Maine 2023 (October) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Ellsworth and vicinity

Saturday, October 7 through Saturday, October 21, 2023

We flew from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Portland, Maine via O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Illinois). In addition to doing tasks at the house (including assessing a badly-damaged, newly-paved driveway, after the effects of former Tropical Storm Philippe washed out parts of the driveway), we did manage to hike and bike at Acadia National Park and other nearby trails during our visit. We returned to Oklahoma City via Chicago (reverse of outbound route).

I tracked the trip with a Bad Elf GPS Pro+ GPSr (GPS receiver), using my iPhone 12 (Gaia GPS app) as a backup (and the FlightRadar24 website). A few local trips were not recorded (since in-town trips are regularly ignored where we live). In addition, much of the last three days prior to departure were lost when I somehow lost my Bad Elf GPSr. As a result of the loss, my new Garmin eTrex SE GPSr was used for the return trip.

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.

Original GPX tracks are unedited, except where necessary to fill in missing data. Edited tracks are noted in their descriptions.

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 few that I have actually rated).

Overview (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

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

Saturday, October 7

GPX / view map—Riding to the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.
GPX / view map—(Incomplete) Flying from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.
(To be added) Additional track information to complete this leg
GPX / view map—Walking through O'Hare International Airport.
GPX / view map—Flying from Chicago, Illinois to Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine.
GPX / view map—Walking around in Portland International Jetport.
GPX / view map—Riding (shuttle) to the hotel in South Portland, Maine. (We had to stay in a hotel because the rental car company was out of cars for the day, and we had arranged to get a car the following day. Apparently, all hotels near the airport were also sold out…but we were fortunate enough to have gotten a room, albeit at an exorbitant price).

Sunday, October 8

GPX / view map—Riding (shuttle) back to the airport in Portland, Maine, then walking to the car rental facility.
GPX / view map—Driving to the house in Ellsworth, Maine.
GPX / view map—Driving from the house in Ellsworth to the Hull's Cove Visitor Center at Acadia National Park (ANP), then riding the Island Explorer bus to the north side of Bubble Pond (including walking to the shore area), then returning via Island Explorer to Hull's Cove, then driving to Southwest Harbor for dinner, and finally, returning to the house in Ellsworth.

Monday, October 9

GPX / view map—Driving to a local landscaping/paving business (the one who paved our driveway), then to the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands south gate.
GPX / view map—Hiking at the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands. We took the Esker Trail and Main Road.
GPX / view map—Driving back to Ellsworth.

Tuesday, October 10

GPX / view map—Driving to the trailhead for the Canon Brook Trail at ANP.
GPX / view map—Hiking at ANP: parts of Canon Brook Trail, Kane Path, and Ladder Trail. It was our first time taking a non-trivial part of the Ladder Trail, though we only went about 150 m on it (about 30 m in elevation gain).
GPX / view map—Driving to Northeast Harbor for dinner, then back to Ellsworth.

Wednesday, October 11

GPX / view map—Driving in Ellsworth (shopping trip).
GPX / view map—Driving to the Seawall picnic area near Southwest Harbor/Tremont.
GPX / view map—Walking around the Seawall picnic area.
GPX / view map—Driving to dinner in Southwest Harbor, then back to Ellsworth.

Thursday, October 12

GPX / view map—Driving to the south shore of Echo Lake (ANP).
GPX / view map—Hiking to the beach at Echo Lake, then taking the Canada Cliffs connector to the Canada Cliffs Trail, and a short section of the Valley Trail. This was our first time taking the connector trail. While on the connector, we encountered a couple that we knew was in the area (a former coworker + friend) going the opposite direction.
GPX / view map—Driving to the trailhead for the Ship Harbor Trail.
GPX / view map—Hiking part of the west half of Ship Harbor Trail (ANP) around sunset (and it was a very nice sunset). We again encountered the same couple as earlier in the day, parked next to our rental car!
GPX / view map—Driving (and a little bit of walking) to dinner in Southwest Harbor (with the aforementioned couple), then back to Ellsworth.

