My favorite hike of the trip was around Eagle Lake.

Here’s the lake in all its calm splendor.  Acadia National Park was the first National Park east of the Mississippi River.

The park has over 50 miles of “carriage roads” around lakes and through the forest.  They are great for easier hiking, biking, or cross-country skiing.  They were built by Rockefeller before the park was founded, so he’d have a pleasant place to ride his carriages!

Now the trail is starting to go uphill away from the lake.

One of the dangers of hiking with Linda is that she’s  not yet met a bryophyte she didn’t like.

Here’s a close up of the latest object of her affection.

Continuing further up the carriage trail.

Finally, a view of the lake from up near Cadillac Mountain.

one year ago…”Queueing up the Next Project”

We cheated and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  I say cheated because I’m with Edward Abbey that not every beautiful place in the world should be accessible by auto.  There are hiking trails to the top of the mountain, but it is disconcerting to get to the top and find a parking lot and RVs.  Abbey believed that the true splendor should take some sweat and effort, to help appreciate the journey.

Here’s proof that we were together on the trip, thanks to the self-timer on the camera.

A view to the north, I believe.

And a look towards the south.  I was struck at this place at the similarities to Olympic National Park in Washington overlooking Puget Sound.  The two parks are bookends to the northern coasts of the US, with Acadia being the drier, shorter version of Olympic.  I marveled at all the parts of the world I have yet to visit and for a moment was overwhelmed with all the unseen beauty across our planet.

one year ago…”Peaches”

One of the hikes was to the mouth of Ship Harbor for lunch.

This is on the extreme eastern edge of the park.

The rocks and pines are very reminiscent of northern Minnesota.

Some of the trails contain rock scrambles to keep on going. After the first day, we had nice weather the whole trip.

one year ago…”Finished in 18 Months”

I had a chance to roam around campus for a while.  It’s in a great location – one side is the ocean and literally across the street is Acadia National Park.

The college concentrates on environmental arts, sciences and design.  Claire would be a great fit for this place.

It’s the first “carbon-neutral” campus.  This is the new wood-pellet fired boiler that heats the campus.

This is the administration building, among other things.  Parts of the campus were formerly a monastery.

Here’s a formal herb garden overlooking the bay.

These are the student dormitories.

The shore right on campus property.

Finally, for Martin, a whale skull!

one year ago…”Glorious Spring”

We had the chance to take a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine as Linda was invited by the College of the Atlantic to speak about sustainable agriculture.  So I tagged along with her.

One of the streets heading down to Frenchman Bay in “downtown” Bar Harbor.

A sailing vessel moored out in the bay.

Sunset on the pier out in Frenchman Bay.

one year ago…”Asparagus”

A preview of pictures from the upcoming trip to Maine that don’t fit any where else.

Check out the cool license plate promoting local agriculture!

I don’t suppose there are too many handicapped canoe parking spaces in the world!

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #117″