Park Loop Road and Cadillac Mountain

The Park Loop Road snakes about 30 miles along the coast, through valleys, and up and down many hills.  It is a fantastic ride for cyclists, providing great roads and great scenery.  Much of the road is restricted to one way traffic in a counter clockwise direction around the park.  Because it is a duel lane road we had our own lane for cycling.  Since we were on the road early we had very little car traffic and saw many of the cyclists we met on the Carriage Roads the day before. (Jeff even raced one much younger cyclist up a hill and surprised himself by winning.) We stopped at virtually every pull-off and point of interest along the way.  At Sand Beach we left our bikes and stuck our toes in the ocean.   We figured that this area got its name because most of the Park’s shore line is covered in rocks and this was the only area with sand.

• A side bar for those who have followed our past journeys.  You have seen us use the phrase “the road provides” meaning that if you need something it will be found along the road.  At Sand Beach we found 3 boogie boards, 1 life vest, 1 pair of men’s red jockey shorts, and 1 cycling shoe.  Since we didn’t need any of these finds we left all of them but wondered how the cyclist continued with only one shoe.

Our next stop was at Thunder Hole—a narrow rocky cove with caves that “thunders” as high tide rolls in.  Since we were there at low tide we drove back in the evening to hear the thunder.  However, the hole did not thunder.  We were told that the weather was just too nice, leaving the ocean too calm.

Cycling, not site seeing, became our focus once we left the ocean side of the Park Loop Road.  We enjoyed the gentle climbs and surprising fast down hill rides as we approached Cadillac Mountain.  The climb up this mountain was 3.5 miles up sweeping switch backs with only a few steep grades.  Joe did it in about 20 minutes and Jeff in 30 minutes.  Both of us were passed by 2 roadies that seemed to fly by as the ascended the hill.  The climb was well worth the effort.  At 1,530 feet above sea level, it is the highest point on the island.  The views were fantastic and we could see far out into the ocean and back into the mainland.  Needless to say, our ride down the mountain was great.  The broad sweeping curves allowed fast descents.  In fact, slow moving cars pulled off the road to let us pass as we flew downward.

Since we finished cycling by noon, we drove over to Southwest Harbor to check out where we needed to be for tomorrow’s sea kayak tour.  In Southwest Harbor we found a great little sandwich shop and enjoyed lunch followed by the biggest piece of blue berry pie that either one of us had ever seen.  It wasn’t so much the cut size but rather its height.  It must have been filled with almost 3 inches of fresh picked blue berries. 

After dinner this evening we plan to stay in town to attend a free concert in the park.  That is, if 2 old guys can stay awake.

Photos

Map