Up, Down and Around Dorr Mountain

Sunday July 23, 2017                                                                                          Most Recent Posts:
Acadia National Park                                                                               Beech Mountain and the Cliffs
Mount Desert Island, Maine                                            You Haven’t Really Seen Eagle Lake Until You’ve Seen It From the Water

 

 

 More great views on a beautiful day  today as we hike a combination of trails that take us over Dorr Mountain and through the rocks of the Kane Path along the Tarn.   We start and end on the Jessup Path at Sieur de Monts .  

On the map, Jessup Path is in yellow.  The red arrow points to the beginning of our hike.  From there we turn on the Hemlock Trail in green and take it up to the start of the Dorr North Ridge Trail in Blue.  At the summit we head down the Dorr South Ridge Trail, in red, and then take the Cannon Brook Trail, in Brown, to the rocky Kane Path in Orange and follow the yellow Jessup Path coming from the other direction back to Sieur de Monts.  Of course there will be a quiz.  See if you can follow along.

 

 

We’re on the trail by 7:15 after driving in 14 miles from Narrows Too.  In the parking lot, we find an early morning Ranger Walk is just gathering and so there are an unaccustomed number of cars in the lot for this early.  For a moment I wonder if we should just go along but after listening to their plan, I like ours better so off we go on the Jessup Path which I’ve blogged about before in this post.   It’s a lovely wooded foot path that takes us to the Hemlock Trail.  

I’ve forgotten my camera and have to use my phone which as you know I don’t like as a camera at all.  The morning light dappling the path makes picture taking difficult for both of us.  We need suggestions for how to deal with this.   The beginning of the trail is a set of stairs.  Once we hit the Dorr North Ridge Trail we’re into the rocks. 

In under an hour,  we are high enough to see the views.  David won’t see them until he turns around.

 

 

From this point on, it’s a little hiking a lot of picture taking of the views.  We are amazed at the views we have.  All the way to Bar Harbor.    With a zoom we can see it clearly and the Porcupine Islands beyond it and a cruise ship coming in to dock.  Here’s a tip.  When planning to come into Bar Harbor, get a copy of the weekly flyer The Acadia Weekly and check the cruise ship docking schedules printed there.  You can either come because you want to see the ship or you can choose another day because you don’t want all the crowds that will be on the little streets of Bar harbor.

 

 

 

The “little” ships behind the cruise ship are actually large tall ships which here will give at least an idea of the size of the cruise ship.   The straight line coming out from Burnt Porcupine island in the front right of the picture is the breakwater which protects the Harbor of Bar Harbor.

 

 

 

This is a big ship.

 

 

This is a big ship with its sails up.  Judging by the number of people aboard, I’m pretty sure this is the one you can take a cruise on and be part of the crew that puts the sails up and down when leaving and returning to port.

 

 

This is a HUGE ship.

 

 

As David comes by the last cairn before  the summit, you can see the cruise ship in the background.

 

 

 

Last stretch to the top.

We have to wait until this climber has his picture taken at the summit. He beat us up here.  Wonder what time he started out? Of course he has the unfair advantage of having 4 legs and may have taken a more direct route.  All of the summits in Acadia have multiple approaches.

 

It’s our turn. I guess David is kneeling so I’ll feel tall. Thanks David!   That’s Cadillac Mountain behind us, the tallest in Acadia National Park.

 

We spend some time at the top of Dorr picking blueberries and then we head on down the south ridge trail.

 

 

As we head in that direction, I point out Cadillac Mountain.  With the zoom lens we can see all the people all over it.

 

Cairns lead us down the path and we have great views some of the way.

 

 

We hook up with the Canon Brook Trail for a bit.

 

And then we’re on the Kane Path and moving into a wetlands area.

 

Here we find all sorts of interesting things.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know any of the mushrooms  and the dragonfly is a giant that I can’t identify.  But this green beetle looks a lot like the 6- spotted tiger beetle only I count 8 spots.  Entomologists, who is this on the boardwalk?  His irridescent color sure draws attention.

This is a good idea of his size, beside twigs and pebbles.

 

 

This gives a better look at the two middle spots on his mid back.

 

 

We reach the edge of the tarn which now is a shallow, weedy “pond”  although for many years, it was stocked with brook trout.  Unfortunately, a series of unusually dry, warm summers in the 1990’s substantially increased the prevalence of aquatic weeds and reduced the already low volume of water.  This has turned it into a marsh.

 

 

I look back and see David has come to the rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rocky section goes all along the side of the tarn.  When we get to the other end we’ll be at the Jessup Path and almost finished. 

We’re near there now and the path has flattened out and runs right along side an explosion of Blue Flag.  If the Tarn rises much higher the pth will be under water.

 

 

But for now it’s an easier walk after all the scrambling.

 

 

The last bit of this nearly 7 mile hike is the easy Jessup path through the tall Maine woods.  It’ been  a great hike with a lot of variety and we highly recommend it.