Snowshoeing and Skiing along the Closed Park Loop Road

   Kim and I left Topsham in -15 degree temperatures but with a bright sun overhead.  As we drove north along I-95 the temperatures slowly increased.  After a driving brunch from Subway we crossed onto MDI and noticed that the ocean on both sides of the Trenton bridge were frozen for quite a distance.

   We were originally headed for the Schooner Drive access to the park loop road but in trying to take a short cut came upon the Bar Harbor Transfer Station and then a dead end street.  This street the access to the park loop road and runs beside the Kebo Valley Golf course.  It was gated and closed for the winter and was the perfect place to enter the park.

   A short snowshoe path along this road (that was covered with 3 feet of snow) led us to the snowmobile trail on the park loop road.  We headed east towards Sand Beach.  This was to be an out and back route.

Map of our Out and Back Route

Looks hillier than it really was.

Ran mile 6 and 7 on snowshoes.

    The day was glorious and the temperatures went above the freezing mark and the sun was dazzling in its brilliance.  The road followed the edge of the Great Meadow and then went under Route 3 via a neat bridge.

We came upon the Bear Brook picnic area and the Beaver Pond near Jackson Labs and the North Ridge Trail for Champlain Mountain which we spent a lot of time on in March and April of 2014.  There was a lot of snow here now!
   I ventured out across the pond and attempted to climb into the woodbine but I was turned back by the incredibly deep snow pack as I sank up to my hip even with snowshoes on. 

Picture of Dorr Mountain from the middle of the pond.

One of two beaver lodges.  We have photos of these from the March 2014 hike-see in this blog.

This picture is from my ill-fated attempt to hike in the woods.  Pond and Dorr Mt. through the birches.

 We travelled to an overlook of Frenchman's Bay and bumped into a Melissa, fellow Crow Athletics runner that I recognized from Facebook.  She was running in her snowshoes and I found that she covered 7 miles on them and then and additional 15 miles running on the roads for a total of 22 miles.  She did this for a charity called 22  two many which tries to bring awareness to the plight of veterans who find suicide as the solution to their anguish.  It refers to the statistic that 22 veterans kill themselves every day.

We enjoyed the views from the closed road and marveled at the beauty of the day with the ice formations and deep white snows.

  We extended our hike to the trail head for the Orange and Black trail before heading back.  

Motivated by Melissa's example I managed to run two miles on the snowshoes.  It was difficult but doable.  Maybe next time I will leave the full backpack at the car.  We saw some snowmobilers along the way and made it back to the Pilot in mid afternoon for a 2.5 hour trip and a total of 8 miles.
   We drove to are original destination and explored from the Pilot the park loop road along the ocean as the skies clouded up and the wind freshened.  

Thunder Hole

   We headed back on the road and arrived in Topsham just as ANOTHER snowstorm kicked in for another 6 inches to shovel.  We now refer to 6 inches as a "dusting".

January, 19, 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Long Run

The first time that I visited Acadia alone.  Long drive up in the afternoon arriving around 1 pm.  It was an uncharacteristically warm day for January and especially for this winter.  As I am finally writing this in late February, I look back longingly to those relatively snow-free days.  I started out from the Eagle Lake parking lot along Route 233.  There was another runner heading out and she was wearing a t-shirt!  It was about 40 degrees with a rising wind.
   I went east at the end of Eagle Lake and enjoyed the variety of ice shacks along the shore at the boat landing.  There were some patches of dry carriage path but I mostly encountered about 3 inches of slushy mix.  When I got to post #7 I headed up the hill to the Bubble Pond area.  I took a left onto the park loop road and picked my way finding dry patches of tar until I came to the Cadillac Mountain Access Road. I climbed the road into sunny skies and strong winds and at the summit enjoyed a natural experience.
   Descent was uneventful until I saw a bicyclist with skinny tires heading up the mountain.  When I intersected with the park loop road I went right towards Bar Harbor.  I saw three deer crossing the road gingerly on the ice.  I ventured along the one way section towards Sand Beach for about a mile and then headed back to the intersection.  I took a right towards the access gate but decided to rack up some more mileage and headed past the access road and towards the visitors center for another mile or so until I reversed course and exited the park onto Rte. 233.
   I ran back to the Eagle Lake parking area but retraced my tracks along the east side of the lake and then back to the west side until dusk ending up with 17.3 miles for the day.  It was a longish drive back to Topsham without my usual traveling companions.