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.