Friday, October 13

GPX / view map—Driving to Northeast Harbor to attempt (unsuccessfully) to rent bicycles—but see October 19, then returning to park near multiple trailhead just northwest of Upper Hadlock Pond.
GPX / view map—Hiking uphill on the Hadlock Brook Trail, then roughly counter-clockwise around the carriage roads (with a brief detour to the Brown Mountain parking area). We also took a brief uphill climb on the partially renovated (after major destruction from a flood a few years ago) Maple Spring Trail. After going as far as we felt was reasonable, we went back down the Maple Spring Trail to meet the Hadlock Brook Trail back to the parking area.
GPX / view map—Driving to Ellsworth for dinner. As we were walking back to the rental car, I realized that my camera was no longer in my pocket. We returned to the restaurant, not finding it, searched the car, equally unsuccessfully, and returned to the parking area near Hadlock Pond, where we searched in the dark for it (again, unsuccessfully).
GPX / view map—Since we didn't find the camera near the parking spot, we retraced the Hadlock Brook Trail in the dark (using iPhone flashlights for light) until I discovered the lost camera lying on the trail (on the map, it was at the northeastern-most point on the track).
GPX / view map—Driving back to Ellsworth with the newly-recovered camera.

Saturday, October 14

GPX / view map—Driving from Ellsworth to (rural) Bar Harbor for dinner (and shopping in Ellsworth) and back.

Sunday, October 15

GPX / view map—Driving to the entrance to Birdsacre Wildlife Sanctuary.
GPX / view map—Hiking, generally counter-clockwise, at Birdsacre Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Stanwood Homestead Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary.
GPX / view map—Driving to dinner in Ellsworth, ice cream in Surry, then exploring Surry (including stopping at the Surry Wharf), and back to Ellsworth.

Monday, October 16

GPX / view map—Driving to Sieur de Monts parking area, then walking the Jesup Path and Stratheden Road essentially counter-clockwise.
GPX / view map—Driving to Bar Harbor for dinner and shopping (walking around town), then back to Ellsworth (including additional shopping).

Tuesday, October 17

GPX / view map—Driving to the Ellsworth Transfer Station, then brief shopping, then to lunch downtown, and back.
GPX / view map—Driving to dinner in downtown Ellsworth, and to the grocery store, and back.

Wednesday, October 18

GPX / view map—Driving to (and from) lunch in Ellsworth.

Thursday, October 19

GPX / view map—Driving to Northeast Harbor to rent bicycles there.
GPX / view map—We rented two class 1 e-bikes (bicycles with battery-powered electric motors that assist while pedaling), and rode to the harbor (Northeast Harbor), then up to the Brown Mountain parking area (ANP), and rode various carriage roads to the Amphitheater Bridge, Cliffside Bridge, Jordan Pond, Day Mountain, Bubble Pond, Chasm Brook Bridge, Waterfall (Hadlock Brook) Bridge, and back.All loops were taken in a counter-clockwise direction.
GPX / view map—Driving back to Ellsworth for dinner.

Friday, October 20

GPX / view map—Driving to the paving company (same as previous days), then to downtown Ellsworth for shopping, then to Bass Harbor (to view the harbor from the road), and finally to the trailhead for the Wonderland Trail (ANP).
GPX / view map—Hiking the Wonderland Trail at ANP, plus about half of the unofficial connecting trail toward the Ship Harbor Trail, and back.
GPX / view map—Driving back to Ellsworth, including dinner downtown.

Saturday, October 21

GPX / view map—Driving from Ellsworth to the Ellsworth Transfer Station to South Portland (for dinner at a restaurant in the Maine Mall), and on to the rental car facility at the Portland International Jetport.
GPX / view map—Walking within the Portland International Jetport.
GPX / view map—Flying from Portland, Maine to O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois.
GPX / view map—Walking at O'Hare International Airport.
GPX / view map—Flying from Chicago, Illinois to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
GPX / view map—Walking in Will Rogers World Airport, then riding from the airport (taxi).