Oceanside Living in Freeport, Maine and Acadia National Park (Part 1).

 

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse at sunset.

We had a two-night stop in Freeport, ME before arriving at Acadia National Park. We arrived at Winslow Memorial Park on Monday, 6/1, and got set up in our ocean front site. Wow! It was kinda pricey ($65/night) for a space without any hookups, but you cannot beat the view! This was definitely one of those parks where it was just fun to sit outside and relax.

Prime ocean-front real estate!

 

This does not suck.

View from our campsite.

Rog gets the campfire going while the pups supervise.
Raney has secured the Branch Manager position.

Life is good.

Long staircases gave us easy beach access, which the pups took full advantage of. The beach was mostly rocky shelves and, when the tide was out, lots of interesting seaweed to sniff. (For the pups, not me!) There was also a nice walking path around the park and through the trees. And I think I found our next all-girls glamping spot, what do you think ladies?

Up and down the staircase.

 

Salty dogs.

Rocky shelves at low tide.

Raney has a Pride Rock moment.

If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes. Lol. 

Harb Cottage is available to rent.
A bit far, but it'd be the perfect girl's glamping trip! Who's in??

We made one sojourn into town to visit Allagash Brewery. Rog was jonesing for his first lobsta’ roll and the Bite into Maine food truck stationed at the brewery got great reviews. They offered a lobster roll flight, three different styles of mini-rolls. (You know we are partial to those flights!) They also had whoopie pies, a Pennsylvania staple that I grew up with. Yum!!

Beer and lobster roll flights. Variety is the spice of life!

 

And I got a Whoopie Pie!!

On Wednesday, 6/3, we pulled into Seawall Campground in Acadia National Park, the easternmost stop on this trip. (Any further east and we’d be swimming!) The date also marks three months on the road; we are more than halfway through our trip. Whoa, how did that happen? We visited Acadia NP on our year-on-the-road adventure in 2016. That time we stayed in Schoodic Woods campground in the far northern part of the park near Winter Harbor. This time we are in the southernmost part of the park not far from Bass Harbor. Both campgrounds require significant drives (45-60 minutes) to get to some of the more popular park features. The park is fragmented, with large sections of private and municipal property interspersed with national park land.

The green bits are all parts of Acadia National Park.

Our site at Seawall Campground. No ocean views, but I like the woods too!

One of the top items on our to-do list was the Beehive Hike. I chickened out on this the last time we were here and have regretted it for ten long years. We had perfect weather on Thursday and made Beehive our first priority. The hike isn’t long, but involves some very sketchy scrambles up rock faces with serious exposure to potentially fatal drops. In some areas there are metal rungs to use as handholds or as ladders, and several places I think they could have added more. Lol.

We can't say we weren't warned!

 

Rog using the iron rungs to climb up.

For some reason walking on this grill just about freaked me out. Ugh!

Channeling my inner Spider man. 

See that blue blaze?  Rog is on the trail.
Gives you an idea of the "exposed cliffs" they warned us about. Lol. 

It was a spectacular hike, with amazing views along the way and at the top. The trail was busy, but not obnoxiously so. And one nice thing about death-defying hikes, they produce a sense of comradery with your fellow crazies. Best of all, it’s a one-way hike and you are strongly encouraged to take an alternate route down from the top.

The views on the way up were stunning. 
It was just tricky to get a picture when I had a white-knuckled grip
 on any available handhold. Lol.

More crazies coming up behind us.

Taking a breather and some photos. 

Woohoo! We made it!

On the way down, we did The Bowl loop, a short hike to a lovely lake which then connected us back to the main trail just below Beehive. The main trail has its own challenges; it’s a rocky jumble and requires some mountain goat moves to navigate.

The Bowl.

 

Whew. That's not so scary.

This is the easy part...

...navigating this rock jumble was a little more tricky. And yes, that's the trail!

How cool is this?  Reminds me of an Easter egg. Lol.

Having survived the Beehive Trail, we walked down to the popular Sand Beach. Most of the ocean shore is rocky or steep, so this is a great place to play in the sand. It’s also pup-friendly (on leash) until June 15th.

Sand Beach.

The main road through the park is a 27-mile scenic drive, most of which is a one-way road that takes about an hour to drive without stopping. Be aware once you turn onto the park loop road, you are committed. There are pullouts along the way near some of the park highlights, but competition for parking spaces can be brutal. We were able to stop at a few places to enjoy the views.

Otter Point.
I saw no otters, so what was the point?
(I thought that was funny, Rog not so much. Good thing I amuse myself. Lol.) 

It really is a beautiful coast.

I loved all different colors of stone - black, white, red, gray and more.

Watching the waves is mesmerizing. 

Tunnel on the park road with 10'4" clearance.
If we tried to drive the RV through there, we'd have a convertible!

In the evening, we headed to Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. I think this is one of the most photographed and iconic views in the park. The holy grail is a sunset shot, so we timed our arrival nearly an hour before sunset and still hit gridlock near the entirely too small parking area. It was one out, one in. Luckily, the turnover was slow but steady and we were able to snag a spot with plenty of time to spare. The sunset was just so-so, but that didn’t deter the crowds. We were trying to figure out if they had changed the viewpoint in the ten years since our last visit, because I don’t recall the crowds and certainly don’t recall scrambling over the rocks the way I did this time. Maybe it was just the timing? Rog hung back while I did my mountain goat impression to get to a vantage point that did not include twenty tourists in the shot. Lol.

Me and a hundred of my best friends all hoping to get the perfect shot. Lol.

The coastline at sunset.

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, established 1858.

I took the picture on the left in 2016. I think the sunset shot is overrated. Lol. 
Which one do you like best?

I was going to try and cram all of our Acadia activities into one blog post, but I have so much more to share. I don’t want to wear you out with another 20-30 pictures and the associated commentary. Lol. Next up in Acadia, biking the carriage roads, Bar Harbor, and more! Then one more stop before the "Maine Event". What is that you ask? You'll see!