We got up ready for a full day and cooked oatmeal on the propane stove. I chopped up a banana to make it taste a little better. It was a hearty breakfast that got me ready for hiking.. right after the half hour drive to the other side of the park.
We pulled up to the precipice, parking along the road because all of the parking spots were already taken up. This is the hike we had been looking forward to since we read about it.
The very first thing you see on the trail are signs saying that it's not a hiking trail and people have been seriously injured and killed on the trail. That's just for people that don't know what they're doing.
This is a view of what we would be climbing up. It looks pretty intimidating.
It began with mostly small rock climbs and then we came to this large boulder field. It's not as difficult as it looks. It's actually a lot of fun navigating the boulders and finding a path over them.
The metal rungs and guide bars began shortly after. Some of them were necessary to get up certain rock faces but we avoided others because they were just for extra help and we wanted to do it on our own. This part of the edge had a little bridge over it. It was steep so the help was appreciated in this case.
We came to some parts where the ladders started to take us straight up. There was a hold up at this point because some people decided to bring their young children on this hike. There were definitely parts where I felt a little iffy so I don't think I'd bring my children. Something about Maine causes people to be neglectful parents.
Once the jam let up we climbed up the rungs, ladders and steep rocks higher and higher.
There was one spot that was really narrow on the edge. There were guide bars but it was still a long drop off the side.
Not long after, while still being continually held up by the family in front of us, we made it to the top. The view was amazing.
We took a break and took in the beautiful scenery while we had some trail mix and water. The climb was a lot of fun and the view was a great payoff.
We took a different way down which was generally easier but there were some narrow rock steps which are always harder going down.
We headed right down the road to another strenuous hike called The Beehive.
This hike was similar to The Precipice but it didn't have as many ladders or obstacles. The climb seemed steeper at times but the overall hike was not as far.
The view from the top was nice as well but it was nothing compared to the last one we saw. We didn't spend too much time up there before we headed down.
We had some lunch in the car before we headed back to the other side of the park and found our next challenge: Acadia Mountain. This hike was more wooded than rocky though it was still quite steep at points.
It was a nice hike to the top and the view was amazing from there.
This was definitely my favorite view of the trip for some reason. You couldn't see the farthest but just the things you could see looking down to the bay where the sailboats were ambling across the water and seeing out to the endless ocean created a great scene.
On the way down we made some slight detours to add elements to our hike. Besides jumping from rock to rock like we were the day before, we added a log walk to the fun.
We also decided to take a trail up to the summit of another mountain when the trail branched off. I think we regretted it a little bit once we started climbing up but there was no turning back. The view from this one was not much more than trees but it felt good to be there so we could start heading down again.
We stopped at the general store for showers on our way back to camp since the park doesn't have any showers. It felt good to be clean. We headed back to camp and fired up the burner so we could make soup. My creamy mushroom soup with Ritz crackers was amazing after a long day of hiking. I was so hungry.
We got out the travel Scrabble and played until it was too dark. Luckily, we could just fold it up and start again where we left off later!
We stacked some kindling and got a nice big fire going once it started getting dark. It was nice to have a fire and no rain this time.
We sat next to the fire reading and just enjoying time to relax after the long day.
I wasn't tired but I was so exhausted I fell asleep soon after I got in my sleeping bag.
We got up early enough to see the sun rising over the bay by the docks I really like. Unfortunately it was a little later than I wanted to be out there, but it still looked nice.
We headed over to the Precipice trailhead as it started to rain. We had some PBJ sandwiches and waited it out for a short time, eventually deciding we should just go for it.
We stepped carefully up the steeper sections that were wet. It was a little slippery, but we didn't have much of a problem. By the time we got to the rock scramble it had stopped raining.
Alex wasn't sure what to expect and she handled the climb well. There were a couple of difficult spots and she took them without hesitation.
The iron rung part of the hike was a little unnerving at times as they were still wet. There were more of them than I recalled from last year. Still a lot of fun.
After a few more sections of precarious maneuvering and careful stepping on the iron bars, we had made it to the final section.
We climbed to the top and took a seat on the rocks to rest and have some water. The climb wasn't really strenuous in the traditional sense so we just enjoyed the sit for a short time.
There wasn't much of a view with the fog that was still rolling through on top of the mountain. We could see the islands in the water through a few clear spots, but mostly we couldn't see far in front of us.
We took a trail down the other side of the mountain which put us just outside the park entrance. We walked in and grabbed the first shuttle that came by that took us back to our car.
We drove into town and went to the Bar Harbor Brewing Company store. We tasted some wines and then went around the corner to get lunch at a Chinese place. The food was okay, but it cleansed our palates to come back to the store to sample their four beers on tap. The Cadillac Mountain Stout was my favorite by far.
We were given directions to their actual brew facility a few miles up the road and headed right there. We got to sample all of those beers, along with an entertaining explanation of all of them from our host. Many good brews, along with a taste of their root beer and the amazing blueberry soda. It was so good! Also, since we had a small group, we were allowed to taste some of their special limited edition brews. All really good. We picked up a six pack and some big bottles for the night.
There was one more stop at the winery before we were done. There, we tried about ten different wines, from whites to reds to dessert wines to their ice wine. There were quite a few unique and delicious wines in there. The Rising Tide Riesling was my favorite wine. The Black Currant dessert wine was amazing and very different from anything I'd had before.
When we got back to camp after showering at the general store, we tried to figure out what we should do. There wasn't much going on as it was raining and getting dark. We ended up going to a cafe in town for clam chowder and BYOB. Lucking we had our own B. We stayed there for a couple of hours, talking and laughing with the big group that sat next to us while we drank our beers. It was a lot of fun, and I learned some things from the hilarious guy from Gibraltar. It was a really good time.
We went back to the camp and stayed in the car as it continued to rain and drank more of our beers while listening to music. The Scottish Ale was really good. And we only spilled it twice..
Once we finished all the beer (which was not the plan) we called it a night and went to the tent. Nothing like drunkenness and the tapping of rain on the roof of a tent to put you to sleep.
