C Is For...Carriage Roads

Hadlock Brook Carriage Road

In 2011, I made a goal to hike all the carriage roads at Acadia National Park. I love the carriage roads. Some of my best novel ideas have come while traversing them. For me, they are the perfect mix of walking and hiking. I'm still chipping away at the goal a little at a time.  I didn't keep very close track last year, but I think the list looks something like this:

1. Eagle Lake Loop - 6 miles(bike)
2. Aunt Betty's Pond Loop - 5.9 miles 
3. Witch Hole Pond Loop - 6.8 miles 
4. Jordan Bubble Loop - 8.6 miles 
5. Jordan Stream Loop 4.0 
6. Day Mountain loop - 5.5 miles 
7. Little Long Pond - 3.5 miles 
8. Redfield Loop - This is one of 2 trails you have to hike to get to. I can't remember the other trail. This trail is 4.3 miles, but when you add in the additional hiking, it's closer to 5.5
9. Hadlock Brook - 3.9 miles  
10. Ampitheatre Loop - 4.9 miles 
11. Giant Slide Loop - 8.2 

The underside of the Cobblestone Bridge on Jordan Stream Loop

A little history of the roads:

John D. Rockefeller bought a summer home at Seal Island, Maine in1910. It was the beginning of the era of the automobile, and he feared that automobile roads would ruin Mt. Desert Island. His dream was to create an elaborate system of auto-free roads and bridges that would provide access to the most beautiful parts of the island, which would later become Acadia National Park. Between 1913 and 1940 he worked tirelessly to oversee construction of 51 miles of roads, 17 bridges and 2 gatehouses. He presented the carriage road system and much of the land that would become Acadia as a gift to the people of the United States. The roads are made of broken stone, and follow the contours of the land to take advantage of the scenic views.
Today, you may occasionally see a horse drawn carriage or a horseback riders on the carriage trails, but you are more likely to see bikers, joggers and hikers. They are both accessible and beautiful. It's quite a drive from my house, but I'm still hoping to cross one or two off my list before the kids get out of school for the summer.

Jordan Stream Loop In Acadia National Park

Our family went to Acadia on Monday and walked the Jordan Stream Loop, which is 4 miles long, unless you have as much energy as our family did. By taking side paths and running back and forth we managed to turn that 4 mile trail into a 5.5 mile adventure (and some of us did much, much more). That's the beauty of Grampy's GPS tracking system--we could see how far we really walked.

To begin this loop, we started at the Jordan Pond Gatehouse.

As you can see, the trail isn't muddy at all.

At this point, my two youngest crossed a bridge like this:

and started hiking on the other side of Jordan Stream. There were several more bridges across the curves in the stream, but nothing that brought them back to our side. Finally they disappeared from sight. I panicked and ran back to the first bridge, crossed it and chased them down. They were finally able to cross on some rocks and downed trees with the help of my husband and me. But the downed tree didn't look strong enough to support my weight, so I kept going. Finally I took off my shoes and waded across one of the shallower sections. The water was much deeper and faster than usual, and it was great fun. My hero, D stayed on the other side of the stream the whole time to make sure I was safe. (The carriage trail had veered off some).

That brought us to the Cobblestone Bridge (where, incidentally, I could have crossed, if the other side of the trail would have let me get there. This is the only bridge in Acadia made of cobblestones, and it's even covered in cobblestones on the underside (the middle picture).

  

 Jordan Stream

 Jordan Pond with a view of The Bubbles

 There was still a little bit of snow in places.

Shhhh!!! Don't tell...

Ahhh...That was a much needed blogging break. I had time to breathe, read a little, do some hiking and panic.

Last summer I got inspired to write a list of 20 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. I just looked at it and felt my stomach lurch, because I took the winter off and forgot almost every single thing on the list except number 16: Walk, bike, horseback ride or take a carriage through all 45* miles of carriage trails in Acadia National Park. This one really captured my imagination, and although I'm behind, this goal is still within reach. To see the entire stomach-lurching list, you can click here.

Probably everyone reading this needs a small refresher course about my love for Acadia National Park, the place where forest meets ocean; nature meets sophistication; the beach meets the mountains. I particularly love the carriage trails for being the place where hiking meets walking. If you want to find out more about the carriage trails you can click here.

