After moving back to jersey from MA we often bitch about how it was all scenic there and not enough worthy outdoor destinations here. Which of course is not true. In fact this weekend we hit two places in one day – Apple Pie Hill followed by the lunch at the excellent burger place in Belmar called Boom and then a walk along the beach. The weather was terribly windy and cold but this contributed to the grand colors of water and skies. And nothing could beat the atmosphere of deserted for winter beachtown.

Apple Pie Hill is a local destination of sorts. There is an abandoned fire tower from which you could see endless Pinelands and even Philly. We learned about this place a year ago and since then tried to find it couple of times. Finally yesterday equipped with the GPS and precise long/lat of the destination we made it.

The weather was very windy and cold. I started to climb stairs and in the middle almost decided to turn back, it was that scary,

but it would have been a shame to miss the view from the top.

We were lucky to have the place all to our own so had time to enjoy unobstructed 360-degree panoramic view from every possible angle.

(originally written on 9/23/07)

Breakfast is to be taken seriously while on vacation, and we did our research, Cafe This Way being high on the list of many on Chowhound. So there we headed for our first breakfast in Bar Harbor – not completely unprepared as we had a dinner in Cafe This Way the night before and were quite pleased.

The breakfast was nice too especially pancakes bursting with wild main blueberries…

The plan for the day was to take a rest from two days of riding and do some hiking instead. Cadillac Mountain South Ridge 7 miles trail seemed like a great idea, though sudden clouds on the sky looked suspicious. H. assured me that radar looked good and we got into the Island Explorer shuttle bus to Acadia exactly at the time when the rain started. The bus slowly proceeded through Acadia picking up rain-soaked people at each stop. We got off the bus at the Blackwoods Campground, rain not stopping We didn’t have a map but H. checked the web and seemed to know the location of the trail start. We got off the bus at the general store and bought a disposable raincoat-poncho. Then we trecked about half mile to the entrance of the campground. No signs of the trail so we asked the ranger.

She explains but then asks if we’re camping here. After our negative answer she says that we can’t do hiking on the campground territory here and need to go back to route 3 where we can pick up the trail, 50 yards after the campgrounds entrance road. We agree, but proceed to the campground trail start.

After hiking about half mile we’re starting to wonder why the trail doesn’t seem to climb and at this point we start to hear road noise. Yes we made back to the route 3 and to the general trail entrance – ai little consolation that we were walking through the woods and not asfalt road.

At this moment the rain pretty much stopped: and another short but this time steep hike through somewhat spooky woods brings us to the broad ridge.

I can imagine that usually there are a lot of hikers here but they all got scared by the rain and we have the trail completely to ourselves.

At this point it’s about 2 miles more to the peak, and unfortunately we don’t have enough time to make it. Well, as a compromise we’ll be riding to Mt Cadillac next day on a motorcycle. 

Couple of weekends ago we had a nice hiking at Purgatory Chasm State Reservation. To enjoy the scenery from every angle one might take a trail down the chasm:

and then go around over the top: