Today we entered Acadia National Park at the Hulls Cove Visitor’s Center. After checking in we got information about different hikes in the park. We opted to take the park shuttle bus to the Cadillac Mountain trailhead to begin our hike.
From the trailhead, the route ascends to 1530 feet at the Summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard. It is the first place to view sunrise in the US from October 7 through March 6. Since it is only October 3, we didn’t leave early to get to the top to see the sunrise! It is one of over 20 mountains on Mount Desert Island where Acadia is located that were pushed up by earth's tectonic and volcanic forces millions of years ago. Enormous glaciers sheared off their tops, otherwise they would be even higher than what it is today. 
Our climb began in the forest and went up … and up … and up! The steps were the easy part of the trail! The forest service has done an excellent job marking the trail with the use of rock cairns. They are unobtrusive to the scenery, and along with some blue paint marks along the way, guided us to the top and down the other side.
We stopped several times along the trail to marvel at the beautiful landscape. We could see Bar Island and the Porcupine Islands. From left to right they are Bar Island, Sheep Porcupine Island, Burnt Porcupine Island, Long Porcupine Island and Bald Porcupine Island, all located in Frenchman’s Bay.
There were two cruise ships in today, so the town was probably hopping! We did meet a few people from the ships on the bus back to town.
Some of the trees were beginning to show off their autumn colors and it was beautiful to see.
After 2.1 miles, we made it to the top! The views were amazing and we stopped for photos before the long descent to the south.
Leaving the summit (and most of the forest) behind, we passed the small visitor’s center and started south on the trail to the Blackwoods campground. We could see to the Atlantic and many other islands on the east side of Mount Desert Island. We were amazed at the Maine coastline which is rugged and rocky.
The vegetation on the southeastern side of Cadillac Mountain also changed as we continued our trek. The trees were smaller and there were fewer deciduous trees.
Along the hike we spotted several different types of mushrooms and wished we were able to identify the different types. The first one made me pause and look for little gnomes or fairies, but I found none!
The rest of these mushrooms were pretty good sized!
About an hour from the campground where we picked up the bus back to town, we started seeing more trees again and began to wind our way through the forest. 
Back at the campground we were lucky and only had to wait a few minutes for the next shuttle bus which took us back to town. Our hike today took us 6.53 miles with an elevation gain of 1189 feet.
In town we stopped at Carmen Verandah’s for a bite to eat before taking another bus which would get us back to pick up the car at the visitor’s center. Talk about a weird experience. We all wanted soup – clam chowder, tomato basil or chili. We asked about the size of a cup of soup because in our past experience, the size varies. Our waitress seemed to think we were morons and replied, “a cup is a cup!” Tobey and Bernhard opted for a bowl of soup, while Marlies and I ordered “a cup!”
We shuttled back to the park to get the car then headed back to our hotel. After a rest we went out for Mexican food at Jalapenos Restaurant. It was pretty good and after dinner we decided to share a pitcher of margaritas. They were delicious and a fun way to end the evening!
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good again, so we plan to drive the park’s Loop Road, take lots of pictures, and do a smaller hike.
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