Bar Harbor, Day #6

The view from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It's the highest point along the north Atlantic seaboard. (Click any image in this blog entry for larger version in new window.)
The view from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It’s the highest point along the north Atlantic seaboard. (Click any image in this blog entry for larger version in new window.)
 Bar Harbor, looking toward the dock, on the morning of October 25, 2008.The interior of Two Cats, where two actual cats roam the eating area.Wild Maine blueberry pancakes at Two Cats are quite delicious.This expert grammarian's final resting place is an Episcopalian cemetery in Bar Harbor. Facing north-ish atop Cadillac Mountain. Railings are there to protect the lichen. View of Eagle Lake from the road to the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

After downing another plate of wild Maine blueberry pancakes at Two Cats, my plan for the day was to go back to Otter Cove and read … all day. But the spirit moved me to move on after an hour or so and I took the exit from Park Loop Road to Cadillac Mountain.

At 1,532 feet, it’s the highest point on the north Atlantic seaboard and anybody standing at the summit at sunrise is the first person in the country to see the sun that day. I wasn’t there at sunrise, but I was there at 10:30 and was much taken with the view, which included most of the places I’ve visited this week … Bar Harbor, Otter Cove, Schoodic Point, Northeast Harbor and Southeast Harbor. It’s humbling to consider that, 15,000 years ago, this entire area was underneath a glacier 8,000 feet thick. It carried with it what’s called “glacial freight,” huge boulders ripped out of the ground north of here and dropped (like hot rocks, I suppose) as the glacier melted.

This afternoon, I walked the sea walk that rims the harbor and recognized an especially impressive example of this process, precariously balanced and completely visible while the tide was out. It’s easily 10 feet in diameter, rounded, and unlike the rocks it’s sitting on … the earmarks of glacial freight and a reminder of the massive forces at play on our planet.

Lobster news: The front page headline of the most recent edition of the Mount Desert Islander is “Shell shocked! Lobster biz sinking fast.” To make matters worse, lobstermen earn 60 to 70 percent of their annual income during exactly this time of year. Will they survive the winter?