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September 2023 (Part 10)

Maine Trip - Thursday, Sep 28: eBiking Along the Acadia NP Carriage Paths

The kayak trip ended back at their shop in Bar Harbor.  We headed to lunch at the Side Street Cafe, which our guide recommended.  Afterward, we rented eBikes from Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop.  We only had two hours before they closed, so they gave us a discount on the regular half-day price (after we were debating if there was enough time left to make it worthwhile).  Wish we had more time, but we fully utilized what time we had.  As the time was short and we didn't need to worry about using up our battery, we all set the battery assist to the maximum amount (well except Nancy who somehow missed this discussion and couldn't figure out why the boys were able to keep jumping out ahead of her.).  Steve and Andy used over 75% of the battery charge in only two hours.

Unexpectedly, this turned out to be an awesome activity.  Acadia NP has forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, which weave around the mountains and valleys. Rockefeller, a skilled horseman, wanted to travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage into the heart of Mount Desert Island. His construction efforts from 1913 to 1940 resulted in roads with sweeping vistas and close-up views of the landscape.  The roads were built to preserve the line of hillsides and save trees, align with the contours of the lands, and take advantage of scenic views. Approximately 16 feet wide, the carriage roads are an example of broken-stone roads commonly used at the turn of the 20th century. Gate lodges act as impressive welcomes to the carriage road system, stone-faced bridges span streams, waterfalls, motor roads, and cliff sides. Granite coping stones used as guardrails line the roads, affectionately called "Rockefeller's teeth."  As in the past, today's the carriage roads have multiple-user groups including hikers, bicyclists, horse riders, and even horse-drawn carriages who all share in the beauty, access, and safety of these auto-free roads across the park.

We were amazed at this wonderful system of incredibly well maintained, flat and wide roads with almost no traffic to worry about.  We were able to log a huge mileage, over 21 miles, in our two-hours time, going way beyond the general area the shop attendant recommended.  We naturally forgot to start a GPS until we were well into the trip.  The total mileage was from the bike computer.

Came around a corner to find two turkeys in the road.

Thought this pond full of dead trees was really interesting.

Here is Andy's picture showing "proof" there were beavers.