It’s easy to sense the spirit of park visonary George B. Dorr at the Compass Harbor Trail at Acadia National Park.
Visitors can climb the granite stairs to the ruins of Dorr’s old estate – called Old Farm – and wade into the same deep inlet where Dorr took his regular swims. Continue reading
Acadia National Park is benefiting from the most trail workers this summer than at any time in the past 80 years at the Maine park.
Largely because of a federal grant, the park has hired 51 people to work on the trails, including 35 federal workers and 16 from the Youth Conservation Corps, according to Acadia Trails Foreman Gary Stellpflug, who did all the hiring.
Gary Stellpflug, trails foreman at Acadia National Park, has refurbished this memorial plaque on Gorge Path for Lilian Endicott Francklyn. Separately, a federal grant will also help finance improvements to stone steps on the path.
Stellpflug said it’s the largest crew since the Civilian Conservation Corps established two camps on Mount Desert Island in 1933 as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression. Continue reading
It is a little later than usual this year, but lady’s slippers are back in bloom at Acadia National Park.
Lady’s slippers are showing their pink and white colors in June in Acadia National Park.
Our friend Maureen took the above photo of the orchids on Monday during a hike in the park. The photo shows a large colony of pink and white lady’s slippers growing in the shade of a boulder and pine in a hidden spot in Acadia. Continue reading
BAR HARBOR – The bookstore at Acadia National Park’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center and Sherman’s Books & Stationery on Main Street both report that our Hiking Acadia National Park and Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park are selling fast.
Signed by yours truly
We stopped by recently to chat with Ann Marie Cummings of Eastern National, which runs the visitor center bookstore, and to autograph some books at Sherman’s.
The big book, Hiking Acadia, was the fifth highest item in sales volume during 2013 at the visitor center bookstore. A total of 451 of the guides was sold last year.
“It’s a beautiful book,” said Cummings, Eastern National Unit Manager, Acadia National Park, Hulls Cove Visitor Center. The 285-page book includes color photos to go along with full descriptions of 77 hikes in the park in Mount Desert Island, Isle au Haut and Schoodic Peninsula. Continue reading
One in a series of historic trail highlights leading up to the Acadia Centennial
The Bar Island Trail is one of a kind in Acadia National Park.
The wooded, rocky island can only be reached at low tide each day, starting at a sand bar that begins at the end of Bridge Street in Bar Harbor.
It’s great to walk along the ocean on the bar and then on the other side, ascend the trail through the woods on the island.
From a small hill on the island, people can get great views back to Bar Harbor and Acadia peaks. Along the way, a Porcupine Island rises from the ocean horizon.
The catch is that Bar Island can be reached just 1.5 hours on either side of low tide.
Strange enough, cars are allowed to drive on the bar, even though it’s less than a half mile long. Some people break a rule, park their car and leave it behind for a walk on the island.
A view from Bar Island puts into perspective one of the many cruise ships visiting Bar Harbor.
A prominent sign on Bar Island’s shore warns people that the tide rises quickly, but inevitably an inexperienced few lose track of time and find themselves stranded on the island when the tide comes in and washes over the sand bar.
It seems like a summer never passes without stories about swamped cars or people needing to be rescued from Bar Island at high tide.
The mishaps are hard to understand but they are as sure as the tides themselves on Bar Island. Continue reading
Acadia National Park is noted for its peregrine falcons, migrating hawks and near-ubiquitous turkey vultures.
Wild turkeys are also gobbling up space in the park. Continue reading