Because of the time and because we were thirsty and hungry at this point, we skipped some of the scenic turn offs after the Bubble Rock adventure and just headed for the summit. I can’t say we made a Bee line because the road was still quite twisty as it wound around the mountain.
The views were amazing. It’s easy to see why this is a National park.
Finally turning the last corner we saw the parking area for the summit of Cadillac Mountain. It really is a “bald” summit. There’s no tree cover to speak of, just a cap of rocks.
The snack bar had some ice cream and snack foods like nuts and power bars and some local treats like blueberry candy but no real food. Not even hot dogs. It did have restrooms however and that was almost as much of a priority at this point as food.
I bought a fruit drink and a water and met JR at the car. We took out the cooler and found a rock to sit on while we had out “makeshift” lunch. My left over french toast was coming in handy. It wasn’t bad cold.
Properly refreshed we wandered over the rocks taking in the magnificent views of Frenchman’s Bay.
With virtually no shade, staying on the summit for the rest of the day in the hot sun wasn’t an option. We decided to move on and return for a sunset visit.
When we planned the trip I said I wanted to see the lighthouses. JR said they were all in the park. Now he spread a map out and only one lighthouse showed up. So with JR navigating and me driving we set off back down the mountain the see if we could find this one lighthouse.
Pretty soon we had crossed out of the park and were passing through little towns and rural fields. Eventually we reached Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.
We were able to walk right down to it but didn’t see any paths or trails around it. Since I have been back I have learned that there is a trail to the rocks below. The pictures I had seen of this light were all taken from out to sea. If I ever get back to that area again I will have to look into that.
Having found the lighthouse we could put a “mission accomplished ” stamp on that part of the trip.
Time to head back to the motel and grab a quick shower before we headed out for dinner.