Hiking Flying Mountain And Wonderland Trails

6:42

Southwest Harbor, Early Morning

It's now 7:30 and I have been out driving around Southwest Harbor since 6:30, trying to find the right spot for a photo of the sunrise.  On cloudless mornings, however, like today, the sunrise is not spectacular, just a ball of fire slowly rising over the coast.  I began with coffee from Sawyers Grocery, ended with buying Evie a cup from the Milagro Cafe, just out of town.  Soon, we will clean up and walk to the Common Good Cafe for a popover.

Yesterday, we had another relaxing morning before we headed off for our hike.  After I got home from my morning drive to photograph the sunrise, we sat around, having another coffee before Evie went upstairs to take a shower and get ready to hike.  We, then, walked uptown to the Common Good Cafe, for some oatmeal for Evie and we split a popover and a cup of coffee.  Lots of locals came in and out which is nice to see they support its cause.

Getting Ready To Climb

Ready For Bear

The Trail To The Summit

We left for the parking lot for our next hike up Flying Mountain just after 10:00.  The description of the hike suggested it was a short hike up to the peak, only 286 feet which sounded easy.  It wasn't, as it was all uphill, over rocks and roots, so we really had to take our time.  The path was heavily wooded, lots of fir, spruce and surprisingly, tulip trees, so we were in the shade until we reached the summit of the mountain although hill might be more accurate.  The hike was fun, as we took our time, the view from the summit, spectacular, blue waters surrounded by fir forests, an occasional dock out in the water from a home not visible from the water.

Blue Waters Of Maine

Sitting On A Rock By The Bay

Once we reached the summit, it took another 45 minutes to walk down to the water, again over rocks, stone and tree roots.  There was a rocky beach, the beginning of another trail that was closed because of dangerous rock falls.  We walked a access road back to our car which was easy.  We only walked 2.5 miles overall but it took close to two hours.  It was, however short, a great hike, perfect weather, blue skies and cool.

View Of Somes Sound From Library

We then drove to the oldest village on Mt. Desert Island, Somesville, to visit their neat little library, recommended by my sister, set just above Somes Sound.  Unfortunately, it was closed but we were able to sit in its yard, ogling the view.  We then drove to Ike's Point on Echo Lake and had our lunch, another peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Lunch At Echo Pond

We then drove home, got there around 1:30 and we were both tired from our climb.  We collapsed on the couches, looked at some of our photos, and I took a great nap.  We wanted to get one more hike in, so we took another easy one, again quite close, a 15 minute drive to Wonderland Trail, great name.  It was a couple of miles out and back, through a forest once again of firs and spruce, but absolutely flat, the path paved with pine needles in between the tree roots and rocks.  Parts were even fenced off to encourage growth, keep people on the path.

Hiking Wonderland Trail

The goal was the ocean, a rocky coast, filled with aromatic seaweed.  You could either walk along the rocks or the path, which was easier but close to the ocean and rocks, with paths occasionally reaching down to the ocean.

The Sea, The Sea

We liked both the walk out and the ocean view, with rocks and various islands off the coast.  We were about out of gas by the time we got back to our car.

A Wild Rose

When we returned, we took it easy and our cottage's owner, Barbara, stopped by to say hello and help us fix a couple of problems.  She was really nice, owns five other rental houses and spends half of her year, the off season obviously, in New Jersey although they will be moving up to this area full time in a year.  Interesting woman.  I was hoping to take some pictures of the sunset but it got cloudy in the afternoon, so we stayed in the house until it was time to go to dinner, watching the Fox Five for entertainment.

Because it was Monday, we were limited in our choices of restaurants because most were closed except for Joey's Sports Bar, a dive, half Laundromat, half bar, just like our favorite bar in Honolulu, The Lauhala Room. You could drink a beer while your clothes got clean.  We didn't need the laundromat but we did go to Joey's, an experience to say the least.

Joey And Clara

Joey was a trip, a non stop talker, a Raider football fanatic, from somewhere other than Maine because of his Boston or New York City accent.  He immediately made us feel at home, laughed at Evie when she ordered a vegetarian burger, insisted on buying her a basket of wings with his special sauce, soon to be bottled.  They were good I have to admit.  He entertained us, his wife, Clara served us beer until he had to hit the road with a pork chop to go.  Evie talked with a young man who just graduated from Wisconsin with a degree in horticulture and was about to impart on a career in the Peace Corps in Madagascar.

Joey And The Brothers Toast Their Friendship

And I was sitting next to two brothers, friends of Joey, who used to live next door to the bar/laundromat.  One was light skinned and red haired and Irish,  the other dark skinned, with dark hair, Italian.  They were interesting guys, one living in Alaska, working for a bank, the other a lobster fisherman who headed out into the waters at 2:00 or 3:00 each morning.  I had a highly touted Philly cheese steak to make up for Evie's vegetarian meal.  Basically, the place was fun to visit,  not for the food but to listen to Joey.  When he left, we, too, were ready to leave.

Our Little Notch Bakery Friends, From Serbia

On our way home, we stopped at the Little Notch Bakery just as it was closing because we wanted something sweet.  We were able to get a couple of brownies and struck up a conversation with two of the bakers behind the counter.  The guy I recognized because he was at the bakery near the waterfront yesterday when we visited the bakery where everything is made.  The gal behind the counter recognized us as well from the day before.  They are here for the summer and both are Serbian.  They will finish up their work in another week then spend time traveling around the US.   Both are independent and adventurous, like many others from Eastern Europe here for the summer.  It was fun to meet and talk with them.

We didn't get home until 8:30 and watched some of The Voice until we were tired enough to go to bed.  O, yea, we had brownies that tasted like fudge.  Yum.