86 Pictures and 2 Videos of Mount Desert Island

Cadillac Mountain Summit

17 October 2021

We had reservations to drive to Cadillac Mountain's summit during the mid-morning of September 21. Jack was in the middle of a post-Covid wave of fatigue, and it was all he could do to walk around the little paved path at the top of the mountain. 

There was a stream of fog wafting through, which is one of my favorite things to watch and photograph.

The rocks and tiny plants between them are fun to take pictures of too.

There's a 0.7-mile trail from the top of Cadillac Mountain to the top of Dorr Mountain. I walked maybe a hundred yards on the path, Jack following me for the first few. I had no intention of walking the whole thing; we only had half an hour allotted to us up here anyway.

We walked around the Cadillac summit some more.

Our plan was to drive on Park Loop Road down to Otter Cove, so I took some pictures of it from up here.

At a bend in the path, I was on it and below it, so I took a picture of its surface.

Between the paved summit path and the little gift shop is another trailhead that leads to the true summit. Other trails branch off from there. We only went to find the summit marker.

On our drive down, I pulled into the Blue Hill Overlook, as I always do, even on my bike.

There's a low spot on Park Loop Road, after the mountain, before Sieur de Monts. I think it's Kebo Brook. It's the only place on Mount Desert Island where we saw any leaves changing color.

We drove past Sand Beach and Thunder Hole; both were too crowded. We stopped instead at Otter Cove, where Otter Creek flows through an aqueduct into the cove. The road is over the aqueduct, and that's where we parked.

At the far end of the creek is Cadillac Mountain.

I used my 40x zoom to find the cell tower at the summit.

The aqueduct:

The sea side:

And the creek side again:

One last snap of the ocean:

We found lunch at the Lighthouse Inn in Seal Harbor. We got there just before they were about to close for the day, and the season. Then we doubled back to the little beach.

Stanley Brook flows from under the road into the ocean.

It was next to the lot we'd parked in, so I walked a little path from the lot to the creek:

A high tide had pushed seaweed all the way up here:

I forgot to mention in the previous post, the one where we went to the Azalea garden, that, while we were wandering around Southwest Harbor, we stumbled onto a group of musicians jamming some sort of French Canadian folk music under a tent in a parking lot. One guy had a vast assortment of harmonicas. Another was switching back and forth between two accordions. Two people were playing fiddles, while another had a mandolin. There were a few guitars as well, and a banjo. We stood and watched for a good long time.