Maine 2017

Mount Desert Island/Acadia National Park, Maine

Thursday, October 5 through Saturday, October 14, 2017

We flew from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Portland, Maine via Dulles International Airport in Virginia, near Washington DC. We spent the next eight days hiking or biking on Mount Desert Island, including at Acadia National Park. We returned to Oklahoma City by the reverse route.

I tracked the trip with a Bad Elf GPS Pro+ GPSr (GPS receiver), using my iPhone 8 (Gaia app) as a backup (along with the FlightAware and FlightRadar24 websites). There were a few problems:

I apparently forgot to start the Bad Elf tracking on one drive on Oct. 6
I left the Bad Elf in the trunk of the car (Oct. 11)
The Bad Elf lost reception near Tulsa on the flight back to Oklahoma City
In the latter two cases, substitute tracks were used to make up for the holes. They are documented below.

NOTE: the downloadable GPX tracks are the full GPX files, while those shown on the provided "view map" links are simplified (with minimal effect on geographic accuracy) for much faster viewing.

Topographic maps are denoted by a "(Topo)" link. Bright pink/magenta lines represent manually-powered transportation (e.g., biking, hiking).

Original GPX tracks are unedited, except the flight from Washington DC to Oklahoma City OK.

Businesses are named below for reference only. No endorsement should be inferred. If you wish to see my opinion of the places mentioned, see TripAdvisor (for those that I have actually rated).

Overview

Overview map—This is a composite map of all the GPS tracks on a blank US/Canada map. Just Maine, and just MDI.
All GPS tracks / view map—The whole trip, including walking, driving, etc.

Thursday, October 5

GPX / view map —The flight from Oklahoma City (Will Rogers World Airport) to Dulles International Airport (Virginia, near Washington DC).
GPX / view map —Walking/taking the bus from Concourse D to Concourse A at Dulles International Airport.
GPX / view map —The flight from Dulles International Airport, Virginia (near Washington DC) to Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine.
GPX / view map —The drive from the airport in Portland to Yarmouth to view "Eartha," a 3-story (about 10 m) tall globe/map of the Earth. This site is the former headquarters of the DeLorme Map publishers, but is now owned by Garmin.
GPX / view map —Driving from Yarmouth to Freeport, where we stopped for dinner.
GPX / view map —Driving from Yarmouth to Northeast Harbor (we stayed at the Kimball Terrace Inn each night for our entire visit).

Friday, October 6

GPX / view map —Driving the short distance to a downtown Northeast Harbor parking lot for breakfast/lunch.
GPX / view map —Walking around downtown Northeast Harbor, then to the harbor itself, and back to the parking lot.
GPX / view map —Driving from Northeast Harbor to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center for Acadia National Park.
GPX / view map —Driving from Hulls Cove Visitor Center to a gas station in Bar Harbor (had a slow leak in one tire on the rental car) to near The Tarn (the last part of this track is missing because of Navigon's tendency to stop tracking once it thinks you have reached your destination, and our destination was the parking lot about 500 m to the northwest of where we actually parked—and the first part is missing because I didn't start the tracking until we were at the gas station—and the reason the Navigon track is used here is because I apparently forgot to start the Bad Elf tracking at the visitor center).
GPX / view map —Hiking from The Tarn to the Wild Gardens of Acadia (via the Jesup Path) to the Hemlock Trail to Ocean Drive (going northwest) and back onto the Jesup Path (going south this time), then on the Hemlock Trail west to the Stratheden Path, and back to The Tarn via the Jesup Path. (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from The Tarn to Bar Harbor. We went up Main Street, found all parking areas full, and returned south to Park Street, where we...well...parked.
GPX / view map —Walking north, then south, across Bar Harbor. We had dinner near the northeast corner of Main and West. We also visited the harbor parking lot to view the rising almost-full moon to the east.
GPX / view map —Driving from Bar Harbor to Northeast Harbor.

Saturday, October 7

GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to lunch in downtown Northeast Harbor, then to the bicycle rental shop nearby.
GPX / view map —Biking from the bike shop back to the hotel parking lot, then up (literally and figuratively) to Acadia National Park, over to the Amphitheater Bridge, in a clockwise "loop" and back to the bike shop. The return trip into Northeast Harbor was on the same road as outbound, so there appears to be a small inaccuracy in the GPS track on the north side of town. (Topo (north), Topo (south))
GPX / view map —Walking from the bike shop to the harbor, and back to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.
GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to dinner (downtown) and back in Northeast Harbor.

