Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Hadley's Point CG, Bar Harbor, ME - Aug 1-14
We picked this campground because it was fairly close to Bar Harbor and and Acadia Natl Park, and it was one of the least expensive. They are all expensive for what you get. Also full of people. We were lucky enough to have a free shuttle that would take us to Bar Harbor and out to various points in Acadia, so we got through the two weeks only having to drive our truck one day, saving a lot on gas to make up for the expensive cg.
Acadia NP, which takes up much of Mt. Desert Island, is the only NP consisting entirely of donated lands, and the first established east of the Mississippi River. It's a curious patchwork, with little areas of private land sitting in the middle of much larger tracts of park land. A network of carriage roads (44 miles, no motorized vehicles allowed) was financed entirely by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Acadia got a large addition after a devastating fire in 1947 destroyed many of the mansions that had been built on the island.
At first the crowds everywhere seemed overwhelming, but as we got "used to it", we started to appreciate the area more. We did several enjoyable hikes in Acadia, including one on Willie's birthday where we got lost (twice) and wound up climbing down a 10-foot sheer rock wall and then scrambling down a boulder field. We bought a good topo map the next day. We also wandered around the town of Bar Harbor, which has many good and surprisingly reasonably-priced restaurants, especially for a tourist town. We went on many ranger-led activities, including two early-morning bird walks. This was not, unfortunately, the best time of the year for birds. Still, we were able to add American Redstart and Black-throated Green Warbler to our list. We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain and went to ranger talks about the area. Our cats did not think much of Acadia or Bar Harbor, since we often weren't home until 8 or 9 pm.
We also went out on a whalewatch boat. What a contrast to Campobello! We were the only boat within sight, and the pilot would cut the engine to a slow crawl when we were near whales. We were lucky enough to see Finback, Minke and Humpback Whales -- our first humpbacks. A pair of humpbacks played near the boat for quite a while, surfacing parallel to the boat and doing tail flips. The crew took photos of the tails and were able to identify one as Gemini, first spotted in 1976! The boat also took us to an island where the Atlantic Puffins breed, so we were able to see them quite well. We saw Greater Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm-petrels & Leach's Storm-petrels while out on the ocean. It was a wonderful trip.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 4:52 PM 
