Day Six: Cycling the Carriage Roads

If possible, the sun rose earlier today. Mark woke with it and creaked down the stairs and out onto the porch to photograph it. Again. I'm sorry, but no sunrise is is beautiful enough to get up at 4:30 am for. Mark, of course, disagrees. You be the judge:

Today was rent-bikes-and-ride-around-the-park-day. As I mentioned yesterday, Acadia park is criss-crossed by 45 miles of carriage trails that are dedicated to non-motorized use. They are extremely well cared for - hard packed and smooth. We went to a little bike store in the town near our cottage and rented three mountain bikes and a rack - it was a nice store, where they gave you decent, lightweight bikes. Not those clunkers that most vacation destinations rent out. Of course, this was a real bike store, not a place that only did bike rentals. Easy peasy.

This is as boring as the trail got.

When Rockefeller created the carriage roads, his goal is was to build them carefully around the lay of the land instead of blasting through and creating gouges in the land. And so these trails fit beautifully with the landscape. As with all other trails we've been on in Acadia, there is always a payoff. We hike on nearly every vacation, and we bike on most of our vacations. Generally it's a pleasant hike or bike through a forest, and if you're lucky you might pass by a stream or lake. Maine is 13% water (a percent I would like to protest - it has to be more like 50%) and there is nearly always something beautiful to see: Waterfalls along the way, lakes, vistas, sounds, and the ocean. Today's trail started at Eagle Lake and wound around Bubble Lake. In the middle we stopped at Jordan Pond House (home of the popover) and sat in adirondack chairs and ate the peanut butter and honey sandwiches we packed while smelling the popovers that the diners seated outside the restaurant were eating. It was torture - but we've had the popovers twice now . . . and the view of the lake was just as nice from where we were. Acadia sometimes seems awfully civilized compared to the national parks out west. A lawn that slopes down to a lake, dotted with adirondacks, and diners enjoying afternoon tea. The carriage trails contribute to that civilized feeling. Originally they literally were for city folk to get out in the carriages to experience the beautiful park land, but the foresight of the Rockefellers and the Park in keeping motorized vehicles off these roads has really preserved the park itself and allowed for a quiet, genteel way to explore a beautiful part of our country.

This is a view of Jordan Pond from our chairs at lunch.

I must love my family to endure hat head for the entire day.

Eagle Lake.

There are a couple of the charming carriage houses at the entrances to the roads.

Eagle lake

 I loved these water lillies!

I am pretty sure I was told that these carriage roads were mostly flat. This, in fact, is not true. The road started out fairly uphill. Mark's comment was "wow, this is such a nice gentle grade." No, it was not. It was uphill. Nothing gentle about it. Again, I was bringing up the rear and using all of my 24 gears to do it. Fortunately, Mark is a nice guy and kept circling around back to ride with me and make sure I was ok. He even said he would have towed me if he'd had a rope. Note to self: Next bike ride, bring a rope! In fact, Mark was pretty much the perfect gentleman today, except for the comment: "I wonder how many cardiac arrest calls they get from these trails?" A question possibly brought to mind by the huffing and puffing of his wife.  Of course what goes up must come down and the downhills were equally horrifying. As gravity pulled us down the hill faster and faster, past rocky ledges and cliffs, I could only think of the hospital bills we would have when a rock or a root sent us flying over the handlebars. I do not have the nerves or the cardiovascular system for cycling, evidently.

So, you won't be surprised that when we got back to the parking lot after the first 12 miles of the ride, and Mark wanted to do "one more little loop - looks like about a mile on this map," I stayed at the car and read my book. Amazingly, Amy went with Mark. First I strolled back along the path for some photos. Then I had a snack. Then I read my book. They were gone a long time for a one mile ride. When they finally came back, they said it really was an almost 7 mile ride and quite steep! Not even a "gentle grade." They were worn out. But as with all Acadia trails, there were huge payoffs with views of the ocean and lakes along the way. Looking at the map now, I think a bike shop employee drew it on a napkin at some point and they just copied it and handed it out. Or when drawing the map they ran out of paper and just squinched in that last trail. In either case, it is definitely not to scale. I am so, so glad I did not join in that last "mile." The good news is that Amy really enjoyed it in spite of the physical challenge and now wants to take up biking with her dad.

A special feature of the roads are the bridges. A total of 17 bridges were build to accomodate the carriage roads, and they are all works of art. A park maintenance employee told me today that they were designed by the same builder who did the bridges in New York's Central Park - and the Central Park bridges are built out of the same stone. The stone is pink granite and our cottage is very near the former quarry which exported the stones. The history book here in the cottage talks about one ship that came into Somes Sound very near our location to get a shipment of granite only to hit an ice chunk out in the sound and sink.

This one reminds me of the one in Enchanted filmed in Central Park, the one where

Prince Charming gets run over by the cyclists - I love that movie!

Maine is a gorgeous place, and Acadia shows it off well. The joggers, bikers, and walkers who live here make good use of the carriage roads and enjoy outdoor activities. You begin to imagine how much they probably need a good psychologist and to think about that small yet well funded and progressive library . . .  But this sign posted by Eagle Lake reminded me of the dark side of Maine. All of this wonderfulness is absolutely covered by snow and ice for a chunk of the year. I really liked the top line. It really tells you all you need to know about year-round residency in Maine.

Think I'll stay in Indy.