Over the bubbles and through the woods

Our kayaking friends finally reach
the far shore of Jordan Pond.

One last chance to hike Acadia.  Our flight leaves from Bangor at 6pm, so we check out, store our bags, and jump on a park bus once more.  We head to Jordan Pond.  Not to have pop-overs, which sadly I will miss out on this trip, but to hike around the pond and over the Bubble Mountains beyond.  We set out on the pond trail and are surprised that it is almost entirely planks.  Not smooth boardwalk that would be handicap accessible, but two plank wide balance beams almost all the way.  The ground is not that rough, so I can only assume this is to prevent erosion.  For most of the hike we see noone save two kayakers who are fighting the wind and quite a few white caps in the pond next to us.  In fact, they may be losing the battle as we manage to keep up and eventually pass them as we walk . . .  It makes us grateful that we didn't go with "Plan A" today, which was in fact to rent sea kayaks.  We meet more hikers as we reach the far side of the pond, but quickly duck onto the side trail over the bubbles, two bulbous mountains that stand watch over Jordan Pond.  One of the Bubbles is home to the famous Bubble Rock, a perched boulder that has looked primed to fall over the edge for centuries.  The trail we are on goes up a saddle between the two and we also do the side trails to summits of both North and South Bubble before heading down the other side to Eagle Lake, and onto a carriage path that ends our journey at Bubble Lake just missing the bus by a 30 seconds.  So we got an extended rest as we waited 40 minutes for the next bus.  We roll back into town, catch up with Kat and Kathy (our friends from the Schooner picture) eat lunch at the Side Street Cafe for what TripAdvisor rates as Bar Harbor's second best lobster roll (#1 was closed today).  They were excellent and I doubt #1 could have been any better.  Out of time, we catch a ride to Bangor for our flight home.

On top of one of the Bubbles . . .
probably South Bubble.

Bubble Rock.