Wednesday

Wednesday was my first day of adventure. It was cold and damp and foggy so we decided to climb a mountain. Barnabas was particularly excited about the 'Ladder' trails which are scattered over Acadia. They are the hardest level of trail, right after 'Strenuous'. They get their rating from the iron rungs fused into the rock face where no other foothold exists. The family decided to use the Jordan House as our rendezvous point. The parents and youngest three biked around Penobscot Mt. on a carriage road while we started up the mountain.

The mist kept us cool, which is nicer than the hot sun, but also a little damp, which kept the trails fun. Since we had very limited visibility we were not able to comprehend the extent of the drop off of the cliff faces. The fact that we couldn't see anything beneath us gave us enough of an idea. It was only toward the end of the trail when we started into the ladder section that I felt safe enough to stop and pull out my camera. 

In some places we found a sloping ledge with a waterfall where you could either lean away from the water and toward an abyss or lean into the water and get wet. There was usually an iron rung for added support.  

We paused on a flat spot just before a steep clamber up the jutting rock to catch our breath and take stock. Ben took some pictures and you can see the way the cliff face disappears into nothing.  We could faintly see Jordan Pond beneath us.

Behind Barnabas you can see the path we took. On the rock behind him is one of the rungs that form the ladder portion of the trail. 

The path is supported and marked here by a log pinned into the side of the mountain. Nice secure footing!

We stopped for lunch after we passed the most difficult portion of the trail. A cool bottle of red wine, cooled Hemingway-style in a stream would have completed the meal perfectly but we drank water instead.

We finally reached the top! The only way we knew we were on top of a mountain was the post telling us we were there. We played around on the top for a bit,

including skipping rocks on the puddles that formed all over the rocks.

Eventually the fog lifted enough to let us see a micro ecosystem growing on top of the mountain.

A pre-historic looking swampy area had formed on top of the mountain.

On our way down the fog lifted enough for us to see the incredible view before us.

Here begins the first of the 10 second dash group photos I took.

Note the crisp line of fog over blue water. By the time we reached the bottom the clouds had more or less lifted. As we descended the last leg of the journey who would you believe came up the road just as we dropped into sight?

Mom and the rest of the group! We paused to confer and then walked back a quarter of a mile to see one of the bridges found across the park.

After the days work we drove back to the campsite, ready for food.

Barnabas and Ben made an excellent stir-fry over the fire.

After dinner, Barnabas and I slipped quietly away to go find the ocean, which I hadn't really seen since our arrival.

Barnabas took the time to rappel down the rocks.

I took photographs of the water, wrote in my journal, and water-colored.

When we got back we decided to travel up Cadillac to enjoy the sunset, such as it was. It was the first clear night that we had and we were worried that we would not get another!

Ben created a high-power zoom camera by holding some binoculars up to his phone's camera.