We woke again to a wet campsite as it rained most of the night. We had breakfast and planned on going to The Flume Gorge for a hike and then to the Cannon Mountain Tram to go up the top of Cannon Mountain.
Tickets for the Flume and Tram were bought at Visitor's Center at the entrance to the Flume. Inside on display are two moose intertwined in a fight left eventually left them locked together until their death. A hiker discovered the moose in the woods and donations allowed them to be mounted like this. This gives you an idea of the size and power of these animals when you stand next to them. A naturalist told us that he was much more afraid of them then the black bear found in the area.
The entrance of the flume contains many of the "glacial erratics," huge boulder left from the last ice age.
The flume itself was essentially a large gorge that was fitted with a boardwalk and steps to allow you to view the inside. Like so much of what we have viewed on hikes on this trip, it is an excellent example of the power of years of erosion. There's the teacher in me coming out, I guess.
Since it was kind of foggy, we decided to save our tickets for the aerial tram for the next morning. Instead we chose to go on a hike around the basin area. We actually didn't even see the basin the first time we stopped there. It is essentially a large natural whirlpool. It is supposed to be 15 feet deep.
We continued on a neat hike across one of the rivers and eventually to a waterfall area.
At this point, we had a choice to continue on 3 more miles to Lonesome Lake and then to the campground or head back one more mile to the van. Luke and Rogan wanted to turn around while Greg, Lilly, Mikah and Jen wanted to actually see Lonesome Lake. So we split up with Beth and I taking the boys back. The way down was quite slippery - both Rogan and I fell at one point. Nonetheless, everyone made it back to the campground safe and sound.
After I'd finished writing last night we all settled in to sleep to the sound of rain on top of the camper. When I woke up in the morning, I still heard the sounds of steady rain so I just stayed in bed a little longer. By about 8 am the rain had stopped and we went about drying out the picnic table for breakfast. Our plan was to hike a moderate difficulty 3.2 mile up and back hike on Lonesome Lake trail. Lonesome Lake is a somewhat isolated mountain lake on the path of the Appalachian Trail.
One cool feature was that it left from the campground so that meant no driving needed. We got started up this rocky, rooted, and muddy trail and noticed right away how foggy everything was.
It looked as if the clouds stretched right down to the mountains. Everything was very wet - a small shake of a tree would give you a tree shower and the rocks were pretty slippery.
The hike up was fairly challenging and with the humidity, it didn't take long to be covered in sweat.
Our mid hike reward was supposed to be a beautiful view of the mountains across Lonesome Lake. Kind of like this:
Instead what we saw was this:
You'll have to trust us. There's a lake behind us.
We're just glad we aren't being photobombed by a moose.
The top of the hike offered several different choices of side hikes but we choose to walk around Lonesome Lake. This path was largely made of large wood planks resembling railroad ties.
We saw moose tracks and you had the sense that a moose could come walking through this dense and foggy area at any moment. We came upon Lonesome Lake and could on only see about 10 feet as it was covered with fog. Rogan yelled "Echo!" across the lake and we were surprised to hear a loud and clear echo come back.
We eventually came to a station for the Appalachian Trail. This is an area where hikers can stop for a night's rest and even order some food to be delivered.
We were amazed at how nice the shelter was. It had solar panels on the roof, electricity, bathrooms, and even hot showers. These were more amenities than we had enjoyed for the past couple weeks!
As a small aside, I saw on CNN after we returned that a woman had broken the record for fastest ever to complete the approximately 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail. She did it in just 6 weeks traveling an average of 45 miles a day! Considering how tough and vertical many of these trails are, that is really impressive.
Later that day we took a drive to an area called "the basin" just a mile down the road. (Greg and Jen actually rode their bikes.) This hike was really beautiful with many smoothed rock formations created by various flowing mountain streams. The cool, clear water tempted the kids, but we cautioned them to stay out as signs warned that they were not allowed to swim there.
At one particular spot, we spread out to explore a little. I suddenly heard Beth shout, "Rogan fell in!" I turned to see Rogan struggling to stand in a waist deep stream by the bridge. I hustled over to give him a hand out of the water when I stepped on the same slippery spot that he fell on and I, too slid into the water. When we both get out, we are both soaking wet up to our waists.
The scene of the accident.
Rogan is crying because he was scared and doesn't want to continue the hike. I suggest that the others go on and we will stay there and dry out in the sun. It takes Rogan awhile but he eventually gets over the event and sees the humor in it all. We decide to catch up to the others on the trail. We find them and we hike on the a neat area where water flows into many small pools over smooth rock. The kids are begging to get in to the water now and the adults relent. They have a blast sliding on the rocks into a small pool.
