What's your favorite National Park?  Did you say, Arcadia, Bar Harbor, Maine?

Ayuh! When you ask people what national park they would like to visit, they might say Yellowstone, Grand Canyon or Yosemite.

Truth be told Arcadia and Great Smokey are usually the most visited parks every year. Distance and convenience may be a factor however there is no mistaken that Arcadia is a wild spectacular place. We in New England may say we've passed thru there once in our lifetime. Most of us would not decide to declare it as a destination. It is indeed a four season destination accessible by plane and cruise ships. Bring your kayak and bike there for tons of fun. 

I was lucky enough to include myself in a group of eight other people that rented a group campsite in July of 2010 & 2011. It is LaMoine State park located just outside the park limits on Frenchman's Bay. Frenchman's sits on the inland side of Arcadia Island and offers many opportunities to paddle in relatively calm waters tucked away from the wild Atlantic Ocean. We often launched from the beach at the campground for day trips. Last year on my first day after a six hour car ride up, I arrived early enough to paddle the eight mile excursion to Bar Harbor Center. We circled the Porcupine Islands and then passed one of the cruise ships anchored in the harbor. I wanted to board the ship but figured I didn't want to spend a week in the brig for non-payment so I took many photos of it instead. We arrived in town with a few hundred other tourists and did the mandatory ice cream run. Ray and I both complained about the prices but no one would listen to us. Alas, it was a lovely day with a slight breeze. We departed into the harbor with a few other dozen boats including some majestic schooners. Off along the shoreline we took in the sights and returned to our campsite in late afternoon.

 Our trip co-coordinator was a fast paddler named Bill who needed an anchor to slow him down. He usually slowed down enough to keep the group together. He knew the area and most of us did not. On several other days we would paddle a few miles and turn left to go upstream and stop for lunch. On other day we would paddle that way and go behind the big island. It was summer camp. On one of those days when it was very warm we sat on the beach and watched a group of young kids jump out of small sailboats and swim to shore. The water was too cold for the rest of us and we could walk in to knee height only. The tide differential was huge and we watched the tide creep in and climb the thirty foot shoreline. It was one of those lazy crazy days of summer.

On another day we ventured out to Northeast harbor on Arcadia's ocean side. There were five of us, Bill, Mike, Ray, Mary and myself. We set off the coast into the Atlantic and circumvented Cranberry Island. There were many summer homes and we passed thru a sailboat three legged time trial race. The waves had been very busy on the ocean side but we managed to stay together and every one of us stayed upright. We stopped on one of the islands of the Maine Island Trail. It was very rustic and we had become salt encrusted seaweed urchins. 

On a few other days we ventured into Arcadia Park and did some hiking. Ray and I had to ask a dozen people to get oriented. Once we got started it was fairly easy and we were rewarded when we reached the top of Cadillac Mountain. Unfortunately several hundred other people had driven their cars to the top and taken the place over. We took in the majestic view and looked forever out into the boundless ocean and rolling hills of Maine's interior. It was absolutely spectacular. One the way down Ray marveled at the stonecutting of the inlaid stone trail steps that were installed in Rockefeller's heyday. On the next day we climbed Sargent Mountain which was another fairly easy hike and had the peak view to ourselves. There was some haze but we took in views of some of the lakes which again were magnificent. We returned along a cliff trail with a downhill view of 200' very steep cliff face with some grab bars to hold on to for dear life. Ray and I threatened to kill Bill if he took us here again. I would keep an eye on that guy.

 On my last day there I got up very early to sneak in a bike ride along Ocean Drive. I saw Thunder Hole and some other sites along the ocean. I returned inland and tried to sneak past the entry station. The guard explained that I owed him twenty bucks. I played stupid and finally he told me to get the heck out of here. I maybe banned from Arcadia the next time I go but I will go back. This is a nice place to vacation with a lot of things to do. And there are no grizzly bears.

 Bill Luther

Pictures

Bill is the current RICKA president and conservation chairman.