We're BA-A-A-C-K!

In Mount Desert Narrows, Bar Harbor, for another weekly special of 99.00 courtesy of our Thousand Trails membership affiliation with Encore Parks. Now, the holiday weekend is coming up, and we can't extend another week at the 99.00 special, so the park is offering a 99.00 three day, Labor Day weekend special. We'll take it! We're here till Sept. 3, when we leave heading towards Michigan for most of the month of September.

First thing we did when we got back to our site, was settle in and talk to our neighbors, Jerry and Betty across the way. Nice couple, Betty teaches at an online college, so Sparky pumped her for information. This might be something Sparky would be interested in doing.  Jerry asked us if we had seen any moose. Eldy tried to wave him off with his question, as Sparky was a LEETLE bit frustrated with the lack of moose sightings up north the past four days. Looking for moose is a subject not to be broached at the moment, but Sparky handled the questions and suggestions of where to look with patience. Eldy sighed with relief. Apparently, we needed to go all the way to Aroostook County where there ARE moose, or so they say....  :-) Just a little too far for us to drive around on a wild goose moose chase, so we're back at Acadia, back at our same site at Mount Desert Narrows. It feels like home by now and the office people were glad to see us. ) Of course they are, we're good paying customers at this point! And Sparky, "you've got mail!" Woo-hoo! It's fun to get mail when you are on the road. Your bills have a hard time catching up with you! (She's just kidding...) Some yarn to make my sister some festive hats....

The next thing we did today was check out another hike....the FLYING MOUNTAIN hike. A 1.4 loop trail, considered "moderate"...that means to Sparky and Eldo that there is: 1) uneven terrain with roots, rocks, boulders, steep climbs or all three, 2) we're gonna get out of breath doing it. There was, and we did. Get out of breath. But it's good for us!

The trail surface was forest floor....Some of it...

Rock ledges, but not many....Some boulders to climb, but not many....

Some beauty in the woods....

Some great views at the top...

A couple of cool geodetic markers at the summit..Not sure what they mean or how old they are, assuming that it's some kind of a surveyor's mark....

Some great views coming back down a steep descent....

some more beautiful sightings in the woods....

pretty little ferns just starting out with the beautiful lichen

And a gravel fire road leveling out on the way back to the parking lot...Whew! These hikes may be short, but there's a lot of UPS and DOWNS to get your heart a pumpin'!

Finding the trailhead: From Somesville, head south on ME 102 for about 4.5 miles, past the St. Sauveur Mountain parking lot. Turn left (east) on Fernald Point Road, go one mile to the parking lot at the foot of the gravel Valley Cove Fire Road.  Trailhead is on the east side of the parking lot. The Island Explorer bus does not stop here, by the way.

The trail is moderate because in just .5 of a mile, you reach the 284 foot summit and all the views. You can see Northeast Harbor from up above, the mouth of Somes Sound, and the Cranberry Isles. It's a wonderful view up there with the kayakers coming around Fernald Point and the boaters coming and going through the sound. If you keep going past the summit, views of Acadia, Penobscot, Sargent and Norumbega Mountains are there, along with a view of the cliffs of Valley Cove. We saw a bald eagle today while stopping to enjoy the view, but couldn't get a picture of it, it was too far away. A great hike, a great way to see Acadia and yet another spectacular vista on Mount Desert Island today......