Campground List - Summer 2016

Here are the campgrounds we stayed at on our way to and from Acadia National Park.

Natural Bridge/Lexington KOA, Site 79, Natural Bridge, VA. Pretty good wi-fi but we were behind the office. Very woodsy. Was a nice overnight stop with a fairly easy pull-through.

Hershey Park Camping Resort, Site 82, Hershey, PA. We were in water/electric (30A) only section, but full hook-ups section looked way more crowded. This was actually a nice, grassy spot under a big tree. Were skeptical at first about fitting in it. Wi-fi was Tengo Internet, need I say more? Shuttles to Hershey Park. There is a train that goes by very often if that kind of thing bothers you.

Bayley's Camping Resort, Site 278, Scarborough, ME. This is a huge campground. No wifi at our spot. Nice, shady, large spot. We were not in the big rig pull-through section, and it didn't look as nice. There is a new adult only pool complex. Other campers seemed unfriendly. Was it my Panthers shirt? Campground is a mile or so from the beach. They have shuttles, but we biked it. Also a frequent train whistle here.

KOA Oceanside, Site 357, Bar Harbor, ME. Beautiful views, great sunsets over the water. We were not right on the water, but had a pretty clear view of it most of the time. No sewer hook-ups, but they have a pump-out service. Was not impressed with the showers. They were dirty and water temp was dependent on if anyone else showed up or not.  There were free shuttles but it is a long ride (50 min) from there to downtown Bar Harbor. We went into several other campgrounds on the shuttle ride and this one definitely seemed the best.

Jonestown/Hershey KOA, Site 81, Jonestown, PA. Overnighted here. Right off the interstate, so there is quite a bit of highway noise. Wi-fi worked fine, but you had to start a free session every 30 min. Luckily everyone was so tired no one needed wi-fi.

The long drive home to blazing heat and stifling humidity...

Chuck asked if we wanted to spread out the drive over several days like we did going up there or "grind it out" and make it in two days. The boys chose to grind it out, and Ben enjoyed saying that about 100 times. It was really mostly a grind for Chuck since he did all the driving.

Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned how the main road to Acadia had a big section of pavement out. Took a pic this time. I'm not sure we saw anyone working on the road either time.

Anyhoo, we got up early. Zack & I took the rental car, got gas, and dropped it at the airport while Chuck did some finishing touches on the camper. He picked us up and we pulled out right before 9am. It was a long day but we had a new audiobook and made 3 stops. We had several bad traffic areas, including the numerous toll plazas we had to drive through. Those are always an adventure: trying to find the right lane to get in, then hoping you can squeeze through, then trying to merge after to go in the right direction.

One of our stops was at a service plaza on a toll road. I think that was a first experience for all of us. Not pleasant. It was like a food court inside and each place had like 20 people in line. At least the restrooms didn't have a line. We will stick to our Flying J/Pilot truck stops when possible.

I found a campground in Jonestown, PA, to stop for the night. I told them on the phone we would be arriving after their office closed so they said they would leave a map with our name and site marked. We got there at 9:30pm. Just dark enough to make it hard to find and get into our spot. We got our map and found our site, and a neighbor came over and helped us back in. We slept in a little later, and I don't even remember what time we left. But, we had a good trip home and got back to Charlotte around 5:15. Oddly, Chuck got a cancellation notice email from that campground today. They had no idea we were there!

Chuck did try to talk the boys into stopping at Virginia Tech for the night (I guess he was going to just try to camp in a parking lot there?), but they didn't go for it.

Now we are home and missing the low temps and humidity. I have to keep telling myself, those people probably have a much worse winter!

Our last day :(

Friday we decided to do some more sightseeing drives. We went to some parts of the island we hadn't been to, like Southwest Harbor. There was a tiny main street, but we just drove through.  We found a lighthouse at Bass Harbor and were surprised to read that a Coast Guard family actually lives there in the house.  Not sure I'd like people traipsing around my house all day. Can't complain about the view, though.

Then we found a little pull-off area that is part of Acadia, but I'm not sure what it's called.

Then we stopped by Echo Lake, which is apparently a pretty popular swimming beach in the park. I didn't get a great picture there because there were so many people!

When we got back to the camper, Chuck decided to ride his road bike from the campground to the Park Loop. The boys and I relaxed a little while and then went out in our rented minivan to finish the Park Loop driving tour we exited prematurely on Monday. We had missed some good stuff. Like, another lighthouse on a tiny island...

A cottage built by a professor for his wife, who died on the Titanic and never saw it...

More good water views...

