St. Sauveur/Valley Peak Social Hike

Today dawned foggy withal. After yesterday's island-long hike, we were ready for a little sleep-in and a slower paced day. We started off with lobster omelets and wonderful aromatic smooth delicious Bisetti coffee (thanks Hannah and David for roasting such wonderful beans and to Laird and Risa for transporting them). After breakfast, we gave each other hair cuts. Dave decided to go really short in preparation for the trip to China. Kathy opted for her standard buzz cut.

The fog started lifting around 11:00 a.m., so we drove over to the trailhead for Mt. St. Sauveur/Valley Peak. There was only one car in the otherwise usually crowded parking lot. Folks were scared away by the fog. Today's hike is what we call a lollipop loop hike. We took the Ledge Trail to the Mt. St. Sauveur Trail over Mt. St. Sauveur and on to to Valley Peak Loop. While yesterday's hike took us up to 1500 feet and 8 miles, Mt. St. Sauveur is only 500 feet and 2.5 miles, so this would just be a walk in the woods - or so we thought. Here's Dave scrambling through the large rock ledges.

On our way up, we were run over by a herd of stampeding young'uns whose parents needed to get them out of the house - fog or not. The seven year old told us there was no view, just a large open rocky area. However, by the time we got up there, we could get a little peak into the harbor.

It never ceases to amaze us how many tourists will go on a hike without really knowing where they are going or what direction they are traveling - no map (some don't even have water with them). We ended up pulling out our map three times - not because we needed it, but because we kept running into lost hikers. We also ran into a couple walking their two golden doodles. We must have spent 20 minutes talking about trekking poles, waterproof cameras, and favorite hikes in Acadia.

After passing over the summit for Mt. St. Sauveur, we continued south toward Valley Peak. The fog had lifted just enough to see across Somes Sound and down to Southwest Harbor.

On the way back around the loop, we ran into a couple from Boston. They were lost, too. We ended up talking to them for about 30 minutes on RVing, retirement, hiking, biking and all things Acadia, as well as their favorite places on Cape Cod, which is where we will move our RV after our China trip. We also got some good intel on Plymouth, Mass., the Berkshires and Martha's Vineyard.

A good part of the hike back across the summits was on granite ledges like this one.  If you look closely, you'll see David at the bottom of the rock ledge.

Despite all the socializing, we were home by 3:00. The reward for our efforts - a nice cold brew.

Until next time.