Trip: Family Vacation: Acadia National Park, Maine
Activities: Beehive Trail to Gorham Summit and Ocean Path back, Lunch at Mainely Meat
Date: September 19, 2022

Jill’s Aunt and Uncle just happened to be in Acadia at the same time as us so we made plans to go on a hike with them. We met them at the Sand Beach parking lot at 8:30 AM, loaded up our backpack with water and snacks, and started our trek to the top.

Jerry, Jill’s uncle planned a perfect hike where we climb Beehive Trail, then meet up with the Gorham trail to reach that summit, and work our way back down the mountain to the Ocean Path in order to get back to our vehicles at the Sand Beach parking lot. Starting out, the trail was rocky and steep, but nothing unlike what we had hiked the day before at The Bubble Trail. Soon that changed and we were not just hiking, but climbing. We needed all four limbs to get from one area of the trail to the other. Some areas had iron rungs that laddered up from one area of the trail to the next.

Now, I’m a very adventurous guy. I tend to probably be a bit less cautious at times than I should be but this trail is no place for throwing caution to the wind. Having our 14 and 10 year old on the hike with us heightened my sense of danger and I was constantly accessing the trail looking for areas that things could go wrong and “encouraging” our kids to always have 3 points of contact when transferring to a new foot or hand hold. I tried to be careful to not scare them too much, but in my head, I could see areas of the trail that if you got careless and tripped or slipped, I’m not sure you’d survive the fall.

As we got to the top, we all looked out at the reward of our hard work: A spectacular view of sand beach and the dozens of islands that peppered the Atlantic Ocean in this part of Maine. We drank in the views and much of our water to make sure we stay hydrated on the rest of our hike. We snacked on critter crunch (a homemade hiking treat from Aunt Carol) then continued the hike to The Bowl.

The Bowl is a mountain pond as clear as water can be. We saw several bait fish swimming near the shore and they all attacked any item that was thrown into the water. They were either human fed often or are used eating things from the surface because they jumped all over anything that hit the water.

We continued our trek to Gorham Mountain and met a ton of great dogs and hikers along the way. Saying that we are dog people is probably and understatement, so when we saw a friendly dog accompanied by a friendly owner, we almost always asked if we could say hi to the dog. It made us a little home/dog-sick since we had left our Golden Retriever, Macy, at home for the entire trip, but it did provide us with a bit of a dog fix to tide us over until we could get back to our baby.

We worked our way back down Gorham Mountain and met up with the road and Ocean Path that would take us back to the parking lot. There were a lot of people on the trail as busses were loading and unloading sight-seers but it was still very enjoyable. Several times we left the main path and climbed out on the bluffs to get a better view of where the ocean collided with the rocky coast.

Once our hike was over, we set our sights on the Atlantic Brewing Tasting Room for a little adult beverage reward and lunch. To our dismay, the restaurant was closed due to a staff meeting. We taste-tested a few beverages, and bought a couple of 4 packs of beer and a 6 pack of root beer and blueberry soda for later as we figured out what plan B was for lunch. We landed on Mainely Meat, a barbeque joint that wasn’t too far from where we were.

Jill got the pulled pork, and I got the sampler (Ribs, pork, chicken, and, sausage). Jerry and Carol shared a sampler and the kids got a burger and chicken bites. We were all in meat heaven. The beers tasted pretty darn good too.

After a late lunch, we headed to our cabin. Mattix ran around the water watching the rising tide while the rest of us relaxed a bit. Jill and I continuing to sample a few of the beverages that we purchased. We ended up having a frozen pizza for dinned as we check out the weather forecast. There was rain on the way and it was to start in the next hour or two. I really wanted to relax by a fire and thought we would have time before the rain, but just as Jill and I got it really going it started to drizzle, then pour. We headed inside for a movie before heading to bed.