NatVenturesUSA

Although our trip to Acadia was on a different trip than the Western Loop Trip, it is the beginning of the 2013 Sequence. Acadia NP is in Maine, USA. Every summer, I go to Maryland with my dad to visit family, and this time we decided to go to Acadia as a side trip. I also went to every New England state on this trip. My aunt Debbie came with us to Acadia, but she didn’t camp with us on Isle Au Haut. The trip lasted 6 days, but two of them were driving days, so it was basically 4 days of camping and hiking.

Day 1: The first day, we drove from Maryland to Bar Harbor, Maine. It took us 15 hours, including stops for food, gas, and just stretching our legs. I had a pretty miserable day because I got sick and threw up, but luckily I was better the next day. We drove through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. I got sick around New Jersey. We arrived at a motel in Bar Harbor (‘Baah Haaba’ with a Maine accent) around 11 PM. It was also the 4th of July, so we could see fireworks while we were driving.

Jordan Pond

The view from Cadillac Mountain

Day 2: The second day, we got up late and headed to Jordan’s for breakfast. Jordan’s is a really good breakfast and lunch place, and it is always hopping. After filling ourselves with ‘local blueberry’ pancakes, we drove to the visitor’s center.  They suggested we drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, go to Jordan Pond, visit Thunder Hole, do the Beehive hike, and visit the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. We did these in two days, over days 2 and 3. On day 2, we went to Jordan Pond, which has a gift shop, a cafe, and a place with cold drinks, as well as the main attraction, Jordan Pond. Before walking to the pond, we bought cold ice teas because it was over 90 degrees out, and really humid. We also had squished PB&J’s for lunch. After that, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain. The view was amazing. You can see miles and miles in each direction, and tons of small green islands and small towns. We then went back to town and had dinner at Galyn’s, a nearby restaurant. I had lobster for the first time, and I have to say, I’m not a huge fan. After we ate, we walked around town, ate ice cream, and watched the sun set. We eventually went back to the hotel and fell asleep.

Part of Stonington, from the ferry

Day 3: Day 3 was packed with with action. We started off the day by another breakfast at Jordan’s, and then drove to Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is a special place on the shore and when the water hits it just right, the water gets thrown way up into the air and makes a loud noise like thunder, hence the name. However, while we were there, the water didn’t hit it in just the right place, and so we nicknamed it “Slumber Hole”. We then ate lunch at the Precipice parking lot, where we were going to hike, but there was a sign that we couldn’t hike there because peregrine falcons had nests there, and nobody could go there until further notice. So, we moved on to our next destination, the Beehive hike. I don’t recommend this hike for people who don’t like heights, climbing up iron rungs, or cliffs. I thought it was spectacular. The view was amazing. You could see the beach below in its protected little cove, and the town, and the islands. It was a more detailed and zoomed in version of the Cadillac Mountain view. My aunt did not do this hike – I think she stayed at the trailhead and read or something. After that, we visited Bass Harbor Lighthouse. It was really pretty, but we should have gone a little earlier in the day because the sun was right behind the light house and it didn’t make a very good picture. But, it was cool otherwise. From there, we drove to our final destination for day 3, a bed and breakfast called Penny’s. Penny’s is in Stonington, Maine, on Deer Isle. We got there around 8:30 PM. Penny’s is a colorful, almost Victorian style house really close to the middle of town. From there, we walked to the Fisherman’s Friend – a really good restaurant – and had dinner. Their pasta is amazing! The hostess of Penny’s had some funny stories to tell about Stonington. Stonington is such a small town, the bank doesn’t always have 50s or 100s, and the post office sometimes doesn’t have stamps! I guess I just find that really strange because I live in a big city, but what kind of a post office doesn’t have stamps?

Day 4: On day 4 we took the ferry to Isle Au Haut. But, before that we ate breakfast at Penny’s, and packed our bags, since we would camp on the island. We walked down to the ferry, bought tickets, and got on the ferry at 10:30 AM. On our way to Isle Au Haut, we passed many small islands, Robinson Point Lighthouse, and a private dock. At 11:45 AM, we finally reached the island. We got off the boat, and then found our campsite. Adirondack shelter #3. The only way to get a campsite there is to enter a lottery and to be chosen out of people from all over the world. We were really super lucky and got a spot. After we pitched our tent inside the shelter, we ate our squished PB&J’s for lunch. I was sick of PB&J after this trip and the Western Loop Trip. We then put our food in the squirrel/mouse box behind the shelter. They also had a composting toilet, which has ZERO smell! I think the park service should install them in every park. Anyway, we went for a hike along the Western Head Road and Cliff Trail, and collected several stray buoys that had floated ashore. If you bring a certain number of buoys back to the ranger, they’ll give you a park service pin. I got the pin. After that, we turned back and went to our campsite because Aunt Debbie was going back to the mainland on the ferry at 4:15 PM. She left, and we napped the rest of the afternoon. We woke up in the middle of the night, and it was raining heavily and thunder was sounding. However, we stayed dry because we were under the Adirondack shelter. I don’t think we had dinner. There were lots of flies or mosquitos at the campsite when it wasn’t raining, so I would recommend bringing bug repellent. 

