Acadia and Airstreams

The National Park Service refers to Acadia as the “Crown Jewel of the North American Coast” and with good reason. The mountains touch the sea here on Mount Desert Island. This is such a unique place where you can experience the ocean, a large protecting harbor for sailing, lush forests, alpine lakes, and exposed rocky peaks all in the same place. The steep mountains here are some of the most fun that I have ever been on because you can climb them relatively quickly and get huge views over the Atlantic Ocean. The glaciers cut these rugged mountains and valleys and for that we are grateful. As corny as it sounds, on the first day here I said to Jamie, “They should call this place Disneyland because it’s magical.”

Mount Desert Island is also home to Bar Harbor. We went into Bar Harbor the first night we were here, It is a cute Northeast town that was bustling with shops and restaurants. In the past, Bar Harbor has been a haven for artists and a vacation destination for wealthy industrialists such as the Rockefellers, Vanderbelts, and Fords. It’s no wonder they would choose a location like this to build their “summer cottages”.  We figured it would be good to just grab a bite to eat for dinner at a cafe since we had been traveling all day. As we sat there feeling the sea breeze, Jamie and I talked about how we could live here. We asked our waitress what it was like to live here and she immediately told us about winter. OK, that changed our minds. Maybe a summer cottage if I can ever get a job again?

One of the great things about Acadia National Park is its trail system. A lot of the trails here are relatively short (though some very steep) and can be linked up with other trails so that you can create “choose your own adventure” hikes. The park also features carriage roads commissioned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. where people can hike or bike along more gentle gravel roads in the same fashion. We linked trails up like this for some great hikes and bikes most of the days we were here.

After homeschool the morning of our first day, we decided to tackle the Beehive Trail. This is a trail that climbs up the side of a mountain on an exposed cliffside that has iron rungs attached to the rocks to help you climb and keep you balance. There are some spots on that hike where you do not want to fall but we all loved it. The kids actually asked if they could go back and do it again the next day. After climbing Beehive, we linked it up with the Gorham Mountain Trail where we hiked along the exposed ridge of the mountain taking in the views. This dropped us down to the Ocean Path that hikes along the rocky coast back to the shuttle we caught to the trailhead (parking can be a challenge in Acadia). I must be getting too loose in this new laid-back lifestyle because we caught the last shuttle out with only ten minutes to spare!

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There was some off and on fog and rain for the next two days, so we stayed down in the lower elevations. On the first day, we hiked out to Bar Island at low tide. Bar Island is an island you can only access for about three hours at low tide via a sand bar. Here you can see colorful starfish, crabs, and other sea critters as you walk across. We also hiked to the summit of the island where we were teased with views of the surrounding mountains as the fog tried to burn off. It rained hard on our third day which made staying in the Airstream homeschooling easy. In the afternoon, we explored the “quiet side” of the park and saw Bass Harbor Lighthouse and pulled over on the side of the road and discovered a great little hike in the Ship Harbor Trail.

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We got back out for a longer hike on the next sunny day and linked up with Jordan Pond Path with both South and North Bubble Mountains. Jordan Pond is a beautiful clear lake surrounded by forest and mountains. I read that it has up to 60 feet visibility and is the clearest water in Maine. The hikes up to the Bubbles were great and involved some great scrambling (“hiking” where you have to use your hands to get yourself up). They like to make their hikes steep and rocky around here. The views from the summits over Jordan Pond and the surrounding mountains were spectacular. The south mountain is also home to Bubble Rock, a boulder that appears precariously balanced ready to roll off of the cliffside.

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On or last full day in the park, we pulled the bikes down to hit the carriage roads. We started at the visitor center and started our ride on a trail that, apparently, the Obama’s rode as a family several years back. They weren’t there today. The roads pull away from the trailhead pretty steeply here, so Archer did not like the thought of riding ten miles on these roads. Luckily, the grades became more gentle and we were treated with some of the best gravel bikes riding we have ever experienced. Our ride took us to Paradise Hill, Witch Hole Pond, Eagle Lake, and Bubble Pond. We took a small side hike to Conners Nubble where we had unbelievable views of Eagle Lake all to ourselves. We had to almost drag Archer up that trail as she was still reeling from the first hill of the day, but she said it was all worth it when we hit the top.

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During our time on Mount Desert Island, we met several other full-time Airstreamers . When we pulled up to our campsite, another Airstream was parked in the site next to us. One night by the fire, we shared stories with our neighbors and found out that they have been on the road full-time since retiring two years ago. We also met a family at the campground living in their Airstream, homeschooling their three boys, and doing lots of volunteer work as they travel. We hung out with another family that has been living and traveling in their Airstream for the past six years homeschooling their two boys. They are working full-time as they travel. We had lots in common as their next adventure is going to involve a sailboat. They also had a 30 foot Airstream that we loved which made me realize that “two-foot-itis” is not just a boat thing. Both of the families with kids we met here were living in their Airstreams in Maine for the entire summer. Hmmm, not a bad idea?

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It is so interesting hearing about the different paths in life the people we are meeting are taking. Everyone has their own unique story, unique reason for traveling, and unique way of creating a life a little different than what most consider “normal”. It is inspiring for us to hear these stories and to think about how limitless our choices in life really are. They make us think that we can choose to do things differently and potentially continue this lifestyle if we never fall out of love with it. I guess that only time will tell!