Wednesday 27 August: Acadia National Park

I awoke at 5 this morning feeling much improved after a good nights sleep.

Looking out the window there was fog and a stiff wind blowing.

We headed off just after 8 with the first stop being an early opening bank so that people could exchange their Canadian dollars for US ones before we crossed the border.

We finally outran the fog just after 9. The day promised to be warm and sunny.

Some impressions of the area of Canada we have been in for the last week.

Most of the Canadian roads are very good. That was noticable when we first crossed into Canada. The US roads leading up to the border had been fairly rough. Once into Canada there was a dramatic improvement in the roads.

Most of the area we have been through has been covered with Acadian foresets. These are mixed forests with a variaety of species all intermixed.

This is not a particularly good photo as it was taken from the bus

Lakes and waterways are a dominant feature of the landscape.

We stopped at a small park, St Croix island Intrtnatiotnal Historic Site.

Ther Island was important at it was the first European settlement north of Louisiana that actually managed to suvive even though half the group died during the very harsh winter. The cause of death for most of those whol died was scurvy.

The settlement was built on an island and it was thought that bthis would be defendable. Good thought. However in the winter it meant that they were completely cut off so could not supplement their supplies. nor did they have fresh water.

St Croix Island

There were good storyboards giving the background to the settlement and the positive interactions of the french settlers with the existing indians.

By the time we had wlked through the park the rangers station had opened and the ranger gave us more background to the settlement and why it is so historiacally important.

One of our group completed the junior ranger requirements and duly became a bona fide junior ranger for St Croix. The things we do when on holiday!

Trevor lying back in a rocking chair on the veranda of the St Croix Rangers Station

Our wildlife for the day was a doe and fawn crossing the road as we hurtled south towards the border. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get our cameras out in time to get a photo.

The border crossing was fairly painless and we headed for Bar Harbour and Acadia National Park.

On arrival in Bar Harbour we checked into our hotel, the Atlantic Oceanview. I was a little surprised to discover an animal scuttling through our room not long after we had arrived. the door was open and Trevor was outside sitting on a chair. Was it a rat? No, it turned out to be a chipmonk. It evetually left our room but sat around for photos.

Some of the group were intending to go whale watching but this activity was cancelled due to rough conditions so the majority of the group headed off for a hike in Acadia National Park.

We walked along the Mt Gorham rack to the summit. There were some good views, when the trees allowed, out into the bay.

Add captionOur group admiring the view

It is amazing just how often this sheep appeared in photos throughout the trip. Only a kiwi would carry a sheep on a trip!

One of the many carns that mark tracks throughout the park

We then walked along a ridge to the summit of Mt Catillac which also had great views. We followed the north summit track down to sea level and inspected the beach before walking along the coast, past a feature called Thunder Hole, and back to the bus.

The channel leading to Thunder Hole

All in all it was a very pleasant hike.

This evening we went to a restaurant specialising in, you guessed it, lobster.  Traffic around Bar Harbour is challenging, particularly at night, and parking a nightmare and this is no longer the peak season. I would hate to be there at the height of the summer.