Shhh! Don't tell, because yesterday we hiked the Jordan Stream Loop at Acadia National Park. There were still signs up saying that the carriage roads were closed due to spring mud, but lots of people were hiking and no one seemed too bothered about it. The carriage trails were as dry as a bone. Am I making excuses? Yeah, maybe, but we'd driven for over 2 hours so we could mark a trail off my list. No little sign was going to hold me back.

I'll tell you more about our adventures on another post, but for now, I'm just getting you up to date on the progress of goal 16, the only goal I've actually started.
1. Eagle Lake Loop - 6 miles(bike)
2. Aunt Betty's Pond Loop - 5.9 miles
3. Witch Hole Pond Loop - 6.8 miles
4. Jordan Bubble Loop - 8.6 miles
5. Jordan Stream Loop 4.0
6. Day Mountain loop - 5.5 miles
7. Little Long Pond - 3.5 miles
8. Redfield Loop - This is one of 2 trails you have to hike to get to. I can't remember the other trail. This trail is 4.3 miles, but when you add in the additional hiking, it's closer to 5.5
9. Hadlock Brook - 3.9 miles 
10. Ampitheatre Loop - 4.9 miles
11. Giant Slide Loop - 8.2
Total so far: 23.5 miles

In case you were wondering, I turn 40 in October. It's going to be a busy summer.

*You're exactly right. The numbers really don't add up. How smart of you to notice. That's because although there are 45-ish miles of carriage road, the loops double back on each other. For example, a big chunk of yesterday's hike was also a part of the Jordan Bubble Loop, which means I have hiked that section of trail twice so far. There's no way to get around it--if I want to hike the loops, I've got to do some sections twice. I am skipping the Around the Mountain Loop, which is almost entirely made out of pieces of trails I'll have already been on. I don't know how many actual miles I'll have hiked before I'm through, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 65.

Hadlock Brook Carriage Road in Acadia

The good news: I finally started my goal to hike the carriage roads in Acadia. My kids and I drove nearly 3 hours to Acadia to hike the Hadlock Brook Carriage Road. It's one of the shorter carriage roads--only 4 miles--but the trail guide said it had "one of the steepest carriage road grades in the system" so I thought it would be challenging enough.

The bad news: It was gorgeous. It has to be one of the prettiest carriage roads in Acadia. There were a lot of side trips that were fun and exciting. And I forgot my camera!!!!

We started off at the Brown Mountain Gatehouse. The park ranger told us that this amazing building was originally built as the servant's quarters for the Rockefeller family. I couldn't find a picture that did it justice on the web. Did I mention that I forgot my camera?

The trail was wide and well maintained, and the kids were frequently distracted by the blueberry bushes on the side of the road. I kept telling them to save some for other hikers and for the bears, but they ignored me. The bushes were completely loaded with ripe berries this year. Then we passed Upper Hadlock Pond and took a side trail to get closer. We watched tiny fish dart from the sun shine to the shadows for a while. I startled a frog, who startled me back when he jumped into the water.

Then came the steep part. It was hot, humid and a little bit dusty, but even so, this was not a steepness that would cause people driving carriages to get out and guide the horses or to fervently wish for oxen. It wasn't tough at all. That doesn't mean we weren't hot and dusty by the time we got to the bridges. There are 3 bridges on this loop--the Hadlock Brook Bridge, the Hemlock Bridge and the Waterfall Bridge. These are gorgeous stone bridges. The waterfall next to Waterfall Bridge was just the right size for playing in. D and I stood right underneath it! Man, I wish I'd remembered a camera. We went off the carriage roads and onto the trails until everyone was thoroughly wet, and then we started the long, gradual descent back down to the car.

Roger made me promise that if "I dragged the kids all the way to Acadia for a boring old carriage trail", I would do something at the ocean as well, so we stopped at Seal Harbor and played in the waves for about 45 minutes before heading back home. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. Even if I have no photographic proof that we did it.

#16--Travel all 45 (ish) miles of carriage roads in Acadia National Park

John D. Rockefeller bought a summer home at Seal Island in 1910. It was the beginning of the era of the automobile, and he feared that automobile roads would ruin Mt. Desert Island. His dream was to create an elaborate system of auto-free roads and bridges that would provide access to the most beautiful parts of the island, which would later become Acadia National Park. Between 1913 and 1940 he worked tirelessly to oversee construction of 51 miles of roads, 17 bridges and 2 gatehouses. He presented the carriage road system and much of the land that would become Acadia as a gift to the people of the United States. The roads are made of broken stone, and follow the contours of the land to take advantage of the scenic views.

