Our trip started with a (probably too) prompt departure from work at 4 pm to drive down to Columbia, Maryland. Our destination was a totally not sketchy parking lot where we picked up our home for the next week, VANessa – a campervan converted from a Ram Promaster 3500. Our first stop was to eat some Chic fil-a in a bank parking lot not too far from the pick up location before driving back to Lancaster. Once we got home we quickly packed up the van with all of our stuff so that we could get some sleep before our early departure the next day. In hindsight we didn’t need suitcases because the van has enough storage, but they made adequate hampers. The next day started with my alarm going off at 3:25 to tell me it was time to put the cooler in the van and make some coffee to fight off the zombie feeling of being awake when all sane people are asleep. We managed to have a fairly on time departure of 4:11 with Adela behind the wheel for the start of the journey. I was initially very trusting of google which said it would take *only* 10.5 hrs to get up to Acadia.
Our first stop of the road trip up to Maine was at a Panera north of New York City. We were the second customers there, arriving about 5 minutes after they opened, which was lucky for us because we were getting pretty hungry. We felt re-energized after some breakfast and kept driving until we got to a random gas station in Connecticut. We also learned that Connecticut loves low clearance scenic bridges… we were totally calm throughout all of them, even the first one that had 9’6” of clearance and a litany of signs telling all trucks to abandon the highway. The random gas station we found came after about 5 hours of driving and it was time for a driver swap. To continue the theme of Adela having good luck, it also meant that I got to drive around Boston right when everyone else in the world decided to drive around Boston. I think for the first hour of driving the time-to-destination on google grew by about 15 minutes.
About four hours later we finally made it in to Maine, and all of the traffic just disappeared in to thin air. The drive through Maine was far more relaxed than through Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and we only started to get antsy to be at our destination when we got off of 95 at Bangor. Along the way we picked up a couple bushels of firewood because I had read that all firewood burnt in the park has to be sourced from within 50 miles of Acadia to help prevent the spread of invasive pests. I think our antsiness multiplied by a factor of 100 when we actually got to Mount Desert Island and could see signs for our destination. Almost exactly thirteen hours after we left our house we arrived at our first campsite: Seawall Campground. We checked in, scoped out our campsite, and then left for our first expedition – to Charlotte’s Lobster Pound. I was really jonesing for a whole lobster, which unfortunately they weren’t serving so I had to “settle” for a lobster roll. It was delicious. Adela got some clam chowder which she said was also delicious. I could tell because she didn’t offer to share any with me. While at Charlotte’s we had the good fortune of meeting a couple who was up from Texas – they gave us a great tip about the carriage roads and bike rentals that really enhanced our trip! Our energy levels quickly faded since we had been up for a billion hours already, so we headed back to our campsite for a nice relaxing campfire before getting some much needed sleep.
The next morning was our second earliest wake up for the trip, and we hadn’t quite figured out how to divy up jobs while living inside a van so we ended up doing a trial by fire. We managed to pass only slightly scorched and departed our lovely campsite for the Beehive trailhead. I was worried about parking because it’s a popular hike, so I panicked and parked on the street since I saw a line of cars there. Turns out the Sand beach parking lot was only half full (by the time we were done with the hike there was probably a mile of cars on the street), but we were probably as far from the trailhead on the street as the parking lot is. After the pre-hike ritual of sunscreen and bug spray we started up the Beehive. The hike is a mixture of hiking, rock scrambling, and praying. I think there was someone who was very afraid of heights in the group ahead of us, and I have mad respect from them for completing it! There are metal ladders and hand holds to help make the ascent possible so it’s a lot more technical than just a regular rock scramble on a hike. The view from the top of the hike was absolutely spectacular, with the last vestiges of fog sticking around to make the ocean look even more dramatic. We later learned that we arrived for basically the first sunny day of all summer!
After the summit of the Beehive we continued on to The Bowl, which was a much easier hike. The bowl is a cute little mountain lake with clear water in a picturesque little setting. And apparently you can swim in many of the lakes in Acadia! Having someone doing butterfly in the beautiful mountain lake might’ve made it a little less peaceful… but if I ever come back I might be the person swimming in the lake. But probably breast stroke so as to not be that guy. We soaked in the serenity for a few minutes before continuing on down the trail. The hiking gods were with me on the way down because I was able to convince Adela to do the add-on Gorham Mountain trail. I was helped by my immaculate distance estimate based on the potentially-to-scale trail map on my watch. I was probably only off by a factor of 2! The trail to the summit of Gorham Mountain is a lot less technical than the Beehive, although it did require a little bit of rock scrambling. We enjoyed the views for a little while from the summit before starting the descent back to the van.
Our next adventure was guided partly by me misremembering something from the national park book we have. I thought it said to enjoy a dip in the ocean at Sand Beach… it actually said build a sand castle at Sand Beach. With that in mind, I changed to my water shorts, grabbed a towel, and headed to Sand Beach. It is exactly what it sounds like, a nice sandy beach on the coast of Maine! Apparently this one little barrier rock/island alters the current enough to allow for the beach to form from little bits of seashells. I’m glad my memory was faulty because the water felt great after hiking for a couple hours. I managed to stay in for a few minutes before retreating to the warmth of the sun and my towel. We didn’t quite build a sand castle, but decided that getting in the ocean and playing with the sand with our feet still counted. It was only on the way out did I notice the sign warning about hypothermia because the water is on average less than 60 degrees.
I’ve received warning to plan less beach vacations, I’m not sure if this falls in to that category so I’ll take it where I can get it. Our next stop was our second campsite – Blackwoods Campground. Blackwoods is a lot more centrally located than Seawall which makes it a lot easier to get to the main park attractions. We checked in and made home at our campsite before our energy levels had recovered enough to go for a couple small walks that originated from the campsite. The first was just down to the ocean, and we were jealous of the couple that had brought some chairs and a cooler to enjoy the view! Next we walked to Otter Cove (didn’t see any otters) where I tried to skip stones in the water. I was mildly successful, but my younger self probably would’ve been ashamed of my rock skipping skill atrophy. We were greeted with our favorite nature sound when we made it back to the campsite: our neighbors generator. It wasn’t actually that bad, just a little surprising to us camping novices. I fired up my ancient road trip grill (it is definitely old enough to vote) and started our first camping dinner: grilled potatoes and cheeseburgers. We had meant to get some actual vegetables to cook, but oh well. While dinner was cooking, we started a game of Parks. We figured it was the most thematically appropriate game we owned for this trip. Afterwards we relaxed to the comforting sounds of our campfire and Adela taught me her secret chocolate warming technique for making smores. I demonstrated how to cook a marshmallow without setting it on fire but that knowledge wasn’t as useful apparently.