The coast

Day 5: By morning, the rain had stopped, so we packed up our stuff and then went for a hike. We hiked the Duck Mountain Trail to the Goat Trail to the Western Head Trail to the Western Head Road, which took us back to the campsite. Most of the way on the trails was forest, but we got to see the coast some too. In the forest, the trail wasn’t marked very well, so sometimes ‘eenie meenie miny mo’ sometimes determined whether we would go left or right. The coast was really pretty, even though it was overcast and threatening to rain again. After that, we got on the ferry and went back to the mainland. When we got back, we walked to the beaver pond, and saw a beaver noisily crunching on lily pads. I wouldn’t think of beavers as being noisy eaters, but we could hear him loud and clear fromall the way across the pond. We then had dinner at the Fisherman’s Friend again, and then packed for our departure the next morning. 

Day 6: We got up pretty early, and once we finished packing up we departed at 8AM. On our way back to Maryland, we swung by Williams college, because that’s where my dad went to college. We then bought cheese in Vermont, and drove back to Maryland. We reached my aunt’s house at around 12 midnight.

This concludes one part of the 2013 Sequence. Next up is the Western Loop Trip!

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove to Capitol Reef NP in Utah, USA. We only stayed in Capitol Reef for one night, but I really liked it. Although Capitol Reef is not very well known, it has beautiful rock formations as well as an interesting history. From Native Americans to Mormons, the Capitol Reef area has been inhabited by many people. There are services (gas, food and lodging) in the nearby town of Torrey. The temperatures in Capitol Reef were moderate, and it even rained while we were there!

Capitol Reef is very different from the other parks we visited on this trip. In addition to having some desert and

The view from the end of Cohab Canyon looking over the valley

sand, it has a lush valley with orchards, a pie vendor (with amazing pies!), historical sites, and green grass. There is also a river/stream that flows through the park. When we saw the ranger, he suggested that we hike Cohab Canyon, see the petroglyphs, and have some pie made the pie vendor. We did all three during the trip.

We camped in the Fruita Campground (named after the Mormon settlement) in site #64 at $10.00 per night. The campground has water as well as bathrooms, sprinklers, an orchard, and deer! The sprinklers keep the lawn around the campsites very green, but I’m not sure they should be wasting water like that. Anyway, there is an (apple?) orchard really close to the campsite, and a herd of deer wandered through and ate the fruit off the trees.

The next day, we drove to see the petroglyphs, which are very near to our other destination, the Cohab Canyon trail.

Some of the petroglyphs

To see the petroglyphs, we walked down a boardwalk alongside a cliff. There are trees, so it’s in the shade, which is nice. The petroglyphs are in many places along the cliff, but some are easier to see than others. The

Native Americans who made them lived in the Capitol Reef area for thousands of years, but at one point they just packed up and left. There is no evidence of a war, famine, disease, natural disaster, or anything that would 

have made them leave. Why did they disappear, and where did they go? Nobody knows, and many are trying to find the answer.

Cohab Canyon

After that, we crossed the road to the Cohab Canyon trailhead. It took us a few minutes to find it because it was really badly signed. However, you’ll know it when you see it. We walked uphill for a few minutes, and by that time it had become a bit overcast. We walked through the canyon, and it was kind of sandy, but there were some plants, as well as giant rock faces with holes carved into them by wind or water. There were also large flat expanses of rocks, and tiny side canyons. Now it was fully overcast, and the clouds were dark. Thankfully, we reached the end of the canyon without it raining. We had lunch there, looked at the view, took a few pictures, and then it started to rain. We hurried back to the car, and the sky was dry again. Then, we drove back to the campground to pack up our stuff to drive to where we were going to camp that night.

Our new campsite was in a different part of the park, and to get there, we were going to have to go through sand and road construction. We got past the construction, but we got stuck in the sand. Our car, being a Prius, didn’t agree with the sand, and we ended up being saved by a car full of very nice Swedish people. They helped us get the Prius back on the sand we could handle. It was threatening to rain again, so we decided to turn back and just go home. This was our last park for the 2012 trip, anyway. Right as we got onto paved road, it started to rain. We got really lucky that it didn’t rain while we were in the sand, or we would have been really stuck. Then, we started the long trek home to the Bay Area, California.

