More rain and great consequences

Friday August 9 and Saturday August 10, 2013
Acadia National Park

 

FRIDAY

Yesterday’s rain from early in the AM until late in the PM was just a warm up for today.   It poured nearly all day long.  And I do mean all day.  There wasn’t 5 minutes that you could go outside without getting soaked.   We know this because at one point the wind was so bad that even with flap guards and tie downs and a sun screen tie down, the awning was jerking so badly that we went out and put it down.  By the next morning we could have nearly launched the kayak in our site.  Ok, just a bit of an exaggeration but we were sitting in pools of water.  I didn’t bother with rainy pictures but here is what we did on this rainy day since we were out of museums.

Remember that delicious slice of Blueberry pie we had from Downeast Deli?  $4 a slice?  David asked, “How much for the whole pie”.  Answer”  “$32”.   Thinks to himself, later says to me:  “Well probably not, I can bake one for less than 1/3 of that.”

 

When in Maine, have Blueberry pie!!

 

 

A few too many berries?  That’s easy to fix!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SATURDAY

 

Yesterdays rain makes this ride fantastic!

 

Sunny skies today so while our site dries out we take my new tire out for a test run.

 

 

We’re in the parking lot at Eagle Lake by 7:45 and there are already 11 cars.  Sheesh, we’re going to have to leave even earlier to beat the crowds. 

 

 

Today’s plan is to see a few more bridges toward the goal of all 17. 

The first leg starts at Eagle Lake Parking and goes up to and around Witch Hole Pond.  #9 to #6 and clockwise around on the map. 

 

 

First thing we do is see the Eagle Lake Bridge since it is right here and the carriage road goes under it.   It is a gothic arch bridge which carries route 233 above it.  It was built in 1927 and is 118 feet long.   The 1974 widening project to expand the upper deck to accommodate Rout 233 has won engineering awards.  The re-seaming with the new masonry is so excellent it’s invisible.  At least to my eye.

I climb up to see the top.  If you were going by at 40 miles per hour I’m not sure you would even know what a beauty is beneath you.

 

 

 

 

Our first stretch is the connector from Eagle Lake to the start of the Witch Hole Pond loop.  Numbers 6 to 4.  Yesterdays downpours have made all the little streams along the way rush loudly down and under the road.  I stop to take their pictures but they are in the dark under the trees and don’t come out very well.  But I am a slow peddler an well as a slow hiker so I can hear and see them all.

 

 

There are also little ponds and big ponds along the route.  They make me wonder how big Witch Hole Pond will be.  Quite a few of what are called ponds up here look like lakes to me but I guess in comparison with the Great Lakes, most everything is a pond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At signpost 4 we turn right and head to Duck Brook Bridge.  I had no idea how fantastic it is.

 

 

  We can hear it before we ride up on top.  Those rains have made this spectacular 3 arch bridge over Duck Brook even more amazing as the brook is now a river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily they built   in stone steps down so you can see the bridge although pictures of it are difficult because of all the foliage and the inability to get far enough away from it.   You must come see this for yourself.   It is WAY up there on my list of favorite bridges.  Maybe even tied for first place with the Cobblestone.  Be sure to go see bridges the day after it rains. 

The Duck Brook bridge was completed in 1929 and is 200 feet long.  There are 3 three pairs of rectangular openings piercing the main arch and two over each of the smaller arches. Above the arches semi circular balconies extend off from the deck to give you a great view of Duck Brook which today is raging down and under the bridge.

 

 

 

Each of the bridges has its completion date carved somewhere on the structure.  Some of them are difficult to find.  Eagle Lake Bridge was impossible.  The date here is easy to find.  It’s right below the end cap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I try for a good picture of this fantastic bridge from both sides of the “river” but these are the best I can do.

 

 

 

How much water was there?  Well here’s this little brook flowing under the bridge with some crazy guy climbing down to put his hand in the water.

