Some sewing and a lot of hiking

Today the weather is warm and sunny but it's also very windy. My planned day of kayaking is probably going to be replaced with a lovely day of sewing. We expect rain tomorrow so I'll go into Bar Harbor with the boys again and shop while they enjoy some pub food. I could go with them to the pub but since I can't eat anything served in a restaurant and can't have beer, I'd rather walk around and do some shopping. 

But today will be sewing because I'm hiked out for a couple of days. We did two pretty strenuous (and fun) hikes Sunday and Monday so my feet have called for a break.

I've got a lot of vacation photos today so I'll start with the one crafty photo with the progress of my quilt. I've got 3 block sets of the outer section of the quilt center done. I've roughly laid out some of the parts here so you can get an idea of how it will all go together. I'm still loving it.

​Now on to the two hiking days.

Being the list maker and tracker that I am, I bought this map the first year we came to Acadia and started marking our hikes with an orange Sharpie. I also have a list by year in Google Keep. We are at the point where we are started to double some trails and I'm marking those in red. I'm happy to do all of the trails multiple times. But Ian has been a bit obsessed with doing new trails and we've added miles of orange to the map.

Since we have 2 cars here this year, he planned a 4.5 mile one-way trip for Sunday to knock out the A Murray Young Path and Gorge Trail. We dropped one car at the pink parking area and then all rode to the yellow parking area to start our trip on the Canon Brook Road. 

What a beautiful trail! We learned later that this trail was laid out about 100 years ago and funded by the widow of A Murray Young because of his love for the park. Can you imagine what an effort it took to lay out miles of trails with granite blocks? A lot of the trail looked like this.
One thing is for sure, once you lay out a granite trail you don't ever have to do much trail maintenance!

Some of it was quite steep. I always hike in the rear because I'm slower and I occasionally like to stop and look around. They keep an eye out and periodically stop to let me catch up. This photo was on the Gorge trail on the way down. When necessary, I am not ashamed to slide down a granite face on my butt and I swear by the durability of my REI hiking pants that are at least 6 years old with no rips.

At the top of Dorr mountain a kind hiker offered to take a group photo. That's Ian next to me, then Chris and Dave. Dave is an old college friend of Chris' so the stories have been non-stop. The views from Dorr are incredible as you can see behind us. The peak is at an elevation of 1270'.

The only mountain higher in this section of the island is Cadillac. This is the one that people flock to to watch the sunrise because it's where the sun rises first in the US. You have to make reservations to drive up Cadillac but plenty of people get up at 3 or 4 AM to hike up there in the dark. 
Not me. I won't even get up that early to drive there. I value my sleep way too much. But in this photo you are seeing the North Ridge of Cadillac and we hiked that on my 60th birthday 2 years ago. I had to work really hard to get in shape for that adventure.
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This is the South Ridge of Cadillac and we did that one last year. It's a lot longer because it's not as steep. It's also mostly bare granite and south facing so it can get really hot. We started very early so it wasn't so bad but I remember passing people as we went down about 11 am and the up hikers were panting.
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Yesterday was a spectacularly beautiful day and I wanted to do a 3-mileish "easier" hike just to get some exercise. After much discussion, Ian and I agreed on the Norumbega loop. We have done this before but it's been a few years and we didn't remember it. It only goes up to 852 feet so how hard could it be?

Well, the first section (green arrow) is called the Goat Trail. That's a clue!
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I actually love steep climbs and rock scrambles but you do get a work out. This was one of the easier sections of the climb where I could take a second to get a photo. We got our cardio in on this hike.
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This hike turned out to be a really good one. It doesn't offer much for views but it has every possible trail type from ankle-breaker small rocks to grainge slabs to pine needles.

This is the root ball of a tree that had fallen over. That tree was just growing over the granite slab. Not a very stable base for tree roots.

At the base of the mountain we were treated to the Lower Haddock Pond. It's the water reservoir for the local town so no fishing or swimming is allowed. Only fish pee in this pond.

In my opinion, the .9 mile walk back to the car on the Norumbega Connector is the hardest part of the trail. It's flat but it all roots. You have to watch every step. 
It was a fun trail that was maybe a little more effort than we expected so today we will enjoy a relaxing day of sewing and reading with our last lobster dinner of the trip. We don't leave until Friday but Dave leaves today and we want to have the last lobster dinner with him. 
Chris and Ian are actually kind of tired of lobster. I could eat it every night but I will savor it tonight.

The loons are calling so it's time to go relax. I'll have my book review post tomorrow and that might be the last post until I'm home this weekend.