Acadia National Park, Maine: Day Four

Activities: Hiking/Climbing Precipice Trail, Visiting Hunter’s Beach, Cadillac Mountain, Hiking to Witch Hole Pond, and Eating at West Street Cafe
Date: September 21, 2022

We got up and immediately got ready for a long day of hiking and adventure. We were so impressed with Sugar Bakery when we stopped a few days earlier we hit it again for coffee and treats before heading in to Acadia.

Our morning hike was Precipice and we had heard it was intense, but holy freaking smokes this “hike” was insane! I’m not sure I can find the words to describe it. It was almost all vertical climbing. When there were areas that were flat, there was often a sheer drop off to your left or right. You know that feeling you get when you walk up to a huge cliff and your brain tells you, “Back up. You shouldn’t be here.”? Well when you’ve climbed up to that spot and your only option is to go up or back down, which would be MORE difficult, that voice isn’t as loud as the one that is telling you to just figure out your next move so you don’t die.

I can’t believe we took our kids on that hike but they were so brave and did so awesome. There was only one time that Mattix was really scared and needed mom to coach him threw a tough part of the climb, but he didn’t freeze. He pushed back his tears and kept climbing. I can’t say enough about how proud I am of my 10 and 14 year old kids. It’s a big deal to overcome your fears and they proved to be so strong on this climb.

I, admittedly, was also completely freaked out at times and just tried to stay positive and encouraging to my family. I kept harping on them to be sure that they always had 3 points of contact on something as they transitions foot and hand holds and provided guidance at any opportunity. We took it slow and our adrenaline and common sense got us through it. Once we got to the top it was all high fives and smiles… and a huge sigh of relief.

We took the Orange and Black trail back down the mountain which overlooked Bar Harbor. It was a lovely hike with enjoyable views. That trail connected with the road that met up with the Precipice trailhead so we took it back to the vehicle and drove our rented Jeep to the Fabbri Picnic area for lunch. We had PB & J, chips, and apples.

We had reserved a ticket to enter the road that leads to Cadillac Mountain at 1:30 PM and it was only 12:30 so we stopped at Little Hunter’s Beach for a beat before heading to the road to Cadillac Mountain. Mattix didn’t want to leave. It was pretty cool. There were wave tumbled round rocks everywhere and the nearby stream disappeared under the rocks before it later popped out closer to the ocean. Mattix could have stayed there all day throwing rocks and playing around the shoreline.

Once we were able to coax Mattix away from the beach, we arrived at our Cadillac Mountain appointment right on time. You have to get a pass to go up to Cadillac Mountain to keep traffic and parking under control. It was 6 dollars and totally worth it. If you are able to see the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, you would be the first person in the USA to see the sun come up. It’s that high and that far east. You could see Bar Harbor in the distance and there were tons of people walking the land bridge that connects it to Bar Island. The land bridge is only passible during low tide so you have to time it right if you don’t want to get stuck, but there were dozens of people checking it out, as we found out by looking through our binoculars.

We walked around the top of the mountain for quite some time soaking in the views. The ocean stretched on forever but the islands all around the Atlantic in that area provided a spectacular scene. As we started back down the mountain in our Jeep, we paused to look over the map and find another hike to do before dinner. We settled on a hike that led to Witch Hole Pond. This trail was a carriage trail instead of the foot paths that we had been taking until that point, but it was actually perfect. I didn’t have to look down and plan my every next step for fear of rolling an ankle or falling off a cliff. I was able to look out into the woods and see the forest for what it was: A beautiful, bountiful home to all of the wild animals that lived there.

At one point, there was a clear foot path the shot off the carriage trail and we took it for a bit to see where it led. It took us to a small stream that poured from a large prairie. Frogs croaked all around us and we tried to catch a few using a hypnotizing technique that my dad taught me when I was about Mattix’s age. You swirl one finger in front of the frog so that it focuses on it then grab it from behind with the other hand. I was pretty rusty and we didn’t end up catching any, but it was fun to try.

On the way back to the main trail, Charlie, my 14 year old daughter was leading but turned and ran back towards us screaming like she just saw a ghost. My first thought was she had saw a bear and I was thinking that running wasn’t a good idea, but when I saw a small brown snake slither off the path where she was walking, I understood what caused the panic.

Once we convinced her it was gone and she could sprint past the spot where she saw it, we continued the hike to Witch Hole Pond. When we got to the pond we saw beaver dens, tad poles, frogs, and turtles. Mattix was kind of dragging his feet the whole time because he had convinced himself that this hike was boring and since he wasn’t happy, it felt like he didn’t want us to be happy either. We were constantly shouting back at him to catch up and then he would run to join us.

At one point we struck up a conversation with a local passing couple that shared some good hikes and tips with us. They told us about Hunter’s Beach (different than Little Hunter’s Beach) and we all knew we wanted to check it out. Mattix had fallen behind again and sprinted to catch up but caught a tree root just as he was passing the group and bounced off the gravel pretty hard. To my surprise, he popped right back up and said he was okay. About 3 minutes later I saw him limping and I walked beside him to see him wincing in pain, softly crying. He said he REALLY tried to tell himself that he was fine, but it REALLY hurt. I looked down at his knee and saw blood trickling down his leg and he stopped to wipe it away so it wouldn’t get on his socks. I offered to give him a lift (carry him) the rest of the way and he took me up on it. I picked him up like a groom crossing the threshold with his new bride and carried him the rest of the hike. Luckily it wasn’t very far.

We did a little first aid on his knee then headed to a restaurant in Bar Harbor that we had our eye on, West Street Cafe. I had wanted some seafood pasta and there were some Google photos/reviews that said this place had some good stuff. We ordered mussels as an appetizer. Jill and I thought they were fabulous and the kids even tried some. Luckily they didn’t like them so Jill and I got to eat most of them. Her and I split the Cafe Delight, a shrimp and lobster pasta with homemade creamy white sauce and the kids both had burgers that they thought were amazing. Jill and I savored the pasta and a couple of tasty drinks and we followed it up by sharing 2 plates of homemade wild blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream. It was amazing. The pie was hot and the ice cream was cold and you could see the little flakes of vanilla bean in the ice cream.

When we left, we couldn’t stop talking about how amazing our food was. I had eaten the perfect amount and wasn’t overly stuffed. I could have died happy at that moment. We walked around Bar Harbor for just a bit, checking out the docks and harbor before heading back to our cabin. On this night we were able to have a fire uninterrupted by rain. We enjoyed a few drinks while the fire wood we found from the wood dissipated then headed into bed for the night.