Ship's Harbor Hike

On Wednesday we hiked the Ship's Harbor Trail. It is a relatively easy path along the coast near Bass Harbor Head Light, SeaWall, and Wonderland on the "Quiet Side" of Mount Desert.. We had hiked this trail in previous years so we saw trees we had seen before, as well as the harbor and Maine coast rocks. We saw one tree that had fallen and died. Papa Bear remembers this particular tree because he has a picture of it when it was still standing. He remembers this particular tree because of the curling shape of its trunk. The trunk makes a complete loop. One wonders how it grew. It was a fun day.

Ship's Harbor is called that because of a local legend that in the time of the Revolutionary War, a U.S. privateer fled a British gunboat into the harbor (must have been high tide when they did it, as at low tide even a kayak would have some problems with the depth of the entrance!) The U.S. ship escaped the British, but became stuck in the shallow harbor.

The pictures do not seem to do justice to the variety of colors we saw and I have no mechanism to convey the smells and sounds. I have often thought of Monet in recent days as we have traveled around and seen places in different lights. I read once that Monet usually had multiple canvases for a single site. Each canvas was worked on at a particular time of day, so that he could capture the place as it appeared in the different light that happens as time passes during a day. Places change over time, and with varying light. We had blowing clouds, so we were able to see the same scene in a variety of sun and shade.

Ship's Harbor	Gull
View into Ship's Harbor	Another View in
Duck Islands	Point of land