Waves at Schoodic Peninsula

Tuesday morning, we left Portland and headed north to Acadia National Park and the Schoodic Peninsula, the only section of the park on the mainland.  We stopped to pay admission at the visitor center and then started driving the one-way loop road.  Our first stop was at Frazer Point at the north end of the peninsula.

There were nice views of Mosquito Harbor and Winter Harbor.

Invasive beach rose was growing here.

Looking east, there were still some low-lying clouds around Mount Desert Island.

Driving a little further, we passed several pull-offs that were full, and then came to one with no cars.  There was no direct access to the coast, but a path through the woods.  We followed the path and came out at a beautiful section of rocky coastline and had it to ourselves.

The seas were choppy and the waves were crashing violently against the rocks.  

In a matter of 10 minutes or so, fog rolled in and the Winter Harbor Lighthouse was now mostly covered in fog.

We scrambled around on the rocks here and got some pictures.  Then we continued to another pull off at West Pond Cove.  The area to the west was still foggy despite blue skies where we were at.

Next we drove to the Schoodic Institute and parked at the trailhead for Sundew Trail.  The trail started off through the woods and soon came to a spur that led out to the coast.

We again climbed around on the rocks and watched the powerful waves.  Maine's coast is just beautiful.  The next stop along the trail was another view of rocky coast though the skies had cleared a bit in the 10 minutes or so to get here.

The last stop on the trail was another view of West Pond Cove.  The calm water here was quite a contrast with the big waves further back on the trail.

We finished up the trail and followed paths through the campus back to our car.  Next we stopped at Schoodic Point.  It was very crowded but absolutely beautiful at the southernmost point of the peninsula.

The waves were really powerful here as well.  I found a crack in the rocks where the water was flowing in with each crashing wave.

The waves were really spectacular all around Schoodic Peninsula.  I made a video of them from various spots that we stopped.

We followed the rocky coast towards the eastern end of the point and then headed back.

We next headed to the Blueberry Hill parking area, but the lot was completely full.  So we continued on the loop road to the small parking area at the East Trailhead.  This trail also led up to the summit of Schoodic Head.  It was shorter but steeper.  There were a couple open spots with a nice view down towards Schoodic Harbor.

We saw some reindeer lichen growing along the trail.

The last part of the trail was extremely steep but thankfully short.  At the top, we turned right on Shoodic Head Trail to reach the summit.  There were no view here, but an overlook was a short ways further.

We had really nice views here from the high point of this area of the park.

We took a break here to enjoy the view for a while then headed back down.  On the way, I spotted a hairy woodpecker going at it on a dead tree.  He seemed to busy pecking at the tree to be bothered by us.

Back down at the road, I scrambled down for a view of Schoodic Harbor.

And we made one more stop before finishing up the one-way loop road.

From here, we left Schoodic Peninsula and headed towards Mount Desert Island.

We got subs to go from West Eden Pizza and then checked into Kimball Terrace Inn.  Our room had a nice balcony with a harbor view and Alex really enjoyed resting our here.