 

 

 

No, he does not fall in. Although wet rocks are slippery rocks I tell him.

 

 

His companion isn’t quite so daring.  I’ll just sit and enjoy thank you.

 

But the most daring of all is this courageous little fern valiantly trying to hold her own out in the middle of the rampage.

 

 

 

Reluctantly we leave this beautiful spot and travel on around the Witch Hole Pond Loop. Duck Brook Bridge is at signpost #5 so we head toward post #3.

 

More amazing water sights along the road.   Nice long distance views of Frenchman Bay,  more ad hoc water falls created by yesterday’s storm and happy wetlands.

 

 

 

 

 

As we near post #3 we come to the top of Witch Hole Pond and right by the road is a beaver dam.

 

This becomes a repetitive theme in Witch Hole Pond.  But actually, beavers seem to be at work in every pond we have seen here in Acadia.

 

 

At post #3 as at all of them we stop to make sure we are going the right way.  You can go a LONG way out of your way and end up somewhere you didn’t intend to be if you only check the sign names and not the numbers.

 

 

We get our first views of Witch Hole Pond and it looks like a great place to kayak.  Only problem is that you’d have to bring the kayaks in a mighty far piece from the closest parking area or have kayak carts for your bicycles. 

 

 

 

 

You’d be pretty guaranteed to have the pond to yourself.  Except for the beavers that is.  They have a second lodge we have just spotted across the shore.

 

 

 

It’s only a short distance from post #3 to Post #2 and then we ride down the the other side of Witch Hole Pond and back to the end of the loop at Post #4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course we see another beaver lodge.   I think you can judge the size of the pond by the number of lodges it has.

 

 

 

 

 

As we pass post 4 we notice more people on the road. 

Must be around 10:30 or 11:00 since that’s when we always notice traffic pick up.  Sure enough – 10:40.  We also noticed with all the early cars in the parking lot that the Eagle Lake area has many more runners and walkers than other carriage roads we have ridden.

 

 

We pass another pond on our way back to the Eagle Lake Carriage Road.  Another pond, another beaver dam.  I only post this one because it has such a lovely green roof.  I don’t suppose the occupants planted it but who knows.

 

 

 

While we are back at Eagle Lake, we bike over to see the boat launch and find “Grandpa” taking his boat out.   Interesting signs on his jeep and by the lake.

 

 

 

On the ICE? 

  

 

Eagle pond looks like another lovely place for an early morning paddle if we have the time before we leave.

 

 

 

From here we are going to do some out and backs to see one more stone bridge and a series of wooden bridges.

We go from sign post nine up a long 2.1 mile steady climb to post #8.  David makes it all the way without stopping and walking.  I catch him going and coming.  He’s a bit out of breath but it’s a big achievement for a guy with low red blood counts.

 

 

 

 

 

From post #8 we ride a very short distance to Post #10. Well I should say postS #10N and 10S.   You definitely need to check which way you are going from here.

  

   

 

We’re taking 10 N this time and it turns out we are in for a surprise.

 

 

 

In a short ride on what would be a very long and twisting road toward post 12, we find ourselves at Chasm Bridge.

Chasm Brook Bridge, completed in 1926, is a rustic and small bridge with only a 20’ span over Chasm Brook. 

 

 

 

We find the date at the bottom right in the middle of the span overlooking the waterfall.

 

 

It’s deck is slightly flared and there are pairs of rounded abutments at each end which form pedestals for gently peaked caps.  More amazing stone work.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

What is really surprising here is the waterfall.  I had no idea there were two waterfalls at Carriage Road bridges.  We’ve seen Waterfall bridge but no one had mentioned that another bridge also had a waterfall.  This is wonderful and it is looking magnificent after yesterday’s rain.  I say again, ride the carriage roads after a rain.  No dust and wonderful water sights.

Unfortunately for you, I cannot give you great pictures of this terrific sight.  It is back and up in the dark woods and flows toward the bridge.  There is no way down on the waterfall side.

