Southwest Harbor Fun

Thursday:

We arrived in Southwest Harbor in time for a delicious lunch outside at Eat A Pita. Yum! Then we headed over to Northeast Harbor to walk up the terraced trail to Thuya Garden and down across the street to the Landing, which we had never checked out before. It was a pretty afternoon for a wander through the gardens, and out on the dock at the Landing, we must have stood for 5 minutes watching this HUGE school of fish flow past the dock into the shallows. Occassionally, one would jump or turn on its side and we'd see a flash of silver down in the water. Very cool!

Climbing up and stopping to take in the views

Rhodies still in bloom 

The peonies were lovely!

Down at the Landing - fish not really visible in the Iphone image unfortunately, but it was really neat!

From there, we walked down the street to Asticou for a visit. Always a treat, and a nice mellow walk for the afternoon. (2.2 miles walked) 

The mountian laurel were in full bloom!

Lots of bullfrogs sunning themselves at the edge of the pond

Then it was time to check in at the campground. This year, we chose a new spot - Smuggler's Den - still in Southwest Harbor, but which we had never stayed at before. Much larger than Somes Sound, but with nice amenities, some neat spots and very clean. Somehow, I lucked out and chose a great spot at the back of the campground with a great view of the fire tower atop Beech Mountain. Score! We got all set up, Sam relaxed for a bit in her hammock and then we took a quick walking tour of the campground to check out the other sites and take a look at the access trails that wound off the back of the campground connecting to Lurvey Spring Road. (1.1 miles walked)

Dinner was lobster and scallops out on the dock at Beal's. YUM! 😋🦞

And back to the site for a relaxing evening sitting around the fire. Ahhh, summer! Rain started around 9:00 pm, forcing us all into an early bedtime but the rain sure did quiet the campground quickly and we all got a good (for camping anyway 😏😄) sleep. Definitely a bit chilly but better than broiling hot in the tent!

Friday:

We woke to a bright and beautiful morning, and started off the day with another one of our Southwest Harbor favorites, Cafe Milagro for coffee and breakfast. 

Then it was back to the campground to get organized for the day's adventure - a loop starting at Jordan Pond, checking out South Bubble and Bubble Rock, and then across to Pemetic and back. 

We were all a bit surprised at how busy it was along the trail on the right side of Jordan Pond, but then again, it is probably one of the busiest spots in the park and it was a nice mellow flat well-graded walk out to the pond outlet. We enjoyed the views and even saw a Common Merganser and two babies as we walked along! Such a fun, and very cute, sighting! Loved the spots!😍

Classic Bubble view from the pond

Common Merganser and one of the babies

At the head of the pond, we turned up onto the Bubble Divide trail and headed up to Bubble Rock and South Bubble. Once again, quite busy, but I can see why. It's a great view and Bubble Rock really is pretty neat. 

Bubble Rock

Three-toothed cinquefoil

Then it was down to the Bubbles parking lot and across the street to climb up Pemetic via the Northwest Trail, a trail we've never hiked before. Very steep and scrambly, with a ravine section that included two ladders and a lot of wet rock. Cool, if slightly unnerving (at least for me!).

Then it was up along the ledges to the summit and down the South Ridge trail, with gorgeous views, and back through the woods to the pond edge and the car. A really solid loop. We haven't done any "real" hiking this year so far, but Sam did a great job and we all had fun! (5.3 miles walked)

Summit views

Cotton grass

Mountain sandwort - so pretty growing in neat clumps up along the ridgeline

Lots of viburnum in bloom too

From there, we stopped at Seal Harbor for a car-side lunch and then went into Northeast Harbor for ice cream, before it was back to the campsite to shower and relax for the rest of the afternoon and evening. 

Cheers! 🍻

Saturday:

Twice is nice! Twice up and over Beech Mountain on Saturday. First on a nice, early morning run taking the trail out the back of the campground to Lurvey Spring Road. Left at 5:15 am and headed up to Beech to the summit from the dirt road. Then it was down the South Ridge to the head of Long Pond, where I took the trail along the water's edge before rising up into Great Notch. Then it was up and over Bernard Mountain and back via the dirt and fire roads to camp. Beautiful morning for a Western Mountains tour, although quite humid. Scared up one grouse heading down Beech, saw and heard one loon in the pond, and saw no one. Lovely. (11.4 miles)

Early morning light atop Beech

Long Pond views

Up to Bernard - oooff!

Mountain cranberry blooming amidst the moss and lichen 

Overlook from the edge of Bernard

Got back just as Ryan was getting up, and we had a nice leisurely breakfast of pancakes and bacon before heading out for the day's hike, right from camp! We took the trail down to the road and then went up and along the Candia Cliff trail and out to Beech Cliffs before summiting Beech and then taking the Western trail down back to the road, where we cut into camp via another side trail. It was another beautiful day but toasty for sure! (5.1 miles walked)

Wood sorrel

Lots of sheep laurel along the Candia Cliff trail

Beech Mountain view

A few ripe blueberries!

A beautiful patch of rose pogonia in a wet spot along the side trail - beautiful!

We cooked up nachos for lunch and then Sam and I went up to the camp store for a cold treat. Then she and I hung out while Ryan went out for his own run in the Western Mountains before a dinner of yet another SW Harbor favorite, Little Notch pizza. 

Pizza and beer - a pretty good combo after 16 miles and 6 hours of activity for the day!

Sunday:

I'll readily admit to being pretty worked from Saturday's 6 hours of activity, so I was not super peppy on Sunday morning and didn't get up quite as early as I had originally planned. I had a little over 7 miles to run to hit 50 miles for the week, and decided I'd skip the mountains and run as flat and non-technical as I could find instead. 😉😴 Got up and found a luna moth at the entrance of the bathhouse, and then saw two turkeys clucking and picking their way through the campground. Guess that's what you can find if you are up and about at 5:30 in the morning!

Headed out around 5:50 am and ran Lurvey Spring Road to the Western Connector and then out on the dirt roads to Gilley Field, where I took the Gilley Trail and Coldwater Trail down to the trail along Long Pond. From there, I ran back out on the trail along the pond to the farthest point before the trail turned away from the water and into the valley up to Great Notch before turning around and running back on Lurvey Spring Road. Worked out pretty perfectly mileage-wise and was about as mellow as I could get for around there! (7.4 miles)

After a quick breakfast of chocolate protein powder mixed with my morning coffee (yum!) and a delicious Little Notch Bakery apple tart, we got to work packing up camp. Always hard to leave, but it has to be done.

Once we had the car packed up and the campsite clear, we headed into Bar Harbor where a plan had been hatched to meet up with Corie, Rob and the girls, as they were driving up to take the Cat over to Nova Scotia for vacation on the same day we were leaving to head home. We took a nice walk along the Shore Patch, catching up and enjoying the views and the ocean, before grabbing lunch at Atlantic Brewing. Such a fun meet-up and a great way to wrap up our trip! So good to see such good friends! 😊 (1.5 miles walked)

Sam and Ruby were so cute together 😎

This was a great start of summer trip, with pretty much perfect weather, really good hiking, some decent running and a lot of fun together 💗

And on the training front, happy to have managed to pull off 50 miles along with 15 miles of hiking/walking for a lot of time on feet. Definitely a solid week!