To continue our adventure through Acadia National Park in winter (see my previous blog post for our other activities), Mike and I hiked to the top of Gorham Mountain via the Cadillac Cliffs on Sunday morning before heading back home. We had a gorgeous, sunny day, with just a bit of wind at the summit that made it a tad chilly. This was our first winter hike (without a guide), so we opted for an easy, short route. The trailhead was easy to get to, right off of the Park Loop Road and the trail was well marked, even with all of the snow and ice.
The bottom part of the trail was very wet, with a lot of melting snow and ice. But this didn’t last very long. Once we got a little higher in elevation, it changed to not-melting snow and it was a little less slippery. We brought our new hiking poles with us, which turned out to be very helpful in keeping balance when the snow decided not to support your weight as you expected. We took our time and enjoyed the sunshine and gorgeous views (for minimal effort, I might add).
Trailhead signLots of puddles from the melting snow and iceWaterfalls of ice at the lower elevationTurn off to the Cadillac Cliffs
Luckily this part of the Cliffs wasn’t covered in snow!
Once we got up out of the trees, the views opened up and we were awarded with a beautiful ocean landscape. We stopped to enjoy the sights and take some pictures before moving on to the true summit, which was a short, relatively flat walk further along the trail.
View of Sand BeachLooking towards the Gulf of Maine
Some lovely glacial striations formed during the last ice ageMore snow covers the trail, not yet melting
Our time at the summit was short because the wind coupled with not moving made it pretty chilly. The views from the summit afforded more of a view of the surrounding forests of Acadia National Park.
Summit markerLooking along the coastline of Mount Desert IslandLooking back into Acadia National Park
Overall this was a fantastic, first winter hike. We could not have asked for better weather and there was just enough snow to allow us to practice walking with different footing, but not so much that we required extra gear. We also had the mountain to ourselves, save for one family that we passed on our way down. I cannot wait for next winter where I can continue to explore mountains in the winter time and develop my winter hiking skills!
Recent months have found me quite busy with work, life, and preparing for and going on a few epic adventures, so I have been neglecting my blog. Now that some of the craziness has died down (just got back from a trip that I can’t wait to share!), I have a bit more time to sit down and document these adventures. To get started, I’d like to share a weekend adventure Mike and I took back in February (I know, this was so long ago). What better time than halfway through spring to share a winter adventure!?
At the end of last year, I decided that I wanted to start enjoying more outdoor activities, even in the winter time. Why stop enjoying the outdoors just because it is cold and there is snow on the ground? With the proper equipment and knowledge, you can have just as much fun outdoors on a winter day as you can at the height of summer! So I checked out almost every winter outdoor book my local library had and got to reading. I also started reading a few blog posts about outdoor winter activities and stumbled upon this article about visiting Acadia National Park in the winter time. I was sold before I even finished the article. I booked a hotel room within the same day.
Our timing was about a week off, because the weekend we were there it was sunny, in the 40s-50s and the prior week had been warm. So by the time we got up to Acadia, a lot of the snow had already melted. However, there was still plenty to keep us busy and we had a lot of fun exploring the nearly empty park.
An empty Park Loop Road – which is typically swarmed with vehicles in the summer months
We drove up on a Friday night after work, getting to our hotel just outside of Bar Harbor pretty late at night. We woke up the next day to a thick fog and decided to wander around Bar Harbor before entering the park in order to allow some of the fog to burn off. I should mention that almost everything in Bar Harbor closes during the winter, and it essentially becomes a ghost town. It was pretty cool to experience it without the swarm of summer tourists.
A foggy morning in Bar Harbor, ME
This is one of the busiest roads in the summertime
After a few hours of wandering Bar Harbor, finding a cute cafe (Choco Latte) that was open and playing a game of chess, we continued on into Acadia National Park and drove the part of the Park Loop Road that remains open in the winter (most of it is closed in the off-season). Fortunately, the part that remains open has a lot of the iconic sites in the park, such as The Beehive, Sand Beach, and Thunder Hole (unfortunately we didn’t time the tide right, so it was a little underwhelming).
Empty roadsSchooner Head OverlookSand BeachSnow on Sand BeachThe Beehive as seen from Sand BeachNear Thunder HoleAlong Park Loop Road
Once we had our fill of the sights along Park Loop Road, we strapped on our snowshoes and shoed around Jordan Pond, perhaps the most iconic pond in the park. Some parts of the trail actually had no snow, so we had to carry our snowshoes. Following snowshoe tracks from prior snowshoers, we found ourselves on the pond at one point. Luckily this was on the side that got less sunlight, so we didn’t fall in. The going got pretty tough at one point because the snow was getting soft and we found ourselves one hip deep when the snow gave out. It was still a lot of fun, and during the whole snowshoe, we only saw one other person out on the trail, so we basically had the pond to ourselves!
Jordan Pond, covered in snow, with The Bubbles in the distance
Along Jordan Pond PathSigns of wildlife!Cracks in the ice
Carrying the snowshoesI found the sign comical because of all of the snow
We wrapped up the day by finding an open restaurant in Bar Harbor and grabbing dinner before heading back to the hotel. The following day, which was even warmer, we hiked Gorham Mountain, which I’ll tell you about in my next post. 🙂
We had a lot of fun exploring Acadia National Park in the offseason. It had such a different feel than the summer time, mostly because there are dramatically less people. I do wish there was a little more snow when we were there so that we could have done some cross country skiing on the carriage roads (which are groomed by a volunteer group when there is enough snow), but you can’t control the weather! I hope to make it back to Acadia in the wintertime to continue exploring this great park when no one else is there!
Dri the Droll's Great Adventure Quest 