August 27: Day FOUR
Through the Action Tour Guide App, I purchased two tours, a walking tour of Bar Harbor that we did the first day, and a driving tour of the Park Loop that we saved for today. We looked forward to the afternoon sunshine in the forecast, and figured today’s driving tour would pair well with going to Cadillac Mountain for the sunset.
More Bridges:
Champlain Mountain and Peregrine Falcons
Champlain Mountain (no picture), named after French explorer, Samuel Champlain, has high rocky ledges where peregrine falcons like to nest. These falcons went extinct locally in the 1950s due to hunting, pesticides , and nest robbing. In the 1980s, the birds were reintroduce to the area with chicks from the West Coast. Acadia protects the birds’ habitat now by blocking off the mountain to tourists from March to August for nesting season.
Beavers were almost extinct locally! North America’s largest rodent, a beaver can range from 30-100 pounds! When colonists arrived in the 1600s, demand for beavers grew exponentially. They wanted all the beaver fur they could get. Soon the colonists were sending the fur back to Europe.
The earliest wealthy settlers were the ones who traded in beaver furs. John Jacob Astor, born in 1763, immigrated to NYC from Waldorf, Germany. By the early 1800s he had a monopoly on a great deal of overseas fur trading. The Astor family became “American royalty” as they established the Waldorf-Astoria Hotels.
Unfortunately, there is a price to pay when there is a huge demand on any given resource. By the 1900s, the beaver population had gone from over 400 million prior to colonists arriving, to a mere 100,000. Luckily, the demand began to dwindle. The beaver plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem here. There are over 250 “beaver ponds” in Acadia.
Views along the loop drive.
The structure on the island in the middle of the picture above is Egg Rock Light Station. (The peninsula in the back is the Schoodic Peninsula. Frenchman Bay is the water that lies between.) Egg Rock is said to be the homeliest lighthouse in all of Maine. It is “squat and square”.
Thunder Hole
I learned, as I prepped for today, that it was best to arrive at Thunder Hole about two hours before high tide to get the “thunder effect”. The reason is that the water has to be pulled back out to sea. As it recedes the “hole” is emptied as much as possible, then as the next large wave comes in and floods “the hole” it causes a sound similar to thunder. As the water level increases closer and closer to high tide there is less of a discrepancy when the water flows back out, so the wave coming into doesn’t have as much air in the hole to displace, therefore, not much “thunder”.
The best thunder action we experienced was as we were trying to make our way down closer for the perfect vantage point. I was disappointed I wasn’t able to capture the best thunder and splash with my phone. People definitely got wet. We hoped it would repeat, but I think it was the peak. The video below was a little later, and not as impressive, but it gives you the idea.
More fun exploring the area adjacent to Thunder Hole:
Sand Beach – Since most beaches on Mount Desert Island are rocky, Sand Beach is quite unique. Yes, the beach is sandy, but the sand is comprised mainly of pulverized sea shells. This is quite the contrast to the pebble beaches in the area.
Old Soaker: Location, location, location! Being located within a narrow inlet between the granite mountains and a rocky coast, the force of the waves pounded shells for thousands of years. The resulting fine consistency ended up deposited on shore. Due to the presence of the rock known as “Old Soaker” (pictured again below), the typical current that would wash the sand away, is interrupted, and thus the sand remains. Sandy Beach is a popular destination site to hang out and relax.
The beautiful horses and carriages need to be housed and cared for somewhere! Welcome to Wildwood Stables. The horses are beautiful.
Since our time to head up Cadillac Mountain for tonight’s sunset wasn’t till 5:00 PM, we headed back into Bar Harbor to relax with some nice sunshine.
Look! We saw a moose…
We went to Cadillac Mountain to view the sunset. Our arrival time was 5:00-5:30 pm. We got there and selected a prime spot to set up our chairs and have the dinner that I packed for us.
The views were fantastic. Vegetation is extremely sparse with most of the mountain being exposed rock. Glaciers caused what we see. 30,000 years ago, Maine was covered by a slow-moving glacier that moved down the coast from Canada. As it traveled over Mount Desert Island, the glacier eroded the sharp peaks of once-tall mountains, swept away the soil to expose masses of pink granite, and carved into the earth to leave behind crystal clear lakes.
Cadillac Mountain is NOT named after the car. It is named after Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, a French explorer who settled in Maine, and happens to be the same person that the Cadillac car was named after. He founded Detroit, so when Ford created a new brand of car, they decided to name it after the founder of their host city – Cadillac.
Barry hiked over to check out the views at the east parking lot where you go for sunRISE.
We were blessed with a decent sunset, as an appropriate ending to our time in Acadia National Park.
We leave Acadia National Park tomorrow morning. We will be taking our time heading down the coast of Maine.