#witch pond

[astral-witch]

witch pond

[weerentheworld]

Back on land I head to Bar Harbor Bikes.

I’ve got a half day bike rental to check out the carriage roads.

The carriage roads were originally what they sounded like: roads for carriages which took a scenic route though the park. They cover an impressive 45 miles, are about 16 feet wide, and open to horses, pedestrians, and bikers today. They make for a clearly marked way to get around the park without cars (although I’m not sure how well they line up with any of the hiking trails.)

They are still lined with granite stones as guardrails - which are nicknamed Rockefeller's teeth”.

Now I bike a fair amount at home and consider myself in at least okay shape. But here, more than hiking where I expect to be slow since I don’t normally walk up mountains I was FEELING the lack of oxygen at the higher elevation.

The incline combined with the gravel texture of the roads did not help. The gravel made it especially hard to get going again once you lost momentum which was easy to do when you kept having to stop to gasp for air.

I did get to see a giant mushroom on a stump and a beaver din.

As it was I only ended up completing the easy route + optional sections of the route, around witch pond.

Aprox 7.8 miles on a bike, in around 2 hours. (that seems long in terms of distance though)

In theory I still had the bike for several hours, but I decided I was done suffering and wanted ice cream. The trails were nice but I was struggling. I also probably should have asked for a bigger bike since I’m used to a larger one at home.

Gravel tires might also have helped but I don’t think they had a 1/2 day option.

I also did NOT have enough water to keep going.

Word of warning, although there is a bathroom marked on the Witch pond trail it is just a porter potty- there is NO sink/water source there!

 The lady at the bike shop was very kind about the struggle with the elevation at least when I returned the bike. I am far from the only one to run into this problem.

Also the soft serve blueberry ice cream was the best of the tip!

(heads up the place that serves it is cash only.)

Alas after a few more shopping temptations, it was time to head out.