A cruise ship leaving... okay, we probably wouldn't have seen that on Monday.

Thunder Hole...

Didn't get splashed or sprayed, but did hear the "thunder" once.

I forgot what this is.

 I think this was Otter Creek Causeway Bridge.

Chuck had called earlier in our drive and said he would meet us and get a ride back. Of course when we got to this point in the tour we had no cell service at all. But we got to another stop later and he was waiting there.

We went back to the camper and sadly started packing up so we could head out early the next morning.

Just a little walk...

Whew, yesterday was a hard day. Chuck had a route planned for us to park, ride our bikes on a carriage road to a Cadillac Mountain trailhead, hike to the summit, and then back down to our bikes. Apparently we missed the original trailhead, but we didn't know that until later. We found one that said Cadillac Mountain Summit - 2.3 mi, so we parked the bikes next to a tree and locked them. The trail started out not too bad but then turned wicked steep and rocky. Luckily it was marked with blue blazes, because it was hard to follow in spots and we had to backtrack at least once. It makes you wonder who decided, "oh, the trail should go this way" in some of those places.

That's the trail!

We came to a little marsh/meadow which was pretty. And to a spot where other trails came in. Did some map consulting where it was a tad less windy. Enjoyed some spectacular views.

We got to the top and then saw a sign that said the summit was still .5 mi. The boys decided they didn't need to go all the way to the top since we drove there on Monday. Of course Chuck & I had to keep going, so we told the boys to stay put. Chuck & I had decided we should take the other way back down because it was shorter. Then we would have to walk back up to the carriage road to our bikes. The boys wanted to go back the way we came, but we overruled. So anyway, we left them at the fork to the other trail.

We met another couple who pointed out these two geologic markers in rocks and said they thought that was the summit, so we had them take our picture and we went on to the little store we knew was there (from Monday's trip). We bought a refreshing, cold Coke to share and sent the boys a pic to rub it in. Of course there was no cell service so they didn't get the pic until hours later.

We met back up with the boys and headed down. This trail was just as steep and rocky, if not more so.  My quads and knees really started hurting from the constant use. Who knew going down could be harder than going up?

That's the trail.

Also the trail.

Really? Yes, that's the trail, and the pics don't even show how steep it really is.

We made it back down to the carriage road and then had a good walk back to the bikes.

Ben waiting for the bikes to be unlocked. 

Then we rode the almost 4 miles back to the car. I got a blister on my pinky from my walking stick and one on my pinky toe from my shoes, and Ben cut his leg on a rock, but otherwise we made it down fine. 

According to my tracking devices, we rode almost 8 miles on the bikes and walked for 5.69 miles.  I think we went up on Canon Brook Trail to Cadillac South Ridge Trail, then we went down the Cadillac West Ridge Trail.  We were worn out (some of us more than others) but it was a good day. 

Uber? We don't need no stinkin' Uber.

Yesterday Chuck went out in the late morning to ride the Carriage Roads by himself. I had a trip to Wal-Mart planned for when he returned. We had decided we'd go check out the town of Bar Harbor in the afternoon. You'll recall we drove through it the other day and it was super crowded, so we decided to take the free shuttle. Well, I got back, put the groceries away, and Zack was pushing us out the door to make the 3:05 shuttle pickup. The shuttle ride took 50 minutes! We decided that was too long, so Chuck spent part of the ride downloading the Uber app and setting it up. When we got there, the boys said they didn't mind the long ride and would rather take the shuttle back. Okay.

We did a little shopping and then remembered the Bar Island Path that a ranger had told us about on Monday.  There is a sandbar from town over to an island, but it's only a sandbar for a few hours a day, during low tide. We walked over to it and there were hordes of people there.

We weren't sure what time the tides were, but when we got across, there was an Acadia sign with tide times for the month, as well as a phone number for a water taxi in case you got stranded. Luckily we were there around low tide so we had plenty of time. There is an easy, one mile hike to the highest point on the island with a nice view from the top. And so many people, it was impossible for this short person to get a picture without getting someone in it.

We found a restaurant and had a nice, though incredibly slow dinner. After dinner we did a little more shopping (found a sports store with bike stuff and finally got a pair of padded shorts since I forgot to pack any) and then went and sat in a nice park for a few minutes. 

We headed back to the Village Green to catch a shuttle. There was one sitting there waiting. After talking to someone there offering help, we determined it was the one we needed and got on. Chuck checked the Uber app and found there were no cars available. The shuttle ride back only took about 40 minutes, and we made it back in time for a nice sunset. 

What in blue blazes?!

