Carrie Barton: Bangor and the Beehive

So now, on August 7th, we moved to the Pumpkin Patch RV Park in Hermon, Maine (not too far from Bangor). As with so many of our stops, this served as a basecamp for some rather long-distance forays. (I chose this method instead of taking the RV on the smaller, more difficult roads and making Bill stay in Nowhere Land, next to Nothing)

One of the places I drove to was Acadia National Park. Bill and I had tried to visit this park once before (on that other trip) but were never sure if we'd actually been IN the park! I realized why on this outing - there are roads that weave in and around and out of the park, and it's amazingly easy to just miss the park (or much of it) but still drive right next to it! But this time, I'm sure I was in it! And the best part of my park visit - and some of the highlights of our whole RV trip for me - was the hiking I did there.

This hike was The Beehive. I found it on-line. I also got nervous about it from reading its description on-line! Quotes of seeing people crying on the trail because they were so scared by the heights and difficulty...! This is one of several trails in Acadia that utilizes "rungs" (metal foot and hand holds) to help with the steeper, more shear sections.

Looking up at the "hive." If you enlarge this photo (click on it), you should be able to see some of the other hikers tackling different sections of the trail.

Zooming in on some of them... You can see how rocky it is.

More folks just starting out.

Getting some height now. I tried to include folks in my photos so you can get a better feel for the trail.

It was a perfect day in a beautiful place.

What a view, eh?! If you were hiking this route, your next few steps would take you between that skinny tree and the rock... Depending on your comfort level, this would either be really cool or terrifying. Most people seemed to be doing okay with it all. Mostly you just needed to pay attention, be careful, and not be afraid of heights!! For me, anticipating the hike (after reading about it) was much more scary than doing it!

Looking down at a pretty little pond. Is that a bit of fall color I'm spying?? In early August?!

Here are some of the famous rungs.

Up and over! And now down to "The Bowl" lake (since the hike reviewers all recommended going down a different way, I decided that'd be a good idea!).

Boardwalks for the parts that could get more squishy.

This part didn't need a boardwalk!

Looking back at the Beehive. The ascent was on the right-most edge.

Colored dots going up the hive.

Gorham Mtn - I thought I'd take advantage of a link to this other trail to see more while I was out. Pretty impressive elevation, eh?! Ha-ha! Well maybe not so much...! But it was enough for me - by this time I was realizing I hadn't brought enough water with me (duh!) and starting to get a headache (darn!).

Some pretty early fall color (!) at the top.

Neato trail over rock, through an elfin pine forest. To identify the trail is an "inukshuk," an Inuit version of a cairn (stacked rocks as markers) that somewhat mimics the human form.