Day 5--Acadia National Park--Carriage Roads with Lots of Bridges to See

Sparky's apologizes for the break in info about Acadia and riding the carriage roads. Sparky took a week's break from picking out her favorite Acadia photos and blogging about the carriage roads to go on a road trip with her daughter's car back to Virginia, and to welcome her daughter home from a long stay in Kuwait. She's BA-A-A-C-K! (Both of them...explains E.)

A little aside about Acadia National Park...It preserves parts or all of 15 islands in addition to Mount Desert Island.  It's about 35,000 acres with 41 miles of coastline, has the only fjord in the eastern U.S., AND the highest point on the Atlantic coast of North and South America. (Cadillac Mountain).

Sparky LOVES the Rockefeller bridges. There are 16 of them that are within the carriage road system and more outside the carriage roads. Each bridge is unique, and what a lot of people don't know, if you don't get off your bike, or head down the paths that you can barely see at the sides of the bridges, you will miss a whole other world. There are trails that criss cross the carriage roads, go under the bridges and beautiful falls and streams and other surprises await, like this little wooden bridge on a trail a ways back from one of the bridges.

This is Sparky's favorite bridge, the Amphitheater Bridge.

Here's an example of what you might see if you traverse down a bridge's side and look for trails underneath.

This photo below was taken underneath and to the side of the Waterfall Bridge....

One of the coolest things about Acadia and Rockefeller's vision, are the fact that the trails and paths that lead you to Mother Nature's beauty are so well blended into the landscape, although they are man made trails, that you can't even tell they are there.....This looks like an impossible walk through, but it's really quite easy because the stone and rocks have been deliberately placed so you can step from one rock to the next, and not jam your ankle in a crack somewhere, as long as you are stepping carefully!

See the blue blaze on the trail? (it's on the tree in the center) This really is a trail!

Sparky's ride today was on the other side of Acadia, near Northeast Harbor. She wanted to see FIVE bridges. This was going to be a longer ride. Eldy dropped Sparky off at the parking lot to the side of where the Brown Mountain Gate Lodge is located, on 198 on Mount Desert Island.

We had rented a nice little bike rack from the Bar Harbor Bike Shop on Cottage Street to transport the bike rental over to that side. Sparky was going to ride the Upper and Lower Hadlock Pond loop and the Long Pond loop-- on the bike map highlighted in blue--rated DIFFICULT. Where you see stars, are the bridges. The hard part is identifying the bridges two weeks AFTER you saw them, and trying to match up the stars with the names of the bridges on the Acadia park map with this bike map. (There are no signs at the bridges). The numbers on this map are the signpost numbers.

Here's the park literature map WITH the bridge names (off to the side,  not pictured) and numbers which have nothing to do with the bike shop map numbers! See how Sparky is confused? :-) (Doesn't take much to do THAT! laughs E.)

Did Sparky get lost again on the carriage roads? Yep, briefly. You see, many of the carriage rides are loops. So when you get to a signpost, which is numbered, and which is on the bike map, sometimes it will say go either way to get to a certain point, because it's a loop. Sparky's problem is, she's spatially challenged BIG time, and she doesn't know which way is east- west- north or south on a cloudy day (or any day! laughs E, AGAIN). So she briefly went a wrong way on one of the loop routes, then asked some other bikers which way she was supposed to be going, and they straightened her out.

Sparky thinks she did over 20 miles today....She started the "Map My Ride" bike app, but it ran down the phone battery so fast, she turned it off. And if it wasn't 20 miles, it certainly was a stupendous workout with all the hills. She needs a portable odometer! It was a really fabulous ride today.....

Hadley Brook Bridge

Next up, a whale watching tour with quite the story! See you later......

Day 3--Acadia National Park--Sparky Rides the Carriage Roads!

So-o-o-o-o...We're in Bar Harbor, and it's time for Sparky to ride the carriage roads! She has been riding the flatlands back home in FL...about 60 miles a week, so she should be in good shape to ride the carriage roads, right! HA! Wish we knew what the inclines were on these carriage roads, but first things first...Rent a bike. There are several shops where you can rent bikes in Bar Harbor, but Sparky is partial to Bar Harbor Bike Shop on Cottage Street. It's right down the hill (remember that) from an entrance into Acadia, so you can ride right from the shop to Acadia National Park. Cool beans! as Judy would say, (Travels with Judy and Emma blog).

Sparky likes Bar Harbor Bike Shop so much she bought her Trek 7300 bike there four years ago. But since we flew into Bangor, we didn't have bikes with us this time. Sparky rented a Cannondale Quick...a fitness bike. It's lightweight, and it's awesome! Much lighter than her Trek bike back home. the price of the rental is 19.00 for four hours. They have put wider tires than what normally the bike comes with, in order to give the rider a safer trip on the carriage roads without tire incidents. Sparky thought she would start with that time period and see what happened. You can rent cruiser bikes, and comfort bikes, but for the carriage roads, you really need a lighter bike and this model was perfect! No cushy gel seat, but you can swap the existing seat out and for a few bucks more, get a gel seat to rent! The shop replaces their rentals EVERY year, so you are getting a really recent model of bike. They have fantastic sales in the fall when they get rid of their old models. Sparky wished she was going to be back in the fall, but that's not possible this year. But she's going to start saving for a Cannondale Quick! There's a Quick 4, 5, or 6 to choose from. Sparky will check out all the options for sure! She's tired of getting passed by on long bike rides by the road bikers. A lighter bike would help and motivate her to ride even more back home.

The shop gives you a nice map...the one in the shop is color coded so you know which carriage roads are challenging and which are easy. The map they give you is black and white. There are stars for the bridges, but no bridge names on the map. Sparky tends to forget the order of the bridges after she gets back home. She tried to find some piece of literature that had it all in one spot while she was there, but didn't find a good combination. Oh, well!

Sparky marked a copy of the map so she could see which roads she covered. "Easy" is a relative term. Just remember that!

You head out from the bike shop and almost immediately, you go up a STEEP hill, West Street, and head out on Duck Brook Road. It's so steep it's almost impossible to ride it up, even with the proper gear functioning. Sparky actually got off the bike and walked a bit. Oh, boy...Not as good a shape as she thought she was! Finally, the road evened out and--first bridge, a road bridge---yay! It was drizzling and COLD, in the low fifties! But Sparky didn't care...She was on the carriage roads, everything was a lush, lush green, and the brisk temperatures kept her cool!

Along with some nice warm merino wool socks from Vermont that Sparky bought in town...They are called "Darn Tough Socks from Vermont"....Very lightweight, very comfortable, and WARM, but not hot!

Duck Brook Bridge is the largest, most expensive bridge in the system...It's a triple arch bridge...

The streams were full of rushing water....Tons of little waterfalls.....

Sparky rode past Eagle Lake and the Eagle Lake Bridge (1928)....

She could see a loon and hear him in the distance....

Sparky spotted one solitary lady slipper...There were NONE others around, and she looked!

On she went, past Bubble Pond and its bridge....

Sparky continued on the carriage roads....There were definitely steep inclines but overall, the roads evened out just when she thought she might have to get off the bike and walk....

When Sparky got to marker 17, she decided it was time to turn back. It was exhilarating, and she wanted to keep going, but for the first day out, she decided to get the bike back in time for a four hour rental, so back she went on the same path. It was roughly about a 12 mile ride round trip. Sparky didn't have an odometer on her bike, and trying to use the app, Map My Ride ran her battery down before she was even half way through the ride! If you figure in all the hills, that was a good workout! Sparky LOVED it! She'll be back for another ride another day for sure!