Days 72 - 74: Mount Desert Island, ME

We spent a second night at Blackwoods Campground.  And, once the sun finally decided to come out, we took the opportunity to see some of the spectacular scenery on the east side of Mount Desert Island.  We can only imagine what the crowds are like when the tourist season is in high gear - the campground was less than half full, but parking at most of the stops along the main park road was very nearly full.  

Sand Beach.

Thunder Hole.

(I had first camped at Blackwoods Campground on the 26th of September, 1985.  I was chased off the Island the next day by an approaching hurricane, as the rangers had warned me that if the hurricane hit land around here that the campground would be evacuated.  I made it as far as Bucksport, where I found a room at the Jed Prouty Tavern and Inn [now an assisted living center] just as the rain started coming down in buckets.  I figured that an inn that had stood since 1798 had probably weathered its share of hurricanes, so it was probably one of the safer places to be in a big blow.)

Views from Cadillac Mountain.

On Tuesday we moved over to Seawall Campground ($30, primitive, no showers), which is located at the south end of the Island.  We had showers, did laundry and picked up a few food items on the way over.  By the time we were done, the temperature had dropped 10 degrees and the skies had darkened.  So we checked in and hurriedly prepared a frittata for lunch, suspecting that it would be too wet to cook in the evening.  Just as we finished the skies opened up.  We dashed inside the camper, not exactly pleased to be stuck in the cabin so early in the day.  But the worst of the rain didn't last long.  We were able to go do some exploring and even had a good fire in the evening, though we needed our beach umbrellas to keep the fine mist off of us.

Bass Head Harbor Light.

A campfire in the rain.

The weather improved on Wednesday.  There was a minus one foot tide in the morning, so we attempted to do some tide pooling, but it seems we didn't pick a very good spot.  But Lana enjoyed slipping and sliding on the slimy seaweed!

There was a 13 foot tide swing between low tide and high tide.  That's not quite as spectacular as the forty foot swings that can occur in the Bay of Fundy, but it is still very impressive.

We did a little beach hiking in the afternoon.  Lana was pretty intrigued by the waves, thinking that there had to be some sort of critter causing the water to do that.  She had a good sniff at the seaweed that floated by, but decided they weren't the instigators.

"Why does this water keep moving around?"