Yesterday morning we had a plan to get up early and do a bike ride on the carriage roads. Chuck picked out the route and the parking area. We had heard parking is tough everywhere here - that's why we wanted to get out earlier. Of course we didn't.  It wasn't too late when we headed out though. When we got to the parking, there was already a long line parked along the side of the road, so I pulled in at the end. Chuck got out to go see if that's where we wanted to go before we unloaded all the bikes, and I looked over and saw him waving furiously. The parking lot had like 10 spots and he had found one open, so I drove over and got it.

The ride he had planned was a loop that was supposed to take about an hour. The carriage roads are gravel and for bikers, walkers, and horses. It's a very nice system, but some of them are private and bikes are prohibited. The map says that, but unfortunately, it's not really clear on the map which ones are. So we were a little perturbed when we got to the bottom of a long downhill section and found several large signs marking it private from there. They couldn't have mentioned that at the top of the hill? But I digress...we got to the fork of our original loop in like 15 min., so we decided to keep going.  I think we ended up riding about 2 hours, but I'm not sure because I kept forgetting to stop my watch when we stopped.

We stumbled onto Jordan Pond again on the ride. We saw signs for a Jordan Pond house. I kept thinking it was going to be some kind of historical home, but all we could see was a modern looking building. We walked up to it and it appears to be maybe a hotel with a restaurant. They had some amazing views of the "pond".

After the ride we came back and had lunch and a good rest.  Around 4pm, we set out to do the Sand Beach/Great Head hike.  The road to that parking area is one way, but you can park in the right lane. I found it best to just drive in the left the whole time (which goes against everything!) because you never knew when you'd come up to a random parked car. When we got near the parking area, there was a huge line of cars parked in the right lane. The parking lot had a sign that said "full", but we figured that late in the day there would be an opening. Sure enough, there were tons of open spots. 

Sand Beach is pretty self-explanatory. We walked across it to get to the Great Head trailhead. Definitely not like the beaches we are used to. The sand is very coarse. The water was pretty cold as well.  

The hike was pretty easy if you are good at scrambling up rocks. The scenery was spectacular.  The boys decided to take a lower, rockier route. See them in the bottom pic? I stayed on the actual cliff trail, following the blue blazes. And yes, every time I saw one I said to myself, "what in blue blazes?"

On the way home we had a classic family argument with Chuck taking a ridiculous position and the rest of us arguing against it. In this case it was Charlotte is in the middle of nowhere and Acadia is not. I'll let you, dear reader, figure out who was on which side.

Then dinner, sunset, showers, campfire. No SpikeBall.

It's so cool here, we aren't even running AC!

Well, we have had a busy couple of days here. Yesterday we left Scarborough just a little later than planned. The drive was a little boring and we finished our audiobook. We got off the interstate at Bangor and took a smaller road to Bar Harbor. There was a section of road, probably 1/2 mile long where they had torn up the pavement and it was just bumpy gravel. I was not so sure about it (memories of the Great Utah GPS Debacle of 2014) but then I saw some RVs coming the opposite way, so I figured we would make it.  Chuck had reserved a rental car at the Bar Harbor airport so we stopped there on our way to the campground.  It is a pretty tiny airport, and we just pulled into the empty taxi parking line to park.

We got to the campground around 1:00, set up, and had lunch. We have some pretty good views from our campsite. That is an empty site between us & the water, so the good views may not last. It was super windy. Maybe not Great Sand Dunes windy, but very close.

We decided to drive to one of the Acadia welcome centers and check it out.

We bought a park pass and some souvenirs and then went on the Park Loop. I had purchased a little book with points of interest on the Park Loop. Well, we got to #5, I think, and Chuck saw Cadillac Mountain (I think it was #18) and turned there. We drove up (don't worry - we will hike it later) and parked at the top and walked around. It was really, really windy up there, but beautiful.

After we left the parking lot we thought we would get back on the Park Loop but discovered we had missed the rest of the loop tour.  We stumbled onto Jordan Pond, so we pulled in there to check it out. The (non) wind was so calm there, the water was almost glassy. We did some exploring, found some frogs just hanging out, the usual.

After leaving the park, we ended up driving down Main St. through Bar Harbor. Holy cow, there were a lot of people and cars there! Parallel parking on both sides of the street, and not a lot of room left in between for two-way traffic. We decided we will take a shuttle to there when we go.

After supper at the camper, we played some SpikeBall, with a time-out for the sunset.

And now I'm so exhausted from today's activities that I will have to write about them tomorrow. Spoiler alert: there was no SpikeBall today!