August 12, 2024
After 2 wrong turns and 3 miles pedaling up a mountain, I was beginning to think we’d made a huge mistake. Then we popped out of the trees and were rewarded with a view of the hills and lakes below us. At 11.3 miles, the Around the Mountain Loop is the longest carriage road loop. We typically ride 7 or 8 miles a day, and over 10 is usually not too a problem. Plus, it’s called “Around the Mountain” not “Over the Mountain”. Well, they need to fix the name on this one. We rode over the mountain, and it was beautiful. The views at the top were worth the effort and we coasted most of the way down. We stopped to explore some of the old bridges (the first one was built in 1917, the last in 1940).
A little history, John D Rockefeller Jr. was afraid the new automobile would take over Mt. Desert Island, now Acadia National Park, so he built a network of carriage roads. Fifty one miles of road and 17 beautiful stone bridges. I guess he wanted someplace to ride around in a carriage. Later he gave the land, with the roads and bridges to the country to be turned into the park. Thank you Mr. Rockefeller. I wonder if we’ll get anything from today’s robber barons??
We were lucky with a parking spot for both the truck and camper. We were up a little early because of the time change so we headed to the Jordan Pond House parking area. The lot was nearly empty and we parked in one of the limited RV spots. We popped into the camper had breakfast and got ready for the day. We were quite surprised when we got back to the camper after our bike ride and discovered the parking lot was full and people were circling to find spots.
We had a quick lunch in the camper before heading out for a couple mile hike up the side of Cadillac Mountain. We didn’t summit but did climb some nice rocky scrambles and again were rewarded with some fine scenery.
We then checked into the campsite, dumped and filled, and unhitched before heading into Bar Harbor. It took us a couple of passes before we found parking, Bar Harbor is a busy tourist town with lots of shops restaurants and ice cream places. We went to dinner at McKay’s Public house and got a first class meal, I had lobster and Cathy fillet mignon.
We drove the park loop back to the campground. We checked out a couple of the pull off and we rewarded again with some spectacular views.
Cathy and Andy, these posts are brilliant. We feel as if we're travelling in your footsteps...up all those trails!