Day 53 - Acadia NP 3/6

​Day 53 - Acadia NP 3/6

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we slept in and actually ate a hot breakfast of eggs and toast. It was a nice change since it was sunny and not raining! We decided to explore Bar Harbor early in the morning before the masses showed up, which was a good idea. Easily found parking and checked out all the souvenir shops and staked out a place to eat lunch. 

Of course we couldn’t pass up a chance to skip rocks on the water. lol. So we took a break from shopping to hang out at the Bar Harbor harbor. 

We then treated the boys to their first lobster roll. Normally a $40 sandwich isn’t something we get often but we had to let the boys experience why lobster tastes like. Can’t believe the prices of lobster meat! Granted they split it. Lol. 

Then of course we had to get ice cream at CJ’s ice cream shop. CJ had blackberry disaster, Lucas had “I just can’t decided”, and Amee had Java chip coffee ice cream. It was really good. 

Being a “Friends” fanatic, we always take a picture of a “Central Perk” themed coffee shop. 

We then went to the iconic Bass Harbor lighthouse and explored the area around it. It was gorgeous and probably the most photographed lighthouse in Maine. I love that it’s perched on this rugged cliff. 

We came back and journaled and ate dinner. Then went to a ranger talk about the sounds of the national park. The boys loved it and became a Junior Ranger. 

Now we plan to stay up and stargaze since it’s a clear night. 

Goodnight. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 52 - Acadia NP 2/6

​Day 52 - Acadia NP 2/6

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up to the sound of rain on our tent and ended it with this amazing sunset. Praise the Lord our tent stayed dry and the rain went away in the afternoon! 

We stayed in our tent until 9 am then we decided to go into Bar Harbor to shower and do laundry while it’s raining. I was the only one who took a shower (best $7 ever at a YMCA).

While Amee did our laundry, the boys and I found the most gorgeous library we have ever visited. Wall to wall books. So we sat and just read for a while. After laundry we ate lunch and then visited the visitors center for our NP stamps, coins and postcards that we get at each park. 

Then we drove to the Sands beach parking lot to hike to the thundering hole. The path was so nice and smooth. Although it did have a lot of puddles to avoid. Noting like the AT for sure. Before we got there we saw this guy painting an ocean scene. So cool. 

This is the thundering hole that sprays water and a booming sound when the water crashes into it. The boys were quite impressed. 

Then we hiked to Otters point where there were some cool cliffs people were learning how to rock climb on. By this time the fog had cleared and we could see so much more!

After this we hike back to Sands beach where we watched the waves and even a surfer. 

Then we drove back to the campsite to eat dinner then went back to the ocean which is literally a 5 min walk from our tent.

 

The boys found a jellyfish in the tidal pools. It was high tide so they had to wade in the water a bit. They loved it. 

Then we saw a beautiful sunset (1st pic) and also a rainbow in the distance. That didn’t come out the greatest on camera. It as gorgeous though. 

Well tomorrow we will see what mercies God has in store for us. 

Goodnight

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 51 - Acadia NP 1/6

​Day 51 - Acadia NP

Starting location: Tucker Johnson Shelter

Ending location: Seawall Campground 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

So today we woke up at 5:30 in the shelter in VT, the boys at 6 am. On the trail back to Amee by 6:45. We packed up the van, and ditched the boys smelly hiking shoes and headed southeast to Acadia NP. 

We drove 347 miles and it felt so weird just sitting all day. The boys were restless in the car but found stuff to do. 

As soon as we arrived we saw tons of deer just chilling along the road side. We got our tent up, ate some dinner and then went to explore just a bit. About a 5-10 min walk from our campsite is the Atlantic Ocean. 

It is foggy tonight since there is a storm on its way. Should rain all night and most of the day tomorrow, which is fine since we need to do some laundry and find a place to take a shower. lol. 

The boys had fun exploring the rocks and tide pools since the low tide was happening. We found some clams and seashells. 

I just loved looking at these tide pool areas for signs of life or cool rocks. Didn’t find much today. 

Did find some alive snails though. Maybe dinner tomorrow night!? lol. 

***Here is a text from Mustard Seed trying to summit Mt. Washington, which has the worst weather in the world...and another reason trying to cross the White’s with 2 boys wasn’t in the cards!***

Hey! Soooo basically the weather didn’t allow, but we did it anyway. The wind was gusting to about 100mph. The entire presidential range was very scary. It was considerably worse than the weather forecast said last night. It was pretty dangerous. We had to crawl a couple of miles. Really not a good idea. If we had known it was going to be like it was, we would have walked the road down from Washington instead of continuing on the ridge. It’s a gorgeous section of trail! I would just say don’t be like us and push it with the wind. This is the video of us at the top. I know it looks crazy, but it was the mildest wind of the day. We physically could not stand up for a while. That’s why we crawled.

Here is there summit video. The winds were actually calmer than most of the day! Yikes. 

Well good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 50 - Governor Clement shelter

​Day 50 - Tucker Johnson Shelter

Starting location: Gov Clement Shelter

Ending location: Tucker Johnson Shelter

Mileage today: 12 miles

Total Mileage: 560.7 miles

Miles from Springer: 1709.7 miles

Miles to Katahdin: 488.30 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Happy Father’s Day to all who are fathers reading this blog. I am blessed to have such amazing boys that hiked for 50 days and 560.7 miles without any complaining (at least not out loud. lol.). 

Today we woke up and put on our still wet pants and shoes and started our accent of Killington. 

So this is what my toe looked like when I woke up. I knew something was wrong when I captured the lost shoe from the river but I thought it might clear up over night. Not so much. I still put on my shoes and thankfully they padded my foot enough to hike the 11 miles up and over Killington Mountain. This would’ve our highest mountain yet. 4,250 ft above sea level! 

As we were climbing Killington, it became more and more foggy, which was pretty exciting and spooky for the boys. Also it was so peaceful and quiet. 

The trail to Killington’s peak is a 0.2 mile blue blaze off the AT. It was basically straight up boulder after boulder. It was tough but very rewarding. 

Even though it was fog covered the boys were so proud to summit their first 4k mountain. We explored just a little bit but couldn’t find an actual summit sign. Bummer. 

So then we hiked about 6-7 miles downhill to Amee and Froning waiting in the parking lot. 

Now my foot don’t hurt to bad hiking uphill, but downhill made it hurt worse. 

When we got back to Amee, we decided to get my foot x-rayed since if I broke my metatarsal then that would be much more serious than just a broken toe. 

Obviously after hiking 11 miles the bruising had gotten worse. So we found an urgent care (not ER worthy) and got it checked out. 

Thankfully, it was only a broken toe. My first broken bone. It is the crack on my second toe in the xray. So the doc said some rest, ice and elevation should do the trick. 

So we are now going to hang up the AT adventure for some new ones. We reserved a week of campsites at Acadia NP and plan to drive there tomorrow. After the week there we plan to visit the Nuland’s and explore a day in Boston. Finally travel down to Washington DC to camp for a few days to visit the Nation’s capital during the 250 yr birthday celebration. Unfortunately we won’t be there for the 4th of July, but we have done that before and it’s a madhouse. lol 

So going to read and enjoy the last night on the trail!

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil.