After breakfast and a few morning chores, we prepped for a 4 mile ride on the Witch Hole Pond loop. This was our first opportunity to use our folding bikes since we left home and we didn’t want to pass it up. We took the short drive into the park where we could leave the truck at the Visitor’s Center and start at the trail head nearby.
The carriage trails run throughout the middle of the park and are car-free. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. built the 45 miles of crushed stone roads between 1913 and 1940. The roads are 16 ft. wide and are considered the best example of broken stone roads in the U.S. There are 17 spectacular stone bridges along the trails. He took care to preserve the landscape with native plants so the roads blend naturally with their surroundings. We chose this particular one because it was a loop around the lake and not too strenuous.
We stopped to check out the beaver den in the pond and saw evidence that the beavers had been chewing the trees nearby.
There was a loon preening itself on the lake that we noticed. There are quite a few nesting loons in the park.
We noticed many wild blueberry bushes along the trail, so we stopped to pick some. It was still early in the season, so many berries were not ripe yet, but we found quite a few that were.
We wanted to bring some back with us to the campsite, so Bob got the idea to add them to our water bottles. After awhile, the water had a slight blueberry taste to it. Our next stop was at the cobblestone bridge. This one had a triple arch design.
We walked down to the mountain stream to view the terraced waterfall running down the rocks.
It was not too cold and very refreshing. When we reached our highest point, we had a beautiful view of the bay.
The rest of the ride was mostly downhill. We finished our ride and returned to the truck. We had started out around 10 AM and were done by 11:30. On the way back, we stopped to buy 2 lobsters (live) for dinner at a place just across the road.
We got two of the soft-shelled lobsters for $15 which Bob prepared for dinner along with our steaks. We would have a lobstah suppah!
Auggie got to check out the lobsters up close and personal before they hit the boiling water.
We were back at the campsite by noon and had some lunch. Just two campsites over, a tow truck had to come and take a bus away. They couldn’t get it to start. That was our afternoon amusement for awhile.
After making a run to Wal-Mart in nearby Ellesworth for a few groceries and some other camping essentials, I did some laundry. We had to do some research on what we would be allowed to take into Canada in the way of food. No citrus for sure, but everything else is questionable. We got one answer from one official and another answer from someone else. I guess we’ll find out when we get there. Bob brought Auggie out for a walk and helped me carry back the clean laundry. We relaxed a little with a cocktail before dinner and did some reading and Internet searching inside with the AC. As shade overtook our campsite, we were able to sit outside under our canopy out of the sun. We watched the campers arrive for the weekend from our vantage point near the entrance. It was steamy today and would be warmer tomorrow, but as evening fell it started to cool off nicely. We had Bob’s delicious lobstah and steak dinner and took Auggie for his walk. Evening fell and we watched a little TV before turning in.