This post concludes our 2012 Desert Parks Trip. We went to Great Basin NP, Canyonlands NP, Arches NP,  Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Grand Canyon NP, and Capitol Reef NP. Coming next is Acadia NP, and the 2013 Western Loop Trip, which includes Rocky Mountain NP, Grand Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, and North Cascades NP.

See you in Acadia!

The Grand Canyon at sunset

The Grand Canyon winds through a few states, but we stopped off at a popular point in Arizona.  Although we stayed  at the North Rim, I’m definitely going back because I can’t say I really experienced it. We only stayed one night, and left early the next morning. We saw the sunset at Angel Bright Point. We also had pizza there – which was really good – and in the morning, we saw a Kaibab Squirrel! The Kaibab Squirrel is really special, as it only lives at the North Rim, and no where else in the entire world. It is gray with a white tail, and is larger than normal squirrels.

Then we left, and drove to Capitol Reef NP, Utah.

After Zion NP, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce is in Utah, USA. It took us about 2 hours to get there from Zion. Bryce NP is most famous for its sunset colored hoodoos – columns or pinnacles of weathered rock. I would also like to commend the park for its decent temperature. When you visit the park, you can choose to either hike through the hoodoos, or simply gaze upon them from a distance. There is food at the nearby lodge (a pizza place/cafe) and in the nearby town of Bryce. There is a restaurant in Bryce (the town) called Bryce Canyon Pines which serves delicious food, has funny books. and really nice waitresses. There are also showers near the lodge which you can pay for at a little general store. Ask the rangers for more information.

We stayed at the North Campground in site #75 for two nights at $15.00 per night. There was water available, and flush toilets. I really liked this campsite. For one, it was in a forest, so there was a lot of shade. It was also flat, and it had a picnic table.

When we first drove into the park, we encountered a wildlife jam. All the cars in front of us were parked in the road, their drivers taking pictures at the left side of the road. We parked as well, and saw what they were looking at. It was two pronghorn antelope families, with two fauns each! The fauns were all wobbly, still getting used to their spindly legs. After the jam cleared, we went to the visitor center, and planned out what we were going to do the next day. We would see the Sunset Point, and then hike the Navajo Loop via Sunrise Point and the Queen’s Garden, and then cut off to the Peekaboo Loop Trail. On our way out (two days from then), we would go by a few viewpoints.

The hoodoos from Sunset Point

The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out to Sunset Point, the main viewpoint for the Bryce Amphitheater. The view from Sunset was spectacular. You stand on a almost-cliff (don’t worry, it has a railing) and get a panoramic overlook of all the hoodoos. The Native Americans thought the hoodoos were men turned to stone by an angry deity. I’m not so sure most of them look like men, but there is at least one that looks like a person. I’ll get to that in a minute.

The Queen’s Hoodoo vs. Statue

We walked a bit on Sunset Point, until we reacher Sunrise Point. From there we headed down the trail to the Queen’s Garden. The Queen’s Garden Loop is really only .8 miles, so it’s not too far. There is one hoodoo there that gave the Queen’s Garden its name. It looks like the Queen of England. There is no way you won’t see the resemblance. They even have a sign with a picture of a statue of the Queen, and it looks exactly like her!

The adorable chipmunk

We continued, and eventually reached the Navajo Loop Trail.  By this time we were hungry, so we stopped for lunch. A chipmunk immediately scurried over to us, waiting for us to drop something. I didn’t give it anything, but I got some really cute pictures of it. PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE, NO MATTER HOW CUTE IT IS! A little farther along, we came upon a strange sight. Rock cairns were everywhere. On the ground, on top of larger rocks, stuffed in the bark of trees, and on tree branches. I made a new cairn, took a picture, and moved on. The Navajo Loop takes you through the hoodoos, but once we reached the Peekaboo loop, the scenery changed.

The Peekaboo Loop takes you through the forest, and then after a while it deposits you at a higher elevation. It’s around 3 miles. There are outhouses just outside the forest. Once you get out of the forest, you walk among even more hoodoos (as well as a wall called ‘The Windows”), and eventually almost get back to where you started. Almost. First, you have to go through the switchbacks, and through a narrow canyon. The narrow canyon has a huge tree growing in the middle of it, and is a popular subject of photographs. When we were climbing the switchbacks, there were quite a few swallow nests built in crevices in the cliffs on either side of us. When we finally reached the trailhead, we walked back to our car, and went to the general store to shower.

Natural Bridge

On our way out, we stopped by a lot of overlooks. We went to Natural Bridge (an arch reaching between two cliffs), Agua Canyon, Rainbow Point, Inspiration Point (I have no idea how many places I’ve gone named Inspiration Point), and Bryce Point. My favorite was probably Natural Bridge, because it was different from what I had already seen at Bryce. After the viewpoints, we headed off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.