Acadia, Day 2

After a full day exploring Acadia (see yesterday), we were excited for more. We wanted to hike Jordan Pond first—a lovely 3-mile hike around said body of water that comes highly recommended (we would soon see why). We had been warned to get there early, as the parking lot fills up fast. So we arrived shortly after they opened (8:30am, I think) and had no problems parking. It was on to the pond!

Jordan Pond is the tail of two trails. You start on the south side and can go either direction: the west bank features a long stretch of wooden planks followed by and rocky terrain; the east bank is mostly smooth gravel. We opted to go clockwise and hit the planks/rocks first. 

On the north side, we crossed a small bridge, noted the shockingly clear water, and continued on the east bank.

After, we did lunch in town (where I had an *amazing* slice of blueberry pie, a Maine specialty) and then headed to the western half of the island to see the lighthouse. A few observations:

- the western half of the island is mostly *not* Acadia National Park and felt "real." We were not in the tourist area. We enjoyed seeing the local houses and communities. I've never seen such small libraries or so many churches in such a small area.

- it's not far, but takes a bit of time to drive given the country roads

- the lighthouse is a private residence and cannot be entered. You can see it up close from one side, and can then hike around a short path on the other side to get a view from the rocks. Which is exactly what we did:

It was pretty, but a minor disappointment (since we couldn't tour inside). We drove back to town up the western road to see more of the local area. Then it was back to Bar Harbor for dinner. It is small but pretty.

That wrapped up our days in Acadia.

On the whole, Acadia National Park was excellent. We could have easily spent a few more days hiking new trails and enjoying the natural beauty. We somehow missed the bugs (I guess they die in June?) and the weather was perfect. Bar Harbor was wonderful, too. I was surprised how crowded everything (park and town) was . . . that made for occasional stress or annoyance. But that is minor; this is worth a trip.

We left Acadia the next morning and spent the day traveling, heading west to the White Mountains. That was day five of the trip (driving: 5 hours, ~250 miles, much of it on back roads). We would end up in Lincoln, New Hampshire, reunited with good friends from college we hadn't seen in eight years. We spent that evening catching up and readied ourselves for what was to come. Tune in next time . . . more adventure awaits!