Maine Day 7: Carriage Roads, Moon

Jordan Pond

12 July 2026

The weather on May 31 was perfect for a carriage road ride. It was cool again, but there was no rain in the forecast. 

There was a young herring gull on the hotel's grounds by the Shore Path.

Every morning, we'd get a text from our catsitter. A few years ago, she described the scene at home as "groundhog day:" Clementine in the laundry room rafters, Glooskap under the bed. So I started referring to them as groundhogs. These past few days, the groundhogs had been venturing out a little, then dashing for their safe spots at the last second. I called them "chickens." She replied, "They're groundhogs." I came back with "chicken hogs." 

Over breakfast (included, at the hotel), Jack played with Gemini to create this:

Glooksap and Clementine as Chicken Hogs

A herring gull took a dip in the pool as we ate.

Then it flew to the roof,

where the decoy owl did not faze it one bit.

I accidentally took a closeup of my leggings as I went to put my phone in my jersey pocket.

I started with Fozzie at the Eagle Lake Carriage Road entrance. The lot was full, so, as is the accepted custom, I parked in the dirt by the side of the road. 

This is the northern end of Eagle Lake, as seen from the carriage road. That's North Bubble mountain in the distance, I think.

I followed the Tri Lake Loop/Eagle Lake Loop road along Eagle Lake's eastern shore to the southern end, where I picked up the Tri Lake Loop/Jordan Pond Loop south to the Day Mountain Loop.

There, I stopped on the bridge over Park Loop Road. Here was where Elaine was waving to us as we were on our way to Cadillac Mountain.

Two years ago, the road surface on this loop was bald and bumpy. Last year it appeared to have been restored. Today it was back to rough stuff. I crunched my way to the top.

A dark-eyed junco trilled from a tree. I wondered if there were any chance at all that this bird spent time at my feeder this past winter.

After the descent, I picked up the Tri Lake/Jordan Pond loop again, heading west to the southern end of Jordan Pond.

It's always a popular destination.

From there, I followed the loop back to Eagle Lake and put Fozzie back in the rack. This ride was one of the very few times I didn't make a wrong turn. It's easy to get confused on the carriage roads, despite the numerous signs at every intersection.

Since I was on the road anyway, I walked across to get some photos of New Duck Brook, the stream that leads to Eagle Lake

The ride wasn't long and I got back to the hotel at a more reasonable time than I usually do. Once again, my GoPro recording failed the stability test. Not only that, but the camera had lost GPS contact for part of the time.

We did a bit more wandering around town in the afternoon. While real live moose were chased off the island long ago, there is no shortage of moose paraphernalia. I do my best not to bring any more plush moose home (I failed last year, nabbing 3); I was better this time. A photo would have to do.

I always go into Island Artisans to see what the locals have created. Zoom in on these Wabanaki woven baskets. I like them a lot, but there's no place in my house where I could give one a proper display. All that space is taken up by my glass.

Speaking of which, when I saw these mushrooms, I had to text the photo to Sometimes. Hers are better proportioned and prettier. Sometimes charges something like $5-10 for hers. This store was charging $48. I've seen Sometimes make her mushrooms, and I've made a few myself. Once she gets into her groove, she can bang a mushroom out in a few minutes. $48 is far too much. If you want one, let me know and I'll put you in touch with Sometimes.

We drove over to Northeast Harbor for dinner at Copita, a new restaurant run by the same folks who own Havana and Brasserie LeBrun. Our verdict was that it was okay, which is to say, as good as anything else we'd sampled over in Bar Harbor.

It was too cloudy at Town Pier for a good sunset. I took pictures anyway, because it's always pretty.

I hoped to catch moonrise again. It was already past the horizon when I went down to the Shore Path behind the hotel. I knew not to try for detail, so I went for mood instead.

I was using my phone. You know that little green dot you get when you shoot into the light? I had to go edit that out of many of these. Fortunately, the iPhone makes that easy.