The hike back went quickly as we barely stopped to rest. The kids and adults had a great time today. Hopefully, my shoes will dry out by tomorrow!
This morning we woke up early to pack up the camper to head to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Things went smoothly as everyone pitched in to get packed up. There's always a bit of sadness as your leave a place you've been staying for a while. We looked out at the window one last time as we passed by the harbor around the campground and said goodbye to the Atlantic ocean. It was a five hour drive through many very scenic areas of both Maine and New Hampshire. We stopped once for gas in Mexico, NH and once for lunch. On the walkie talkie while driving, Greg commented on how motorcycle riders frequently give a low wave as kind of a sign of biker solidarity.
He suggested that we minivan drivers should do something similar. I thought a peace sign like "v" for van would do the trick. We arrived at the campground around 4 o'clock and drove up to our site. I had a difficult time backing our camper in the site as the entrance was on a corner space. I gave up after a few attempts and pulled it in forward. I still haven't mastered the fine art of maneuvering the camper but at least I haven't jack knifed it (yet). The setup for the camper went terribly. First we had to roll the camper into a better position because of my inability to back it into a good spot. Then, nowhere on the site was level so we had to jack it up on two sides. Jen and I both yanked and pulled on the jacks until we were both exhausted and it still wasn't,t quite level. Then when we tried to open the door it wouldn't move. As it turned out, we had jacked the tire side up so high that it caused the camper to sag in the middle. So, I had to jack up the middle of the camper and finally it opened easily. Then the door handle that I had replaced before the trip began to stick badly, so I had to tinker with it for about 30 minutes and replace a spring to get it working. I see why Greg always pulls out a beer while he sets up camp.
After we finally got things set-up properly.
The rest of the night we spent eating soup, planning some hikes, and biking around the campground. The temperature is much cooler here and the mosquitos are much less active. We tried having a camp fire but as we got it started, it began raining. Everyone scampered around getting chairs and wood out of the rain and we went back to the campers to read and do some puzzles before bed. We are looking forward to a memorable time here in New Hampshire.
After breakfast we drove to the Sand Beach entrance to go on a hike. Our intent was to hike ocean path that was 4.4 miles round trip. Along the way, we would see the Atlantic shore line from sand beach all the way to Otter Cliff. The hike was considered easy with not a lot of change in elevation.
One of the stops of the journey included the colorfully named Thunder Hole, a narrow channel that ocean waves would flow into and send mist into the air and create a massive booming sound.
Even though it was low tide, we were able to get a taste of it's power.
We continued the hike and stopped at a few scenic spots and a few tide pools.
We saw a few crabs hiding in the salty pools and had fun watching the waves crash near us on the shore. We were careful not to get too close as we knew that many people accidentally drown by being swept away by the waves.
We finally reached Otter cliffs which offered a terrific view of the entire bay. We posed for a few pictures, had some snacks, and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze.
We decided to continue on a bit further. We found a shoreline area with thousands of giant smoothed out egg shaped rocks. From here we retraced our path back to sand beach.
Many places on the way we would strike up conversations with different people from across the country. We ran into people from nearby Findlay, Ohio on this particular hike. When we arrived at Sand Beach, the kids wanted to collect some sand as a memento. Mikah had the idea to keep her sand in her Old Soaker root beer bottle she had drank from the day before. By the time we got back to the van it was probably around 4 o'clock and we were getting hungry. We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner out at Southwest Harbor near our campground. This was the first day we had not eaten in Bar Harbor. We walked around Main Street for a bit but couldn't find a restaurant that was both open and in our price range. Greg did buy a homemade blueberry pie to enjoy later. He experienced a bit of shell shock as the price for the pie was $15.00. We decided to try a little further toward our campground a place that's sign promised lobster and a beer for just $16.95. Sounded like our kind of place. As I pulled in there was not much of a parking area in the front so I followed a stone drive way to the back. As we passed, someone in a chair on the side patio waved and we soon realized there was no parking area in back. All we could see was a grill, some dumpsters, and a trailer home. As Greg's van followed us in, he laughed over the cb that we had better eat here just to see what this place was all about.
The place turned out to be less of a resturaunt and more of a bar. The only place with room enough for us to sit was outside. The menu was only listed on a giant chalkboard.
