Seasonal beauty on Road 132 from Perce, QC to the NB border. New Brunswick to Maine: In Campbelton, quaint bilingual border town, I heard local stories at the cozy Super 8 spa. Crossing the border at Van Buren was a bit challenging. I rounded up the day with a seafood meal in Machias, ME, and the Bluebird Motel.
Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park
Eagle Lake - Acadia
Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park, ME
Farewell to the campgrounds; The carriage Road; The trail; Life and rocks: lichen, mushrooms, trees; Bar Harbor;
To read more about my N. America Sola Camping Trip Start here, go to Table of Contents, or follow the links below:
6.10.2016
Farewell to the Campgrounds - For Now...
I was calculating the time left for my trip with my flight home due on the 10th. I needed to leave Acadia and head on back to Maine. This was my last day in North American national parks. Yesterday was my last camping night… It was sad to fold up the tent for the last time. I said goodbye to the Chinese family camped on the nearby site, in fancy subdivided tents built under special canopies. I said goodbye to Blackwoods Campground, that served as my home for the last three nights. I still wanted to shove in one last walk before leaving, and decided on another horizontal loop – Eagle Lake.
It was a beautiful walk, but as so often happens, I underestimated the time needed. Luckily, I overestimated the duration of the drive home, so things evened out.
The day started with a cold 2-dollar shower in the special “shower kiosk” that refused to deliver hot water. Next, I struggled to find the parking for the trail and ended up in the nearby town of Bar Harbor. With some help from a bike rider, I eventually found the spot, and started the walk happily, meeting some nice people on the way.
The feeling of "you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all”, operates when driving and stopping at “peak viewpoints”, like most tourists. Views are too glossy, postcard-like. In contrast, walking, happiness comes over any chirping bird, like the first day of the trip or of creation...
Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park - The Carriage Road
Eagle Lake is surrounded by a carriage road. Getting to it was a bit complex. There was a stone bridge and roads going underneath and around it. I met a nice French Canadian family at the parking lot and they gave me some directions.
The beginning of the road was exceptionally pretty. I was fortunate again to see a big blue heron:
As I was taking the pictures, a guy, heavily laden with cameras and a tripod, approached me and said I was extremely lucky to see the heron. He was looking for this opportunity for a while, and here I came and the bird was there. He used the opportunity to talk down to me about photography and criticize my picture-taking skills.
When a park ranger came by, he switched over his rap to complaining about the tourists on top of Cadillac Mountain. He went there the day before intending to shoot 180 to 360 degree vistas, but the tourists kept popping up in front of his super wide-angle lens, and foiling his attempts.
The park ranger seemed very content with her life and work, and was happy to tell us a bit about the birds and the park, but she couldn’t stay for long.
Most of the walk around Eagle’s Lake was on the carriage road, which was wide and easy to walk, if somewhat boring. The best parts were when the road was parallel to the shore, but most of the time it took off and meandered somewhere in the foresty part, not close enough to get more of “the feel” of the lake. The majority of people on this trail were bikers; a few were walkers. From the height of a bike seat you can perhaps scan the land more broadly, but you miss on the details and the intimacy with Nature. Walking you can stop anywhere, take a breath and a picture. You are in and of it.
Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park - The Trail
Wetlands formed in places where the shoreline was involuting, creating little lagoons. Reeds matched the blueness of the water with their shining oranges.
Everywhere colors were turning, the yellows and reds hormonized beautifully with the deep blue of the lake and that of the sky.
Mushrooms of various colors were popping up under and on trees.
Luckily with my 5-dollar map of Acadia, I located the more interesting, if challenging, Eagle Lake Trail. This was the part that made the walk so much longer, but was worth every minute.
At first, the trail was easy enough and pretty, being mostly proximate to the water, but later I found myself walking on rocks and boulders, sometimes losing the trail marks. I was very busy making sure I balanced well and didn’t slip, break a leg or the camera, sprain an ankle, especially since I was initially alone there. It helped to remember it was a good exercise for my brain…
Eventually, some other walkers showed up from the other direction. We shared information about how the trail fared from our respective ends. I love that travelers’ camaraderie.
Life and Rocks - Lichen, Mushrooms and Trees
On the boulders I saw the same huge, black, peeling lichen colonies familiar from the White Mountains Boulder Loop. They were healthy and rich, providing good cover for the beach rocks. The lake water was sparkling below.
Life keeps sprouting out of other life:
And trees kept rooting themselves in amazing manners breaking solid rocks if in their way:
Beauty all around me:
I found out that the feeling of “just another lake”, or “another beach”, “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” etc., operated when I was driving and stopping at “peak viewpoints”, which is what most tourists do. The views appear too glossy somehow, too postcard-like, too momentary. In contrast, when walking and being immersed in the ambient atmosphere, intimate with the natural mélange, that feeling dissipated. Happiness over every little forest niche, every little colored thing popping off the ground, every chirping bird, came back like the first day of the trip or the first day of creation…
Pretty Town, Lousy Meal - Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor was nice and sweet, a small picturesque town dressing up for the season.
I was looking forward to a good meal, but that wasn’t in the stars for that day.
The Mexican restaurant I found was second to third rate, a bit surprising for a main street in this famous tourist town. The weird ice-cream I bought to compensate for it worsened the situation, and I eventually threw it away. I probably would have done better going to one of the seafood places instead. Assuming Mexican food is always a good bet was a mistake.
This was almost the end of my trip, and in my heart I was already saying goodbye to all the beauty and adventure I was leaving behind. I was now heading on towards road 1 in an attempt to get back to my friend’s place in Southern Maine before the day darkened.
The dilemma was whether to stop somewhere for the night instead of driving through, but I was put off by the prices. In a motel on the way to Camden, the lady said plainly that her 120$ a night is the best price I would find in this area. Indeed, when I tried a B&B in Camden itself, they requested almost double that… Again, fast decision making. Voila! I’m going to drive it through! And so I did, figuring out the elaborate highway complex around Portland, and landing at half past 10 in “The Pond” to be greeted and taken care of…
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