Today was dad’s last morning with us, so we planned to give him his usual last taste of Morning Glory goodies, followed by a walk on the Shore Path. But Dad wanted his breakfast at the Friar, too, so he had a light breakfast of granola there (which he really liked—so did I when I had it a few days ago!) and then we met around 8:20 to walk to Morning Glory for pastries. Dad bought an extra sticky bun for his trip home, and Rich and I split a bagel with spicy cilantro cream cheese and an apricot Danish (and I admit, we also got a sticky bun for later). Then we walked the shore path as usual, taking our time just strolling around since dad really didn’t want to leave. It was another beautiful, warm morning. We took a nice long walk around town, stopping at Havana to check out their menu. I think we’ll go there tomorrow evening.
After dad left around 11am, Rich and I decided it would be a rest and recovery day. The sky had turned cloudy, which we thought would offer us the perfect conditions for photography, and we had learned about a “new” woodland trail called the Kebo Brook Trail that we wanted to check out. So we decided to combine the two activities. We walked up Kebo Street toward the Great Meadow Loop, which we followed until it met up with the Kebo Brook trail adjacent to the golf course.
The trail was wooded and cool, and we found a few subjects for photography, but nothing too exciting other than a JDR boundary monument and disk in the woods near the golf course. Even so, it was a perfect time to learn about the camera and to practice using it—for me at least.
The Kebo Brook Trail intersects with the Kebo Mountain Trail, the Gorge Path, and the Cadillac North Ridge Trail before it eventually comes out at the park loop road—making it a very useful connector trail from town. By now the sun was fully out so photography wasn’t in the cards for us. After passing through a red maple forest with lots of leaves already fallen (due to this year’s dry summer in Maine?) we emerged at the park loop road and waited for the bus at the Cadillac North Ridge stop, nibbling on our sticky bun while we waited, and noticing a possible old road along the powerline that we should investigate at some point.
Earlier I wrote that the Kebo Brook Trail was “new,” in quotes. As you might have guessed by now, the Kebo Brook Trail was actually an old, formerly abandoned, trail that was rehabilitated and reopened in 2012 as part of the initiative to resurrect some of the old village connector trails. According to Pathmakers, it appeared on the 1900 Path Map as a new trail, and it was described by Waldron Bates in 1907. It was extended eastward in 1913 through what is now the golf course; this section was called the Cadillac Path. As of 1926, it no longer appeared on the path map.
I’m still looking for the source in which Waldron Bates described the path in 1907, but it is referred to in the 1915 Path Guide of Mount Desert Island, Maine, of which Bates is credited with partial authorship. The trail isn’t described in this pamphlet, but it is mentioned as part of walks to the summit of Kebo Mountain and Sieur de Monts Spring. Since Bates died in 1909, it’s possible that his contributions to this path guide originated in the 1907 work, whatever it was.
Back in town, we did a little shopping at the Acadia Shop, Bar Harbor Tea Company and Cool as a Moose. It was still warm and sunny. We had about two hours before heading to Southwest Harbor for the second evening in a row, this time for supper at Rogue Cafe!
It was excellent as always! I started with the local melon salad, which I’ve had before. It features thin slices of melon, chiffonade lettuce (hard to explain but it’s got a very appealing texture), goat cheese and crumbled nuts, with the lightest citrus & olive oil dressing. Rich’s appetizer was the Korean short ribs, which were delicious but a little spare. Then Rich had the pork loin and I got my usual, the panko-crusted haddock. We had two desserts!—lavender crème brûlée, which I can never resist (and which Rich actually likes, despite the light lavender flavor) and the rich dark chocolate pudding.
It was humid and a bit foggy when we left, and we enjoyed a nice drive back listening to our Maine music playlist and spending time close together.
