher by yet more people who thought they were entitled to leave their dogs off leash. This seems to be an epidemic here this year. It’s frustrating that there is no enforcement or better yet, simple common sense and courtesy. When we were left alone without barking, the noise of people baby-talking to their dogs, or the fear of being bowled over by a hundred pound beast as we were climbing through the tricky sections of rock, the hike was peaceful and relaxing. The views of Somes Sound are unmatched from any other location, and this trail has some of the nicest examples in the park of thick twisting roots enveloping rocky ledges.
We felt so beat up after hiking just the Acadia Mountain trail that adding St. Sauveur was out of the question this time. We simply came down Man O War Brook Fire Road toward Route 3, and then repeated the first section of the Acadia Mountain trail back toward the parking area.
Note: the fire road emerges on the highway a few hundred feet north of the trail, but a new connector trail has been built between the bases of the two trails. So you can actually park at either area and easily access either the trail or the fire road without having to walk along the highway.
By now we were totally beat. Good thing we had supper at Fiddlers Green to look forward to! It’s always a relaxing place. We love to sit in their large enclosed porch-room, which is somehow both porch-like and still exceptionally cozy. We started with beers and crabcakes with a three-chili-mango-honey sauce. I then had the smoked cheddar halibut with roasted red potatoes, and Rich had salmon and crab wrapped in nori and coated with panko, served over rice. Both were delicious! As usual, we shared our plates. Dessert was the same fruity, light Heidi Cake we had last year—I still want the recipe!
After this relaxing meal and an evening drive along part of the Park Loop Road (complete with a stop to view Thunder Hole with our super-bright flashlight!), we spent a relaxing night reading through the Google Books-ified versions of the old travelers’ accounts of their Mount Desert Island adventures, the highlights being anything from Clara Barnes Martin’s book Mount Desert, on the Coast of Maine…, and “A Rainy Morning with the Jesuits” from DeCosta’s Rambles in Mount Desert. This selection was particularly appropriate since our hike today was near the old Jesuit camp at St. Sauveur/Flying Mountain!