I don’t wake up to watch sunrises during my normal routine. I can barely roll out of bed for my early clients 3 days a week. I’m not a morning person. Maine turned me into a morning person. Something made this alarm feel less blaring and aggressive….and boy was that early alarm worth it. I made my way to Otter Cliff to watch sunrise and definitely appreciated the extra early start I got to watch the sky change from a calming blue to a blazing orange and yellow. I had been disappointed I didn’t get a reservation to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise but Otter Cliff turned out to be even better than what I would have imagined Cadillac to be. A much more intimate moment with the sun as I sat on the rocks to let the warmth hit me as it started to peek on the horizon. The build up of the blue and pink night turned quickly into the orange and yellow of the sun’s rays stretching across the sky. I spent the better part of early morning sitting on those rocks dreaming of all Acadia would offer me that day. After getting as many pictures as I could as the sun continued to change as it grew in the sky, I traveled Park Loop Road down to Sand Beach to change scenery from rocky ledges to fine sand beaches. Sand Beach was nestled between two towering mountains of rocks and opens to the Ocean Trail winding along the coast line. Still early morning, I was sharing the beach with only two other people but it felt like I had the entire world to myself. Acadia has this special air to it…as I would breath in my surroundings it felt like I was diving deeper into the Earth and abandoning the acknowledgement of the existence of others. I took my time along the Ocean Trail with more stop offs for rocky ledge views than I knew what to do with. Every five minutes I felt drawn to walk through the trees to the ledge as I got closer and closer to Thunder Hole. After a much longer walk than AllTrails anticipated, I walked the steps down to Thunder Hole to take in the rush of the ocean between two jagged rock edges. Thunder Hole offers a closed off ledge to traverse out and risk getting a big rush of ocean wave in your face but also has large rocks to climb up and people watch or take hours to read and take in the views if you are like me. I spent many hours watching the comings and goings of people and would take breaks to delve into my self-help book I felt like would make this trip even more life-changing. As the morning started to wear on and the later-risers were meandering into the park, I decided I was kind of over seeing people and headed to a more remote area to explore. Jordan Pond was next on my boxes to check in Acadia. First stop at Jordan Pond….the insane wait for popovers – not worth it. So I bypassed the line extending all the way out to the parking lot (I’m all for pastry loving but really is it that worth it) and found my way to the Jordan Pond Loop Trail…an easy 3.2 mile excursion around the pond and back. If you’re a go-getter like me I definitely recommend making your way around the left side of the pond to tackle the rough rock hiking first then have a leisurely stroll the other 2 miles back. Jordan Pond gives a beautiful view of North and South Bubble and had a couple opportunities to leave the Pond Loop Trail to tackle harder hikes up the mountain. Even though these were very tempting imagining a view from higher ground to look around the park, as my first solo trip, I promised my family I wouldn’t risk things too much so minimize the chance of dying. That’ll be a next time adventure. So Otter Cliff, Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Jordan Pond all checked off the agenda box for the day…I decided I needed some food and a place to sit was the next stop on the trip. I jumped in the car and headed down to Bar Harbor and treated myself to a nice picnic lunch in the Village Green park while live music floated softly from down the street. Bar Harbor is a beautiful little town to take your time exploring all the little shops down the main street and taking in the coastline from the Shore Path that takes you past some beautiful, historic water-front homes. I still had some time to kill before my plan of watching sunset from Cadillac. I stumbled upon Atlantic Brewing Company and enjoyed a flight while tackling some more pages of that life-changing self-help book. After overhearing conversation from a table beside me about all the people that have died in Acadia and the risk of solo traveling, I decided it was time to separate myself from people again and prepare for making my way to the sunset. Looking back, having a sunset reservation for Cadillac instead of securing a sunrise ticket was a God moment I hadn’t realized in the moment. I parked at Cadillac Mountain with enough time to walk around and take pictures (as I hoped I wouldn’t get swept away by the insane wind at the top of the mountain that definitely took away from the relaxing vibe of the views). For sunset, Blue Hill Overlook was truly the better option being a few minutes walk down the hill from Cadillac but definitely not lesser known. I made myself an area to enjoy my makeshift charcuterie board because I am that stereotypical white girl and watched as I observed the retrospect of my morning spent with the sun. I had spent a whole day watching the changes of the sun from the first morning peek to the slow descent behind the mountains as another day in Acadia ended. The exhaustion finally hitting me…I made my way back to my deck to take in the night sky and enjoy the stars I never get to see in Cincinnati while I reflected on how truly amazing of a day it was. Words can only paint so much of a picture…so let’s hope my camera did better than this blog to express the feelings Acadia soaked into me.
Journey with Jessica Leigh 