This years spring escape waits somewhere in the background, so I am jumping to my fall trip that has recently concluded. Suffering from a lack planning motivation, I chose to participate in visiting a familiar territory. One which I did not have to think about too much, and one which the only worry I had was figuring out where to stay. The Old Standby- North Edition, is Acadia National Park. A spot that I have visited a number of times over the past five years. To make things a little different this time I chose to stay on the “quiet side” of the island, away from the mass gatherings and hordes of people taking in the majesty of this location. My base of operations was Acadia Wilderness Lodge , a collection of six yurts set in a most beautiful woodsy location just north of Bass Harbor Head Light.
Travels keyed in on photography are always a crap shoot when it comes to weather and this one was no different. My first full day found me taking a drive around the park, and up Cadillac Mountain. The overcast skies provided me with little opportunity, but the views were still fantastic. This is one of my favorite scenes going up the mountain.
Cannot resist a panorama of the area
Looking down on the town of Bar Harbor. I have never walked across to that island when the tide is low. Perhaps next year that will be on the agenda
I cruised around a bit, as always it was very crowded so I did not stop as there was nothing new for me to see and I did not like the weather. And right on time, as soon as I got back for lunch the rain came. The skies cleared up for days 2 and 3, so I did some location scouting around Tremont and got a plan in place. I could not resist a stop at Bass Head Light. The parking lot is very small, there was quite a line to get to a spot so once I did park I hung out for a bit taking in the atmosphere.
Of course it was high tide so the vantage point was less than ideal, but it was cool playing on the rocks. I did go back later in the day, but the line was just as long and I chose not to wait in it. I wanted to try this location for some Milky Way photos, but the high tide would have again disrupted the viewpoint. So the next best thing was wait for a break in foot traffic and hit it from the other direction.
The best thing about staying so close was going back for lunch and dinner. AWL has food packages you can pre-purchase and make yourself. Everything is cooked on the grill, there is no stove or Microwave inside the yurts. This was awesome. One thing to be aware of, if you end up staying here bring your own lobster pot. The one provided was way too small. Of course I made it work. A little pre-boil and finish off on the grill.
I went to Seawall Picnic area for my night adventures. Essentially just a little coastal area with parking and a few tables. It was perfect, lots of room, very few people and good angles for the most part. I had been watching the sky all day but became a bit worried come time for sunset. Above that could line though the skies were opening up nicely.
Transitioning to darkness, this first shot in this group surprised me, I thought nothing of it when it was captured 20 minutes after sunset. I was grabbing some base images of the foreground for blending (of which I am terrible at) and for some reason I decided to process it. I am very pleased with the result, never thought it would process out like this. It is almost like a NJ Milky Way. With the sky having cleared up, I was able to capture a few decent shots after it got totally dark out . It was getting chilly, and I was already layered up pretty good, so I called it a night and went back to make a burger by lantern light.
Back in June I was down in Virginia doing some exploring, and my knee started bothering me while going downhill. Went to see the doctor when I got back, besides telling me I was getting older, he put me on a no hike and no squat restriction for the rest of the year. It has been strengthening up and there is a better balance now in both my legs due to the exercise changes I made. So, I needed to walk, could not stay stationary any longer. There was a couple of mostly flat trails leading out to the ocean in the area so I succumbed to my desires. Turned out OK and I felt great. A little twinge in a couple of spots to remind me, but for 3.5 miles I was happy. An inlet view looking towards the ocean, sun flare and all. It was great getting stretched out a bit. Need to keep progressing and get ready for next spring. West Virginia or the Adirondacks. Which one?
In the evening I took a ride over to Seal Cove to a spot I found earlier in the day. No seals to be found, but the weather was setting up nicely for a few hours of clear skies.
I wanted to be more adventurous, but I also did not want to piss the locals off so I stayed in one spot rather than going 100 yards to my left where all the boats were moored. I think that may have been a really good set up, but this was what I ended up with instead.
One of these days I am going to take the time and nail the foreground. The benefit here was a street lamp near the entrance to the dock that illuminated 30 seconds of the rocks and water for me. The clouds were building and rolled in shortly after this capture so my night was done. Short trip, well worth it, highly suggested.
Thank You for stopping by. I will get this years spring trip up soon. Till the next one!
Phil
Twilight and Dusk 