I’d made my reservations before I left home and asked at the Visitor Center about where to meet. I was surprised when I got there that I needed a ticket. The gal on the phone never told me what to do after I’d made my reservation. Luckily I could just run up to the reservation desk and get a ticket. The NPS has contracted with the boat company to use their boat and their driver for this trip, so there was no sign or anything for it and in the NPS park newspaper it never mentioned which of the many boat companies it was, and when I asked in the park where to go there was no mention of go to get your ticket here 1st. grrr….
There were about 20 of us on the boat so it was a nice small group. The Ranger was pretty good, he was a bit disorganized and he kinda reminded me of Steve Carell or rather Michael Scott on the Office – he kept trying to make jokes that were just plain dumb and not funny.
On the boat ride out we saw all kinds of wildlife – including a Bald Eagle! We also saw cormorants, black guillemots, eider, harbor porpoise, harbor seals and a whale! I only saw the spray of the whale, the driver saw the whole thing!
Once we got to the island we walked a little bit, it definitely wasn’t 2 miles! And it was in no way “moderate” – it was mostly flat and level! The Ranger did a lot of talking and he wasn’t entirely organized or knowledgeable about the island so he was almost annoying. We saw the lighthouse and then walked out to the ocean to a place call Dancing Rocks – apparently they held dances there in the 1800s! It was still low tide so there were lots of tide pools to explore and the rocks were flat enough that you could get right down there and see. I didn’t see much though.
After about a 20 minute break on the rocks we walked back to the boat and came back to Bar Harbor.
One super cool thing was that I got to meet one of Acadia’s 4 teacher-rangers! The NPS has a program where they bring teachers in to select parks for the summer and the teachers do all kinds of NPS work from interpretive jobs to research assisting to campground campfire programs. The teacher rangers also help with curriculum development that schools can use. I think it’s a way to get cheap labor, but also a neat experience for teachers! I have been considering applying for the program so it was fun to meet a real teacher ranger! She seemed to be enjoying her time, but she wasn’t the most social and outgoing gal so it was hard to get her to talk. It was fun to meet her though!
After the boat ride I rode the bus out to the visitor center because they had the pin I wanted for my hat – slim pickins on hat pins around here. Then I stopped by the place with blueberry soft serve for a snack! Then I walked out to get my computer – since I had to drive the RV in because I needed to be at the boat earlier than the bus would get me here, I thought today would be a good day for computing tasks.
I took the computer to the Village Green, having discovered the free wi-fi there I was going to use it! Also it was a lovely afternoon and perfect for sitting outside! Unfortunately the free wi-fi wouldn’t cut it for uploading all my pics, that and the computer battery has not been charging up properly (I guess it caught the “battery flu” from the RV battery), so I ended up going to the Opera House and using their plug and their wi-fi.
On my way back to the RV I stopped and got a salad for dinner which I took back with me. I got back to the campground early, going to try to get to bed early, every afternoon
I almost fall asleep! I suspect however that it’s more due to grass pollen that is still in the air here rather then real exhaustion.
Can’t decide what to do tomorrow – there are too many things to do and not enough time to do them in! I think I’m going to hike the Beach trail – a trail the connects Bar Harbor to Bar Island during low tide, then after that I’m going to ride out to Echo Lake and take a short hike there then swim in the lake. I wanted to hike up Acadia Mt and check out Sommes Sound from the top – which is a fjord, but the bus doesn’t stop at the trail head, I don’t think…
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| Maine Day 5 - Baker Island |
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