Out Here Collecting Girl Scout Badges At 43

Day 4: 47 miles, destination Seawall Campground

Total miles: 650

I mentioned in my previous post that I wasn't able to get the same campsite three nights in a row (or even two nights in a row), so I find myself breaking down camp every morning (check out is 10 AM) and setting up again in a new spot (you can check back in at noon). My first night's camp site was on the north end of Acadia and nights two and three were on the south end and since Bar Harbor was on the way I decided to check out downtown before I headed back to set up my new camp. I welcome comments from anyone familiar with the area, but to me Bar Harbor just felt touristy. I walked around a bit, it is filled with little shops and such, but it didn't draw me in to spend a whole lot of time there. Or, maybe, I was just being called back to the woods. So, I had a great lunch at CherrySTONES Restaurant and then headed to find my new camping spot.

My new spot was a 'walk-in' spot, so unlike the night before when I just backed my car into my site, I had to park out on a loop and then walk my supplies in. Luckily my spot wasn't too far in, and well, I don't have much stuff, so it wasn't that much of a hassle to set up.

It was a gorgeous day and other campers had fires going so it felt right to just relax and read my book. While I thoroughly enjoyed this time I ended up regretting spending that time reading and relaxing and not hiking as it was amazing weather and in retrospect I did not have much time in Acadia so I really should have used this time to maximize hiking. Eh, live & learn.

I woke up the next morning and got up and on my way early to get some hiking in - I can't believe I was already on my last full day and I felt like I hadn't 'done' anything yet! I decided to go to Jordan Pond and do that hike based on a suggestion from one of the Park Rangers. As you can see, the weather wasn't the best, but I was still happy to be outside and moving.

Honestly, it's just so gorgeous, even when it's foggy. Jordan Pond is a 3.2 mile loop, and it's easy in most parts, but when they describe part of it as 'fairly rocky', they need to be a little more descriptive. It was straight up climbing over and through giant rocks and boulders. I was fine, but there were people out there doing this loop that were definitely *not* prepared for that.

After finishing up with the Jordan Pond loop, I saw signs for the hike to Bubble Rock as I was heading out so I decided to do that as well since I had read earlier that Bubble Rock was pretty cool too.

Here's the spectacular view from Bubble Rock...

After all that hiking I was tired and hungry and decided to go murder a lobster. Sorry buddy, but you were delicious.

Night three at camp did *not* go as planned! My mighty little tent LEAKED, sending me scrambling to sleep in my car. It's times like that where I am grateful to be 5'3" and able to somewhat comfortably-ish to sleep in the back seat of a Honda CRV. Honestly though, I was expecting to hate camping and end up sleeping in my car for THREE nights, so I call this a success!

I wish I had more time in Acadia. I planned this entire road trip last minute with two weeks notice. The goal is to see as many places as possible in the time frame that I have: 8/22 - 9/24 since I already have plans starting 9/25. So, ideally I'd spend much more time in Acadia, and I'd probably spend months mapping out hiking plans and figuring out daily itineraries in order to group things together. I'm still so happy I went, I'm so happy I camped and found out that I really like it, and now I'll know more for next time. Eventually I'll put up a post detailing all of the camping gear I bought and review it all, but in the meantime if you want any info please reach out to me!

xoxo

iamfunchris