Into every vacation a little rain must fall

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 17, 2022

While we have enjoyed great weather for most of this summer, into every vacation a little rain must fall. This was the day for that "little rain." It started at 7:30 a.m., and the weatherman said it would continue throughout the day. The truth is, we could use a day of rain to catch up with laundry and to do some cooking. So we decided to stay home instead of fighting the rain. We were supposed to have visitors fly in to meet us yesterday, but a medical emergency caused them to cancel their trip at the last minute. This would have been their first full day in Maine, and it wouldn't have been a very picturesque day for them.

We finally got out of the motor home around noon. Because we had expected company, about a month ago we had purchased a reservation to drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. This park is crazy busy in the summer, and this is the highest point with great views of the ocean and the surrounding mountains. Everyone wants to make that drive up Cadillac Mountain, and the parking lot at the top isn't very big. So the national park has severely restricted the number of people allowed on the road. You have to make the reservation far in advance with no idea what the weather would be like. We went ahead and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain at our reserved time. The gate keeper must have thought we were crazy--and we were. The reservation is for a specific time to enter the road at the bottom of the mountain, but you can stay as long as you would like at the top. We brought our computers and tried to wait out the rain for the view. But after three hours on top of Cadillac Mountain, this was the best view we got--and we had to get really wet to take this picture.

The drive back down the mountain at 4:30 was just as good as the drive up. This is actually our second trip to Acadia National Park, and we had similar views at Cadillac Mountain both times. Yesterday's view would have been great, but all the reservations were booked then.

It rained continually, and we got around two inches of moisture. It was still raining the next morning. But we didn't need two days of rest, so we set out to explore in spite of the rain. Our first stop was to shop at a store that we just discovered. Maine is home to Reny's--the Maine Adventure Store. Started in 1949, it's a family-run business that has stores in 17 locations--only in Maine. They pride themselves in selling good quality merchandise at the lowest possible price. That sounds good to us! We made several clothing purchases, as well as some unique-to-Alaska snacks on this rainy day. We're sad that we didn't know about Reny's earlier, since we've already driven right by several of those 17 locations since we arrived in Maine.

Because a cruise ship with 2,376 passengers is at Bar Harbor today, we had already planned to not go to the most-visited Desert Island section of Acadia National Park. Instead, we headed to Schoodic Peninsula. Our first stop was at Taft Point Nature Preserve to hike the nature trail.

At the trailhead was a booklet describing some of the natural flora we would see on this hike. For example, at Stop 10 we would be looking at lichens.

Sure enough, we saw the leafy lichen known as lungwort on this tree, as well as the crust-like whitewash lichen. The laminated card went on to say that "Lichens love Maine with our clean moist air, and our many trees, rocks and undisturbed areas."

At the same site, we also could see the beard lichen that hangs off the branches.

We followed the trail all the way to the shore for views of Flanders Bay on this cloudy afternoon.

Our second stop was the Lower Harbor Trail heading north, and then the Schoodic Woods Trail heading south to make a loop. By this time we don't need our rain jackets, and Denisa has found some very tasty bushes growing along the trail.

We found these fat blackberries, something we haven't seen much this summer.

In fact, by the end of this hike, we had found the berry trifecta--blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. What a deliciously beautiful treat!

Besides berries, we also did see some nice views of the shore line and the islands just off Schoodic Peninsula.

One of those islands has a very special name, so we were looking for it. Mark Island is especially attractive, because our map indicated that it had a lighthouse on its most southern tip.

Sure enough, we could see the Mark Island lighthouse from Schoodic Peninsula.

Our next stop involves a pickup ride up a rough gravel road to the center of the peninsula. It's times like this that we are glad to have a four-wheel-drive pickup now. After winding up that steep road, we found the trail to the high point--Schoodic Head.

Just like yesterday's view from Cadillac Mountain, the views from Schoodic Head are just a sea of fog.

After a day with the record breaking crowds at the Desert Island section of Acadia National Park, it is wonderful to have almost no crowds here on the Schoodic Peninsula section. This is the lesser-visited part of the national park, about an hour's drive away from Bar Harbor. We're guessing that we won't be seeing any of the cruise passengers here today. In fact, we were the only people in the building at the Rockefeller Visitor Center this afternoon. 

The very nice volunteer at the welcome center recommended a hike on the Sundew Trail. While much of the trail is in the forest, there are three opportunities to take spur trails out to the coast. We took this picture just to show the first little hint of blue sky we had seen in two days.

Another family was hiking the Sundew Trail, and they offered to take our picture with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.

Our last stop of the day was Schoodic Point. This is the furthest south point of the peninsula, so we have ocean on three sides of us. We have certainly wandered into another of God's wonders today.

It is high tide, and the storms that brought two days of rain are whipping the ocean water into a frenzy. As it hit the rocky shore line, it sprayed high into the air. You can see a six-foot-tall Mark near the rocky edge with that 20-foot-tall wave not too far away.

Watching those waves is a little like watching a lava lamp. We couldn't pull ourselves away, and we just kept taking pictures of the waves battering the rocks. Denisa was standing on one rocky shore line taking pictures of Mark and his waves . . .

while Mark was taking pictures back across towards Denisa. As we looked this direction, we can see a little break in the clouds towards the horizon. After a couple days of rain, it looks like the weather is going to clear up. We really feel like Schoodic Peninsula is just as beautiful as the more-visited Desert Island, and we would certainly recommend a trip to this remote part of the national park.

We would end up hiking over 8 miles this afternoon. We even made a stop at the Tidal Falls Preserve on our way home. Our timing wasn't right to see the sea stars in the tidal pools. Besides, it was almost dark by then. Next time we'll put Tidal Falls at the top of our list of things to see. Into every vacation a little rain must fall. We're a little sad that it fell in one of the locations that we were looking most forward to seeing. The thick cloud cover also kept us from viewing the Aurora Borealis tonight, made possible from some solar flares that were unusually strong. That's one phenomenon that continues to hide from us. But we still count it as a good day of seeing God's wonders here--in spite of the rain.