Kathy wanted some exercise, so we decided to hike from Echo Pond to the top of the adjacent mountain. We didn't really know the name of it because we didn't bother to take any TRAIL MAPS. We later found out it was called the Beech Cliff Ladder Trail.
The hike started out well enough until we hit the cliffs that could only be scaled by climbing the vertical iron ladders secured to them. Not that big a deal, unless one of your arms is IN A CAST. This would have been all I needed to head straight back down to the parking lot, onto the bus to Bar Harbor and straight into the Dog and Pony Tavern for a drink.
But not Kathy. Straight up all 5 ladders, one step at a time, with me directly behind her, prepared to catch her if she slipped and fell. My strategy was not really to save her, but to die with her as we crashed to the rocks below.
We made it to the top where we met a local who snapped the picture. He also gave us the wrong information regarding the "easy way" back down. It was easy alright, but it put us on the other side of the mountain, so we had to schlep back up to the top and go back down the ladders, which was twice as hard as going up.
Kathy, as usual, was totally stoic, while I pissed and moaned the whole way down.