Bubble Rock Hike

June 4, 2016

I heard that one of the more interesting hikes at Acadia was the Bubble Rock Hike. So, after I got back from the Pelagic Trip and ate an omelet for brunch, I decided to do this hike on the Eastern Part of Acadia, before heading to my campsite on the west part.

I had a map of the hikes and while I figured out where the hikes were and how long they were, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the difficulty of each. This hike taught me to also pay attention to the difficulty. The hike didn't look hard, so I didn't bother to take my hiking sticks and set off with just my water bag and my camera. The first part was easy with a few stairs and short elevation changes. The trail is short and the distance from the parking lot is only about half a mile. The views in two directions were fabulous and the bubble rock was amazing. T

The trail starts off easy

It leads through a woods interspersed with rocky outcroupings

Sometimes the trail is up and over the outcropping

The view from Bubble Rock is outstanding and the rock is amazing

It's hard to believe that the rock has been there for all these years

The view in both directions is fabulous - but the trail will take me to the edge of this lake

I think these are a male and female cone on a tiny tree alon

Loved the blooms on this little shrub

Then I continued on the trail to the place where it intersection with the Bubble Divide Trail. This is where the rock scramble, in places straight down, began. I took pictures of some of the hardest parts. The following day, my friend, Lisa showed me her marked map – the one she will be using to tell people about the trails. The last part of this trail is noted as strenuous. I traveled a lot of the way on the seat of my pants and, at one place, I had to dangle from a metal bar, while trying to find a foothold. But that stretch is only about three tenths of a mile long. Then I turned around and went back up another easy trail to the parking lot. 

Starting down from Bubble Rock on an easy, well-marked trail

Then it got much more adventurous and scary - but I kept following the blue slashes, even though I was looing straight down on several of them

There must be a trail there somewhere

Down this???

Looking back - I could barely squeeze through here sideways and then had to go backwards to find the last step

A very determined tree seemed to be growing out of solid rock

Suddenly the trail got easier and shortly after that I was on the shore of the lake and ready to take the bridge to a trail leading back to the parking lot

A stream bed led along the trail 

The entire trip was only one and a third miles but it probably took me an hour and a half to hike. After that, I was ready to go back to my camp, eat supper and go to bed.

I put this blog up while at Campobello Island. on last Friday.  We were promised a mix of sun of clouds today but we've only had about two glimpses of the clouds. So I'll have to come back and take pictures but I'm going to get some reportedly fantastic lobster bisque and take a couple of hikes. Thankfully this is only about sixty miles from my house.