Mountain Top Arcadia Park Harbor View

Maine
June ‘77


I'm sitting on top of a 580-foot mountain overlooking some
spectacular scenery in Arcadia National Park— forest, coastline, and
ocean—all beautiful.

After leaving Bar Harbor, I bicycled a beautiful ocean highway. The
forests were thick, so finding a place to camp wasn't easy, but I
found a reasonable spot in the pines. There was too much daylight to
set up my tent (I was getting tired of playing hide and seek with the
authorities), so I hid my gear in the trees and went for a walk. I was
close to a hiking trailhead, so I followed it. The climb wasn't bad,
and from the top the view of the harbor was fantastic. In an instant,
I realized that there was nothing preventing me from camping up there.

I hoofed it down the mountain and got my bike. After pushing it back
up the mountain, I was able to catch the last of the twilight as it
followed the sun beneath the horizon. The lights of Bar Harbor were
off to my left, and in front of me the lights from the inbound Nova
Scotia ferry drifted slowly across the harbor. When the ferry docked,
its lights became brilliant. Those were not the only brilliant lights
that came out that night. The sky was in full regalia. Looking up into
those stars, I felt right at home. I had to leave home to get home and
that was what made it all worthwhile! The mountain was obliging in
another way also. I was able to get a good picture of the morning
sunrise --just before the clouds rolled in bringing with them the
promise of more rain.