by Anura Guruge
on February 21, 2022
Click images to ENLARGE.
Thursday, February 17, 2022 from 6:48am to 7:30am.
I was staying at the ‘Atlantic Oceanside‘ in Bar Harbor (below). I had got there on Wednesday afternoon. I set the alarm for 6am on Thursday so I could watch the sunrise (@ around 6:31). I was up on time & I had an ocean view room on the 4th (topmost) floor. The sun (as ever) rose but there was cloud cover on the horizon. But, we got some amazing pinks. See below.
Given that I was up & dressed I decided to chase the sun. So ran downstairs (the outside staircase was right next to my room), jumped in the car & headed to the harbor (i.e., at Bar Harbor). Nothing of note there. So, I proceeded straight to ‘Schooner Head’. No traffic & I know that route like the back of my hand. (Had done it the day before also.) Didn’t bother turning into ‘Schooner Head’. Instead proceeded straight to the Park Entrance. It was 6:48am. No one manning the booths. I wasn’t trying to dodge the $15 entrance fee. I have a LIFETIME Senior Pass. So, I get in for free. I had already gone in the previous day. So, I drove straight through.
Not a soul around. No cars. ‘Sand Beach’ was eerily empty. I parked my car at the next pull-in. Empty. Then started hiking Ocean Drive/Ocean Path. There was some snow & ice so I walked more on the Drive rather than the Path — unless I wanted to get even closer to the coast (in order to take pictures).
It was already WARM, in the 40Fs — but it was windy.
The Park was EMPTY. No other cars. Nobody else around. I walked to ‘Thunder Hole’. Went under the barriers. Took pictures. ONLY ONE THERE. Thunder Hole all to myself. It was great. Continued walking to ‘Fabbri’. It was now well past 7am. Still EMPTY. No cars.
I got to Fabbri around 7:30. Shortly afterwards the first car drove by. They didn’t stop. We waved.
I had had all of Acadia’s Ocean Drive/Ocean Path ALL TO MYSELF for over 45 minutes on a ‘glorious’ day — warm & sunny but windy. Doesn’t get better than that. SMILE. All a question of timing. SMILE.
P.S., By 9pm that night, when I decided to call it quits for the day, I had hiked 16 miles. I was glad. I needed the steps to make sure I will get my 500,000 steps in a 28-day February.