Sunday, October 8

GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to downtown Northeast Harbor for breakfast/lunch and back.
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to a parking lot just north of Beech Mountain.
GPX / view map —Hiking about the northern 2/3 of the Valley Trail on the east side of Beech Mountain. (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from the Valley Trail parking lot to Southwest Harbor, where we went for dinner.
GPX / view map —Short walk from the parking lot to dinner in Southwest Harbor...and back.
GPX / view map —Driving from dinner at Southwest Harbor to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Monday, October 9

GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Northeast Harbor to the main parking area at Jordan Pond.
GPX / view map —Hiking in the area south of Jordan Pond. It rained quite a bit during this hike, since the remains of former Hurricane Nate arrived that day (no lightning, and not much wind, but plenty of rain). We went from the parking lot to the pond, then down the west side of Jordan Pond Stream, then to the Stanley Brook Bridge, then clockwise around Redfield Hill, and back to the Jordan Pond House for dinner (and then back to the parked car). (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from Jordan Pond back to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Tuesday, October 10

GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to downtown Northeast Harbor for breakfast/lunch and back. We took this loop clockwise (tried a "short cut" from the restaurant that turned out to take a little longer than the "long way"!).
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to the Parkman Mountain parking area (north of Upper Hadlock Pond), which was (naturally) full, so we had to park along the highway.
GPX / view map —Hiking to the Waterfall Bridge on carriage roads, then back to...and up...the Maple Spring Trail to near the summit of Sargent Mountain, then back down on the Hadlock Brook Trail (and return to the car on the same carriage roads). Our path was (mostly) clockwise. (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving to Seal Harbor, where we had dinner. Includes a turn-around loop in a residential area north of the restaurant.
GPX / view map —Driving from the restaurant in Seal Harbor back to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Wednesday, October 11

GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to downtown Northeast Harbor for breakfast/lunch and back.
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Northeast Harbor to the Bubble Pond parking lot.
GPX / view map —Hiking in the area between Bubble Pond and Eagle Lake. (This track is from the Gaia app on my iPhone 8, because I accidentally left the Bad Elf in the trunk of the car). We did this hike more or less counter-clockwise. (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from Bubble Pond to the historic Asticou Inn, where we had dinner.
GPX / view map —Driving from the Asticou Inn to our hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Thursday, October 12

GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Northeast Harbor to the Jordan Pond parking lot.
GPX / view map —Hiking counter-clockwise around Jordan Pond, including a short spur up the Bubbles Divide Trail (up to just below the boulder field). (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from Jordan Pond to Otter Creek, where we attempted to get dinner, but the wait at the restaurant was too long, so we opted to go to Bar Harbor, instead.
GPX / view map —Driving from Otter Creek to Bar Harbor, where we went for dinner.
GPX / view map —Walking from our parked car to the restaurant and back in Bar Harbor.
GPX / view map —Driving from Bar Harbor to Bubble Pond, where we did some night (astro-) photography.
GPX / view map —Driving from Bubble Pond back to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Friday, October 13

GPX / view map —Walking from the hotel to downtown Northeast Harbor for breakfast/lunch and back.
GPX / view map —Driving up the east side of Somes Sound as far as Suminsby Park.
GPX / view map —Walking around Suminsby Park.
GPX / view map —Driving from Suminsby Park to a parking area near Little Long Pond (west of Seal Harbor).
GPX / view map —Hiking (clockwise) around Little Long Pond. There is apparently about a 30 m error in position between the outbound and inbound tracks near the southwest edge of the pond. (Topo)
GPX / view map —Driving from Little Long Pond to Southwest Harbor, where we attempted to go to the "Chow Maine" restaurant...only to find out that it's not a restaurant anymore.
GPX / view map —Driving to Beal's Lobster Pier, near Southwest Harbor.
GPX / view map —Driving back to the hotel in Northeast Harbor.

Saturday, October 14

GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to downtown Northeast Harbor for breakfast/lunch.
GPX / view map —Driving to the Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine. Also includes walking from the rental car return to the terminal (and some extraneous points resulting from GPSr errors because we were inside a building).
GPX / view map —Flying from Portland International Jetport (Portland, Maine) to Dulles International Airport (Virginia, near Washington DC).
GPX / view map —Walking/taking the train from Concourse A to Concourse C at Dulles International Airport. We had been to this airport several times, and never knew there was a train! Note that the GPS track misses quite a bit of our walking to/from the train stops, since they were underground.
GPX / view map —Flying from Dulles International Airport (near Washington DC) to Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Note: the Bad Elf was in the overhead bin on the airplane and lost about 13 minutes of data in the area around Tulsa, Oklahoma. Track points from the iPhone 8/Gaia track have been substituted for the missing points.