I have climbed Borestone Mountain many times, with my family, friends, etc and thought that it would be nice for Robin and I to climb together; I wanted to hike it during peak foliage this year but we will be on our honeymoon during that time so I decided to hike it today after church. We took the new scenic route vs. the 1 mile road you normally would walk on. Along the way we spotted Horse Chestnuts beside pine cones on a bed of moss. The trail consisted mostly of light elevation, tree root steps, etc. The weather was in the high 70’s with mostly clear skies. We were not able to spot any wild animals up to this point but we did spot our Sigg Bottles taking a rest.

We arrived at the half-way point where the hike actually becomes a hike; there’s a Warden’s cabin along with an informational booth near the edge of a pond. Every time that I’ve visit, I’ve always been amazed how a pond can exist on an edge of a mountain. Robin spotted a Chipmunk eating on a moss covered ledge; it was a little shy as it kept turning from my camera. Whilst standing and waiting for the chipmunk to turn a Red-breasted Nuthatch landed on a Pine tree. Robin asked if there were any turtles or frogs in the pond, as she asked I noticed a large Bull Frog resting in the water.

The hike because more interesting as the slop was roughly at a 70-80’ angle consisting of exposed ledge & roots; it’s amazing to see such large trees grasping onto ledge as an anchor to reach the sunlight. At one point there’s an area that you can climb the face of the ledge safely without gear which Robin and I did. As we ascended to the top the wind become very strong, once atop if you were not careful it would blow you over; unfortunately due to the wind I was not able to take many good photos. I was able to capture a few panoramic shots however. To my surprise we found blueberries bushels on the side of the ledge, Robin handed me a sandwich bag and I climbed down the side of a drop off onto a plateau and picked berries; as we progressed westerly we found more bushels and were able to fill the bag (roughly a quart). We plan on making a Blueberry pie, one of my favorites next to Raspberry. Our Sigg bottles very brave to pose for a couple of photos.

The weather forecast for Sunday the 17th said that the coast would have warm weather and semi-clear skies; I decided to take advantage of the good news and told Robin that we were going to watch the sunrise on top of Cadillac Mountain- the first point in the US to see the sun. We got up at 2:30AM and left 30 minutes later.

We arrived a little over an hour later just on time, to our surprise there were roughly 60 people waiting for the sun to rise, had this been a mountain that you needed to climb up it would not have been the case. Robin and I did not dress properly, we had shorts and short sleeve shirts on and were very cold, a typical mistake that an out-of-Stater would make.

Unfortunately I did not bring my tripod so a few of my slow shutter speed shots did not come out as I had hoped. On the horizon sat a band of clouds that masked the sun rise from us, I was disappointed by that as well, however once the sun rose above the clouds the scene was beautiful and began to light up the pools of water on the granite, the pink granite itself as well as the entire mountain side. It’s amazing to see such an expanse of mountains and ocean as the burning orange sun rose over the Ocean reflecting over the Atlantic and exposing the North-Eastern mountainous span of bumps shrouded in fog. Despite a few let downs I still had a great time, this is a first for Robin and I; being wrapped up in a blanked on top of a mountain watching the sun rise was very romantic. God’s creation is magnificent!

I decided to head to Southwest Harbor to walk along the beach, look for any interesting things to photograph and or collect. For our future house we want the master bathroom to have an Ocean theme; while visiting Maine’s various coastal beaches we have collected Crab shells, Sea Urchins, Spike shells, Star fish, sea glass, Sand dollars etc. The tide was out which revealed many of the smooth rocks covered in barnacles, sea weed, kelp, etc. While looking for live Crabs, Robin pointed out a Seagull flying at a throw’s distance with a Crab in its mouth, I quickly pointed my camera and was able to snap a decent shot. I decided to head towards the area where the gulls were swimming and waited for them to catch another Crab. There were two Seagulls 10’ out swimming, one with its eye fixed downwards when suddenly it hopped an inch or two off the water and dived into the water with a crab in its beak. It then flew off and landed on the beach where another Seagull came over, the gull with the crab tore the legs off and then ate the remains of the meat.

I decided to wade in the water at knee depth looking for crabs but was unsuccessful at finding any crabs that were decently sized for eating- I did however find a sand dollar to add to our ocean theme.

On our way back to Bar Harbor I spotted a mushroom on the side of the road that resembled the Super Mario “power up” mushroom and stated to Robin, “That mushroom looks exactly like the Mario mushrooms!” She suggested that I turn around and take a photo of it or I would regret it later on, she was right so I turned around and took a photo of it; I later learned that it is the Fly ageric Mushroom.

We drove into downtown Bar Harbor and visited the many stores along the busy streets.

The month of August has been very rainy and cloudy, which is normally not the case in the past few years. August is one of my favorite months for kayaking and spending time outside besides the month of October- naturally I have been disappointed with this year’s weather however I’d rather have this type of weather now rather than during Robin and I’s honeymoon.

Today we were finally given some nice weather; the temperature was in the 80’s with blue skies. After work Robin and I ate supper and then headed to Chemo Pond. Lately we have been kayaking on Pushaw Lake, Chemo Pond or Brewer Lake due to sporadic planning.

When we put in the sun was beginning its decent, we kayaked out towards the stream we usually visit in hope of seeing / photographing wildlife. While looking around unsuccessfully I found an area that would be a good setting for the sunset, I anchored near the eastern shore that had a bed of Lilli pads and other aquatic plants and watched the sun set with Robin. I love sunsets, especially over any type of water, the sun’s luminance reflects over the water creating soothing scene.