Still needed a few more pics for the revised Acadia You Haven't Seen Vol 2 book. We headed out a little after the morning rush and ate in the car. Traffic was lovely, aka non-existent. I ran into 1A Relics in Ellsworth right when they opened at 10 but nothing much for toys today, Goodwill had a few things of interest but all overpriced so off to Acadia for some hiking. The temperature reached 40 along the drive, perfect for avoiding the sweat. First stop of the day was a band of ledges on Great Hill located just above the West Street Extension and Paradise Hill Road intersection. I headed off alone on this one, knowing the fallen leaves would make the steep terrain treacherous, I was right, but luckily only for the first few hundred feet.
Grabbed a few acorns along the way for my chipmunk friends back at home. I managed to stumble across an old Great Hill trail which led right by the band of ledges and was amazingly easy to follow, I assume it pops out on the ledges where the glacial erratics live along the more well known abandoned trail. No time to find out, I had to make my way to the ledges where the views were as spectacular as they were last time, though most of the foliage has passed.
I followed the old trail back down, wondering if it would lead past the Sunset Hill ledge and sure enough, it went right by it. So I stopped there for a few pictures before meeting up with Jaime along the old road portion of the hike, I popped out of the woods right where I told her I'd meet her just as she was arriving, damn I'm good.
We headed over to the Bubbles parking lot again so I could do the lower portion of the Goat Trail without the rude sun washing out the photos, I swear, the nerve. The cloudy morning was perfect for what I needed. Managed to get a spot in the smaller, closer lot and I headed off alone again, this time I read my book before going so I found the old trailhead without any issues, it was right where I said it'd be. I'd forgotten it was literally a stone stairway all the way to the road. Got my pics of the staircase with the railing and even the old rungs on the cliff across the Loop Road since I could stand in the middle of the street to get my photos, can't do that in the summer. Walked back to the car along the road to save a little time and only met two cars.
We’d noticed a car go through the entrance booth at Cadillac so we decided to give it a try. No reservation needed since it's about to close for the season, so we headed on up and parked in the lot below the summit. I needed to get some pictures of the very upper end of the Potholes Path, but man did the wind make for a cold walk along the Cadillac South Ridge Trail.
A little over a mile to the Featherbed, it was dry as could be after a long drought.
I found the upper end of the Potholes Path with no problem, huh, I expected a bit of searching. The goal was a section of trail I believe was once known as the Great Snake Flats, for some reason I didn't have any photos of the broken ledges. So this time I took a bunch.
I don't actually have any evidence these are indeed the Great Snake Flats but the deep cracks in the ledges seem like the perfect place for a giant mythical snake to hide and hunt. I went a little further down the trail to the Old Leopard boulder before turning around and making a quick trip up to Dike Peak for a few photos.
I stopped at the Featherbed to sit on a log bench and eat my nutty bar. Then back up to the car for just over a 3 mile round trip, not bad considering it would have been well over 4 miles if I did the Canon Brook Trail like originally planned. Despite the cold and wind I still managed to find myself dripping with sweat on my way back up Cadillac, and possibly a few icicles.
Driving down the mountain was much more pleasant than walking in the cold wind, and it gave me plenty of time to hit the Otter Creek boat launch along Grover Ave before it got dark, there was even a large pull-off with plenty of room for parking. I got the few pics of the mud flats I needed and made my way along the nearby trail heading towards the Otter Cove Causeway. Not sure how I had no pictures of the trail but I somehow had none.
And back to the car, stopping to admire the view of Champlain Mtn and Huguenot Head from Grover Ave, a view I forgot was even there so that was a pleasant surprise.
With the last hour of sunlight, we made our way over to lower Hadlock Pond and walked out together. With all my visits to the scenic body of water, I'd somehow never approached it from the Brown Mtn Gatehouse before. And in all my visits, the sun always left the view rather washed out. Today wasn't perfect but better than any of the photos I already had.
The water was the lowest most people have ever seen it, not even close to making it over the dam. Which meant I got to walk around beneath the cement waterfall. The sun began setting, making our walk back was a bit chilly, but a perfect way to end the day.
We made our way off the island with rush hour traffic, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad, nothing compared to last time, it’s amazing the difference two weeks can make. Back in Ellsworth I stopped at Mardens to check out the toys they put out for Christmas, no figures I needed, don't get me wrong, there were a few good ones, I just already have them. Then Dollar Tree for a few groceries. No Walmart toy hunting tonight, I was sore and that's a big store to walk around. And if you were wondering, my infected toenail did fine all day. Ear infection still going strong but nothing I couldn't handle. And that wraps up the revised edition of The Acadia You Haven't Seen vol 2. (Note: Unfortunately my computer stopped working around this time and it took over a month to get the parts needed to fix it, just long enough to get everything off of it before it was gone for good. Mission accomplished and luckily I didn't lose anything when all was said and done.)
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