Spring 35: Arriving Acadia

Sunday, April 24
6:30pm-7:30pm, Cadillac South Ridge Trail, Acadia National Park, ME
cool, partially clear

Sometimes a person can be too excited.

Too excited to sleep much last night, I drove on adrenaline the whole 5.5 hours up from Boston. I couldn't get here fast enough! On the way, a reading of Shakespeare sonnets on the radio made me cry - I'm extra-sensitive when tired. By the time I arrived at Blackwoods Campground I was thoroughly exhausted.

An intense, luscious smell of pine engulfed me the instant I opened my car door. It was so remarkable, that initial impression, that I considered driving another 5 hours in a sealed car just to experience such an impact once again.

A brief walk up the trail reveals a magical landscape of lichen-lit pines, a birch archway, craggy rocks. The most hermit thrushes I've ever heard! At least three or four individuals. It's amazing.

Then, this bird, new to me, that I only heard (though I would see it and learn its name tomorrow):

It's a brown creeper!

Back at camp, a quick noodle dinner while I fret about what to do tomorrow. What hike to take on the one non-cloudy day this week??