Today, you may occasionally see a horse drawn carriage or a horseback riders on the carriage trails, but you are more likely to see bikers, joggers and hikers. In the winter, many of the roads are groomed for cross country skiing.

Acadia is about 2.5 hours from my house, so getting there to hike more than once or twice a year is an issue. I have a book called A Pocket Guide to Carriage Roads of Acadia National Park that breaks the roads into 11 loops plus one long loop that goes around the whole park but uses pieces of the other loops. I can skip that long looped trail, but it's impossible to not backtrack on the trails occasionally, so by the time I'm finished with the 11 loops, I will have traveled 57 miles.

Here's the plan:

1. Eagle Lake Loop - 6 miles (bike)
2. Aunt Betty's Pond Loop - 5.9 miles (hike)
3. Witch Hole Pond Loop - 6.8 miles (bike)
4. Jordan Bubble Loop - 8.6 miles (hike)
5. Jordan Stream Loop 4.0 (cross country ski)
6. Day Mountain loop - 5.5 miles (horseback ride)
7. Little Long Pond - 3.5 miles (hike)
8. Redfield Loop (is actually 2 loops and can be either 2.3 miles or 4.3 miles. 4.3 for me!) Maybe I'll ride an actual carriage for this one.
9. Hadlock Brook - 3.9 miles (hike)
10. Ampitheatre Loop - 4.9 miles (hike)
11. Giant Slide Loop - 8.2 (hike. This is the hardest hike, as well as one of the longest)

If you're keeping track, that's 2 bike rides, 1 horseback ride, 1 carriage ride, 1 skiing trip and 6 hikes.

National Parks Part 2--Acadia

My first trip to Acadia National Park was on my honeymoon. I'd never been to the East Coast before, and the rocky shores of the Atlantic Ocean riveted my imagination. I could have spent hours meandering around Pebble Beach or Thunder Hole, but Roger was looking for something a little more exciting--maybe The Beehive, or possibly even The Precipice.

At this point, I should mention that I LOVE peregrine falcons. I'm absolutely devoted to them, and if I had a million dollars I would donate money to their cause. I love them because they were nesting near the hike called The Precipice, and so it was closed to all hikers that day. Otherwise, I probably would not even be here writing this blog, because The Beehive nearly killed me, and apparently the Precipice is even more precipice-y. The picture at the top of this blog post is one small section of the Beehive. It's not a long hike--only 1.5 miles, but it feels like it's straight up. Metal rungs are dug right into the side of the cliff. I learned a lot about myself as I followed my husband up the cliff. Mostly about how I'm terrified of ledges, which I didn't really know before, but which has since become an important part of my life. Tears poured down my cheeks the whole way up the Beehive. Roger kept asking if I wanted to go back down, but I refused. I kept muttering to myself, "My mom may have raised a crier, but my dad didn't raise a quitter. My mom may have raised a crier, but my dad didn't raise a quitter." Somehow, I made it to the top without a stray gust of wind knocking me to my death on the rocky crags below. The views of Sand Beach and the Atlantic Ocean were spectacular, and we took the longer hike down the backside of the mountain.

Acadia National Park seems much more accessible than the National Parks I grew up with. You can pick wild blueberries as you hike, and people stop to chat with you wherever you go. Even after spending a summer in Bryce Canyon, I didn't feel at home there. The landscape is too stark and surreal to make it my own. But Acadia was instantly home-like. The trees, the ocean, the mountains, the flowers--it's all stuff you see out in the world, just more so.

Last summer we went to Acadia with my dad, my grandmother and 2 of my Utah nieces. My 5 year old son, J, wanted to stay at Thunder Hole all day. The waves crash in and out here--with spray as high as 40 feet when the conditions are just right. It was gentle the day we were there, and mesmerizing to watch the water level rise and fall. The next week, someone was swept off to sea and killed standing in the very spot J and I had stood for so long.

One of the more challenging things on my list is to travel all of the carriage roads in Acadia National Park--47 miles worth of trail. I've been to Acadia National Park at least 10 times since my honeymoon, but I have yet to do more than stare longingly down the carriage trails. There are always so many other things to do (like standing at Thunder Hole for hours) and somehow we've never made the time. That's about to change. Tomorrow I'll tell you about these amazing roads and my plan for traveling all of them in the next 16 months.