 

 

We do climb down on the back side and see the water tumbling down Chasm Brook from the waterfall.  This is the definitely the place to have our lunch today.

 

 

 

 

 

And now it’s time for the last part of our ride, the wooden bridges.

 

 

After lunch we turn the bikes around and head back up to Posts 10.  This time we take 10S.  We are going to to ride down to the first of the 6 wooden bridges which switch back in very short order and forth over a lovely stream as the road heads down toward Aunt Betty’s Pond. 

Be sure to notice the switches in the roads.  You go over the bridge and immediately turn to the left or right.  Serious bikers would love zipping down this switch back down hill run.  I’ll bet it’s really popular in skiing season as well.

 

 

 

This is one of those very steep climb “gentle grades” they talk about in the Carriage Road books.  This is no “gentle grade”.  I have little doubt that we will be walking the bikes back up.  If I were doing all of Aunt Betty’s loop I would definitely come from this direction going DOWN rather than do it counter clockwise making this section an UP.   It’s a serious UP.   Poor horses if they have to pull a carriage up this with the twists and turns.

When we get to bridge two we decide not to take the bikes any further and to just walk down to the other bridges.  With the short switch backs, they are very close.

 

 

 

 

 

An amazing thing about these bridges is their construction.  There are no visible fasteners other than a wooden plug or dowel rod.  Each one was custom cut to join up with each corner stone.  There was no evidence of any means of attachment to these stones.  However they were firmly attached in some invisible way.  The joinery for the cross bars and end beams was like a cabinet maker would do.  Amazing detail far beyond what we’d expect in a wooden bridge.  Don’t miss these six if you ride the carriage roads.  But be sure to do them in the down direction.  Or do it as a hike instead. :-) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stream rushing along under every bridge was an added delight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the bottom of bridge 6 we go no further.  We walk back up to bridge 2.  Hop on the bikes, peddle about 100 feet and get off.  We walk the bikes back up to Posts 10 and then an easier 2 miles to 8 and then 9.

 

 

 

When we arrive back at the parking lot it is completely full and there are cars parked all along the road. 

 

Someone is waiting for our spot and we don’t even have the bikes back on the car.  Whew….time for me to be gone.    It’s 1:20 in the afternoon.  But we have seen 16 of the 17 bridges and 6 wooden ones.   One more to go.  Hope we can fit it in this next week.

 

 

 

 

We arrive home in plenty of time for David to take a nap and for us to have dinner before going out for dessert.

 

We are meeting  Al and Karen of Wish Upon an RV Star and Janice and Dave of Ready To Go Full Time RVing for ice cream at Udder Heaven.

I’ve never met Janice or Dave before but she comments on my blog and told me she reads Karen’s as well.   So when Karen suggests that the four meet for ice cream since we didn’t get to chat at Jordan Pond House I suggest we invite Janice and Dave too. 

 

David and I arrive first.  I pick out a chair and wait for Al and Karen.

 

They pull in right behind us and after they get the ‘monster truck’ parked, Karen joins me.

 

 

Dave and Janice soon arrive and after hugs and handshakes we head for the ice cream menu.  We all get totally different ice creams of course.  They all seem to have been here to Udder Heaven before and know just what to get. Waffle cones and sundaes of all sorts come away with them while David and I try to choose a flavor to order for our one scoop cones.   It’s a very good thing I didn’t order anything bigger, one scoop here is enormous.   See for yourself.

We chat for a long time about work camping pros and cons, the health care situation, where we’ve been, where we are going.  We are instant friends some of whom have just met for the first time.  But it’s getting later and Al and Karen had their dessert first (GOOD plan) and now have to get some dinner.  

 

We are down to our last week here so we likely won’t see them again here.  But it’s been fun and we know we’ll see them somewhere again.  May in Florida in the winter???   This is the life, that’s for sure!!