Jen and I picked the lobster special. The kids played pinball and air hockey as we waited for our food. Our drinks were delivered by a teenage boy with a large ductaped bandage on his forearm. When the food came, it was pretty good overall. Underneath my lobster I did discover a large unidentifiable bit of meat that Greg felt resembled a female body part. I decided not to chance eating it. The lady that owned the placed told me that it was a mussel that had gotten cooked with the lobster. On the way home we stopped for more groceries including some Maine whoopee pies and old soaker blueberry soda.
Whoopee pies
We were all (even the kids for once) looking forward to getting a shower today. We paid one dollar for three minutes of hot water, and it was glorious. Greg and Lucas were in the shower right next to us and Rogan and I laughed as we heard Greg tell Luke to "get his thing wet." By "thing," Greg of course meant his wash cloth. Back at the campground we did some pre packing while the kids practiced the tango. Yes, that's right, the tango. One of the kids' downtime activities was to hula hoop, and Lilly had developed a song to go along with a dance. (Sample lines: "I like to eat, eat, eat, mangos, mangos!" and "I'll put the hula in your hoop!") She had been planning for a camping talent show, and I think the tango had something to do with it.
Once we finished organizing we enjoyed some amazing blueberry pie and some underwhelming whoopee pies. All in all it was a great day.
Morning hike was a great short trail called Beech Mountain trail. Lots of wild blueberries on the path. We ate some and collected some for later. The trail over- looked a long lake, titled appropriately, Long Lake.
Near the midpoint of the loop we reached a fire tower. This had and awesome view.
Lewis and Clark scout ahead
Family Picture time!
Since our first hike was so short, we drove to another hike at Sand Beach to hike the Great Head trail. This trail was really neat with some interesting variety. Some pf the hike was quite steep and some was over very large smoothed rocks.
Early in the hike we could look back over toward Sand Beach for a nice ocean view.
Further into the trail it became more wooded and you could see for miles.
Many places along the trail had very pretty wild flowers in bloom like these.
We eventually make it to Great Head. Greg and I really liked this spot.
When we fininished the hike, we changed into our swim suits and went out to brave the Atlantic Ocean. The beach itself was really nice sand. We were told that this was the only fine sand like this in Maine . The water, however, never gets above 50 degrees. The sign warned that swimming was only for the hardy. Well, that was us.
You could hear people screeching and sqealing as they dared just to dip their toes in the ocean. Luke had guaranteed during our hike that the would jump in the water and he was good to his word. Rogan acted like it was nothing at all. The water was so extremely cold that it actually hurt your feet.
Jen barrels into an oncoming wave.
Beth reacts to an icy wave splashing her back.
I was the last one to go in.
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While the dips cooled us off, it didn't exactly leave us cleaner as we were covered in sand, salt, and sea weed.
For dinner we ate at Chowdah's Restaurant where several of us tried a whole Maine lobster. Our waitress was interesting and friendly and loved to respond with the word "absolutely."
The kids loved to have a bottle of "beer" everywhere they could. Rogan tried some Maine blueberry soda. When in Maine, you must eat lobster, right?
We were short on time so we rushed right over to the whale watching place to get our tickets. While we waited to board, we changed into jeans as we were told that the temperature off the coast on the boat drops dramatically into the 40's. The boat was large, big enough to hold about 200 people and was super fast.
The wind on the boat could easily blow off a baseball cap if you didn't turn it backwards. We had all taken some Dramamine just to be sure no one got sick. As the boat dipped and rose through several swells I looked at everyone's faces in the group to see how they were handling the waves. The adults all looked pretty good but Lilly and Rogan did not. Rogan said he was very tried and laid his head down on our backpack.
Lilly started to lose her color and then began looking a little green. They had recommended that anyone not feeling well go to the back of the ship. On the way, Lilly apparently puked her Chowdah's dinner on the steps. All the moving about the ship and seeing Lilly hurl then made Beth sick and she ended up throwing up her lobster dinner twice. While this was going on, the rest of us were having our first encounters with live fin back whales, the second largest whales on earth behind blue whales.
Our guide told us that when you see this fin the whale is going down for what they call a "terminal dive", that is, a dive that the whale will stay down for 5-10 minutes while they are feeding.
As the whale reemerges, they spout like this and it can be seen from a mile or more away.
Despite the fact we had just been hiking in 90 degree temperatures, we are were quite cold on the boat.
Beth is able to smile even though she missed a good part of the whale sightseeing which she had wanted to do all week. Always finding humor in every situation, Greg joked that she had arched and done a "terminal puke" and they were simply "chumming" for sea animals at the back of the boat.
