We woke up to a rainy day, but ever the optimists we were sure it would clear up, especially when the rain had stopped by our 7:00am departure time. We dinghyed to the dock and went to wait for the free bus to Bar Harbor. The ride wasn’t too long and Bar Harbor seemed like a nice place. We went into the park office and checked in. On our way down the ICW last fall we bought a National Park Senior Pass for Bill, who is over the required age of 60. What a deal, we’ve used it a number of times so far. It’s only $10 for life and he can now get into any National Park for free, and bring three of his family or friends with him.

We talked to the park ranger about the hike Bill had planned and she convinced us that it wasn’t a good one to do on a not so clear and dry day. Instead she convinced us to summit Cadillac Mountain. We went off to an overpriced breakfast and then caught the next free bus to the Visitor Center. From there we caught yet another free bus that loops the park and drops people off at the trail heads. We took the North Ridge trail up the mountain. By this point the overpriced breakfast was not agreeing with my stomach. Luckily, even though the trail had 1100 feet of elevation, it was not a very difficult climb. Also luckily we had brought our trekking poles which helped tremendously. The final bit of luck was that there are very nice bathrooms at the top of the mountain. So, not only did I summit Cadillac Mountain today, but I did it under complete distress! Unfortunately it was totally fogged in and we couldn’t see any of the views that the mountain offers. Guess we’re going to have to go do it again one day. The picture above is at the summit point. The plaque behind us is what we were supposed to be seeing.

The way down the mountain was a little easier. We got down just in time to catch a bus back to Bar Harbor. We had to wait forty five minutes for the bus back to our boat so we were forced to buy an ice cream cone to help us wait. What we didn’t know was that the early morning bus we took was an express and the one we took back went into every camp ground between Bar Harbor and Bass Harbor, and there are plenty of them. We sat with a young woman who had been on the bus with us in the morning and we had a good time talking to her about her interesting life.

When we finally got back to Bass Harbor it was just in time to meet Sarah and Holly. Sarah was taking us to the lobster pound, which is a no-frills restaurant where you can get a nice lobster inexpensively. There is no table service, and the food comes in paper plates and baskets, but the lobster was really good. We had a good time and it was a great end to a busy day!