Jordan Pond and South Bubble
NPS Acadia hiking info Getting Around Acadia
Continuing on in Acadia, we visited The Jordan Pond House. The park's main gift shop and restaurant are located here. I bought a couple souvenirs here, as the shop was significantly larger than the one at the visitor center.
We went there from the Beehive and Sand Beach, so we were looking for a bit easier hike to relax for a while. We hiked the Jordan Pond Path, which is a 3.2 mile loop around Jordan Pond. The Acadia hiking info site rates the Jordan Pond Path as a moderate hike, but it was definitely on the easier side.
Midway through the hike, we came across the Bubbles Divide Trail. We decided to take it and hike up to South Bubble. North Bubble could have been an option too, since we could have just continued a little farther on the Bubbles Divide and then turned the opposite way, but instead we only went south. This detour off of Jordan Pond Path only added an extra hour or so and was well worth it. The way up involves a fair amount of scrambling over rocks, gaining steady elevation. It was a little tiring, but not overwhelming. Once on top of South Bubble, the view was great.
Heading back down, we could have gone the same way, but we noticed a trail that goes basically straight down South Bubble (South Bubble Trail). We're adventurous and don't like to take the same trail twice, so naturally we headed back the hard way. Like many of the trails in Acadia, this trail had exposed cliffs and narrow passages back down, including the spot pictured here. It's hard to tell the scale of the picture, but the trail goes straight down from the top of the picture. You can see the light blue trail marker on the left side. The gap was about as tall as I am, so getting down was a little difficult! You also can't see from the picture that just to the right of the picture is a cliff. By the time we were getting close to the Jordan Pond Path again, the trail looked much like it did heading up Bubbles Divide-- just rocky and mildly steep through the forest.
Continuing on in Acadia, we visited The Jordan Pond House. The park's main gift shop and restaurant are located here. I bought a couple souvenirs here, as the shop was significantly larger than the one at the visitor center.
We went there from the Beehive and Sand Beach, so we were looking for a bit easier hike to relax for a while. We hiked the Jordan Pond Path, which is a 3.2 mile loop around Jordan Pond. The Acadia hiking info site rates the Jordan Pond Path as a moderate hike, but it was definitely on the easier side.
In this picture, the Bubbles are the two mounds in the right-center.
Midway through the hike, we came across the Bubbles Divide Trail. We decided to take it and hike up to South Bubble. North Bubble could have been an option too, since we could have just continued a little farther on the Bubbles Divide and then turned the opposite way, but instead we only went south. This detour off of Jordan Pond Path only added an extra hour or so and was well worth it. The way up involves a fair amount of scrambling over rocks, gaining steady elevation. It was a little tiring, but not overwhelming. Once on top of South Bubble, the view was great.
Heading back down, we could have gone the same way, but we noticed a trail that goes basically straight down South Bubble (South Bubble Trail). We're adventurous and don't like to take the same trail twice, so naturally we headed back the hard way. Like many of the trails in Acadia, this trail had exposed cliffs and narrow passages back down, including the spot pictured here. It's hard to tell the scale of the picture, but the trail goes straight down from the top of the picture. You can see the light blue trail marker on the left side. The gap was about as tall as I am, so getting down was a little difficult! You also can't see from the picture that just to the right of the picture is a cliff. By the time we were getting close to the Jordan Pond Path again, the trail looked much like it did heading up Bubbles Divide-- just rocky and mildly steep through the forest.
We finished up at the Jordan Pond Path and headed to the shuttle stop to go back to Blackwoods Campground for the night. This is when, as mentioned in my Getting Around Acadia post, we ran into issues with the shuttle. We were able to get back to Blackwoods without a whole lot of trouble, but it took nearly two hours and a couple of shuttle transfers. Oh well!
I've got two more Acadia posts to write and the video to make, and I'll be moving on to another location I visited this summer.
Nice pictures and views. Are there any nice trails that would be easy for older people without having to climb on rocks?
ReplyDeleteThe Ocean Path (if you don't go off the path much) and the Jordan Pond Path are good for pretty much anyone. There are also others that I have not been on that you can find by going to the Acadia hiking info link at the beginning of the post. They have all the trails listed by difficulty so it's easy to find ones that are suitable.
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