A Beautiful Day on Mount Desert Island

This morning started out a little earlier than yesterday and much more beautiful. The sun was out in full force and the sky was the perfect blue. So we got ready, had some breakfast and then set out for Acadia. Yesterday we tried to find a trail to hike to the top of Champlain Mountain but we could never find the trailhead. Last night I looked it up again and got a better feel for where it might be. Unfortunately we missed it again today. We drove slower and looked more carefully but never found the trailhead. So we missed out hiking the Bear Brook Trail. Since we missed this one we decided to hike the Great Head Trail but from a different trailhead, not from Sand Beach. And since the weather was much better we got to see all the terrific views. After our short little hike we made it back to the car continued our drive. We decided to look for a letterbox, so we followed the clues passing each landmark until we reached the landmark for parking. Then we left the car. followed the clues down a set of wooden stairs and eventually to a crooked tree and the box. The box was nothing special - a store bought stamp and journal - but the place was wonderful. A secluded little rock beach and a cove. The rocks were all smooth and there were a few stacked rocks that someone had balanced atop one another all around. We enjoyed this area for about 30 minutes before continuing on.

Back at the car we talked about how hot it was and how bad the humidity was and wondered what we could do that would be more comfortable. So we headed into Northeast Harbor and looked into taking some kind of boat cruise. All the ones in Northeast Harbor were booked up for the day. So we made a call and found one in Bar Harbor. We took a little time to walk around Northeast Harbor before driving back to Bar Harbor. We took a different route back to Bar Harbor and enjoyed some different scenery. We had plenty of time before the boat tour took off so we stopped at the hotel and dropped some things off and picked up some other stuff. We got a few letterbox clues and my letterboxing bag, our jackets (we were going to be on the water) and a map of Bar Harbor. We walked toward the harbor going a certain way so that we could get a letterbox on the way. We found the park and I followed the clues to the box. Once I retrieved it I took it to a bench to stamp in. We had a great view of Frenchman Bay from this spot. After stamping in we had to wait almost 10 minutes before the area cleared and I could replace the box (I was beginning to think I would have to take the box on the cruise with me and then replace it afterwards. But I managed to get it rehidden before anyone else showed up. We walked along the shore to the area where our boat tour would start. We went out on the Schooner Margaret Todd. It was a nice, quiet and relaxing 2 hour excursion into Frenchman Bay. We really enjoyed the breezes on the water as the past two days have been very hot and humid. Once we docked and left the boat Thomas and I decided to walk the sandbar to Bar Island since it was getting close to low tide and it was accessible. So we did about a three mile roundtrip hike and ended up with two more letterboxes.

We decided to find a place for dinner and make it an early evening. We found a nice place and had a very good meal. Then we attempted one last letterbox but the spot where the box was hidden was packed with people and we decided we didn't want to wait or chance it. So instead we walked along Main St. until we reached Mount Desert Rd. and then made it back to the hotel. Now that we are showered we realize how tired we are. So tonight it will be early to bed so that tomorrow it can be early to rise for our drive over to Vermont.