July 22, Tuesday – Orientation

I bolted through the Seawall Campground at a determined stride. I had to walk the quarter mile to the campground entrance to catch the 8:55 bus to Bar Harbor. For ten years L.L. Bean in cooperation with the National Park Service have put together a public transit system made up of propane powered buses. Seven different lines cover 85% of the island and it is free to anyone. Lucky for Ron Boy the bus was late because so was Ron. I was amazed by the makeup of the ridership: local workers, students, locals with business to do and us tourists. By the time my bus arrived at the hub city of Bar Harbor an hour later, it was standing room only. My seatmate was a young lad from California but went to a boarding school in Philadelphia. When I ask the name, he said he was a junior and named it plus saying it was a Friends school. Andrew and I talked most of the bus ride. It was so refreshing to ask questions and hear his answers. Our conversation flowed freely; I thoroughly enjoyed his company. As we went our separate ways at Bar Harbor he introduced me to his folks who were sitting a few seats behind us. I was very impressed with him.
My first stop was to take another bus to the Park’s Visitor Center to get information and to see their introduction film in the auditorium. The film “The Gift of Acadia” was excellent. From there I started my trip of orientation of the park, which was taking The Loop bus along the coastline and through deep woods. One factor that stood out was that all the land that makes up this national park was donated to the US government to make the park. The government did not buy up the land. Many of the country’s most wealthy families had summer homes on Mount Desert, one of which was the Rockefeller family. The Rockefellers wanted to construct a separate road system for just horses and horse drawn carriages away from the auto traffic. There are 45 miles on the island set aside for hikers, bike riders, horseback riders and carriages. The outstanding stone bridges and the gate houses rival the natural setting. The park is a major draw for kayakers, runners, families and people just sitting in lawn chairs on the multi layered rock slabs that stair step down to the sea.
When I got off the bus at the campground at 5:30, I was one beat traveler but for the first time in 8000 miles, I got to see the landscape through a window of a vehicle other than Snee-Oosh or the Jetta and better yet I wasn’t at the helm.