Carriage Roads and Bus Rides

This morning, Jane, I, and our bikes caught the free Island Explorer shuttle bus from Hadley Point Campground to the Acadia National Park visitor’s center. These buses provide racks for 2 or 3 bikes at the front and back. After visiting the visitor’s center and getting the Acadia National Park stamp and cancellation in my passport book, we headed toward the nearby carriage trial entrance on our bikes. 

John D. Rockefdeller, Jr., donated about one third (7k acres) of the park land so that the general public would have access to Acadia’s spectacular mountains, lakes, streams and vistas. He also built a network of roads and bridges that were aesthetically fitting so that the horses and carriages of the day would have broad, smooth pathways of crushed gravel. Today these carriage roads serve as trials for hikers, bikers and horseback riders.

We rode about seven miles through forested areas and around the edge of two lakes, Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond. Some of the views of Jordan Pond from high above were really beautiful. We stopped riding at the Johnson Pond House. This facility has a park service visitor’s center, gift shop and restaurant. There were indoor and outdoor tables and a large lawn area were folks were eating and children playing. We ate the lunch that Jane had packed sitting in the shade at the edge of the woods taking in the activities.

After lunch, we took another free bus to Northeast Harbor. We walked around this small town and, attracted by its Oyster Man out front, decided to visit the Maritime Museum. A local lady gave us an introduction. The displays were rather rudimentary but interesting nonetheless. We then pedaled down to the actual harbor to take in the view of moored boats, smooth blue water and rocky mountains in the background. 

From there we caught another free bus to Bar Harbor. We walked around this touristy town, had beers and stone crab claws at a waterside restaurant, walked around again, ate dinner at Cherrystones Restaurant, then took another free bus back to the campground. 

After a brief bit of wallowing in the RV, we about pedaled about 0.75 mile down to Hadley Point to watch the sun set over the Eastern Bay, then returned to the RV to call it a day.