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Mount Dessert Campground

Deja view. That is the only thing I can think to describe how I feel about Mount Dessert Campground.

A bit of history is in order. When I was a kid my family spent several weeks in the summers at Hermit Island Campground outside of Bath, Maine. I was so enamored with Hermit Island that I begged my parents to let me work there if they would have a 13 year old kid. Fortunately for me they would have me and I started out that summer as an area boy, cleaning campsites, picking up trash and cleaning bathrooms for $25 a week plus room and board. Over the years I graduated from an area boy to outside the store, cooking lobsters, selling clams and ice. Then I graduated to the reservations desk, greeting campers, taking phone calls, making reservations and taking turns cashing up at the end of the day. Finally I graduated to general manager, responsible for day to operations of the campground.

Hermit Island was one of the first campgrounds you could call an ecological resort before we knew what ecological resorts were. The campground specialized in “primitive” camping: no electric, no RV’s, pit toilets, no hot showers. Just beautiful, natural campsites on the coast of Maine, many overlooking the ocean with gorgeous views, others right down on the beach. People camping at Hermit Island came back to the same site year after year, generation after generation.

For a kid like me it was an education. I learned many of my interpersonal and business skills at Hermit Island. I also learned the value of the natural world, nature unspoiled by commercialization. Hermit Island still holds fast to many of those values all these 50 plus years later. There are more rules, the prices have gone up and there are flush toilets and hot showers. But the commitment to nature, family and quiet primitive camping continues.

Mount Dessert Campground is like a trip back 50 years for me. The commitment to natural, peaceful family camping is obvious from my conversations with Owen, one of the family owners of this campground. His history is much like mine. He grew up camping here and when the opportunity arose, his family purchased the campground with a commitment to keep it as it is today – a gorgeous, natural place with beautiful campsites and spotless facilities. Their commitment to their campers is obvious in the care they take of the campground and in the positive, friendly staff that greet you everywhere you go.

And much like Hermit Island, the same people come back year after year, to the same site. In fact we met one couple who were here for their 20^th year on the same site. And according to the owners this is pretty common. And the best sites are already booked for the summer season – reserve early or take your chances.

This campground is adjacent to Acadia National Park so access to the park hiking and biking is easy. Cell service here is excellent (but get your nose out of your phone and enjoy the natural beauty all around you).

So if you want a taste of real camping – no RV’s invited – then give Mount Dessert Campground a try. They are one of the finest private campgrounds I have stayed at. Beware, once the summer season starts dogs are prohibited but if you come early before the vacation season or after Labor Day dogs are still welcome. And an added bonus is their rates are very reasonable. Highly recommended.

After a bit of ruminating about where to go from Kennebunk we decided north was a good choice. After making a couple of phone calls we decided on Mount Desert Island Campground, near Acadia National Park. The choice was made relatively easy because when we called the National Park about campsites at Sewall they were unable to tell us what might be available. Not wanting to take a chance on having to backtrack to some unknown destination we selected a nice wooded site near the water that had the advantage of have 20 amp electric service and water. We have solar but it is always a treat to have water and power, especially since the forecast is unfortunately for overcast and rain for the next two days. Solar is great when the sun shines but it can be tough staying powered up on cloudy days.

We arrived at Mount Desert and were greeted by the most friendly staff who gave us a map and sent us off to our site. We arrived to a level and wooded site just a few steps from the shore and the bath house. They chose well. Our truck and slide in camper are 21 feet long but when we made our reservation we told them our size and they said not to worry, they had sites we could fit into.

Another great benefit of this location is excellent cell service. We have an elderly parent at home and several management and construction projects to keep track of so being able to keep in touch is both a blessing and a curse. I have had several calls about our church restoration project while on the road so keeping in touch can be handy even if it takes away from “vacation” time.

We have had Acadia on our bucket list for a while so getting here has been a treat. While we are not in the national park, we are close by. We chose not to dismount the camper because we planned to be here for just a couple of nights but after arriving we have decided to extend for 3 more days because it is so pleasant and so accessible. But because we only reserved this site for a couple of days we will have to move to another site on Friday. We will be making a list of sites we like for future reference. This is a place we could come back to annually, as long as we arrive before “peak season”, when our dogs would no longer be welcome. According to management most of the best sites are already booked for the summer but because we are here in “off season” we and our dogs are welcome and there are many wonderful and vacant sites to be had.

A sample of campsites – and this is just a sample. Many sit on bluffs looking over the water.

We left Vermont Sunday, June 2 for Kennebunk, Maine. We have an old friend there we wanted to spend some time with. She is 93 years young and sharp as a tack. It also was my birthday so we celebrated with one of my two must have meals when we are in Maine – whole belly fried clams at Alissons Restaurant.

The next day we spent three hours visiting with Muriel. Such a sharp and inquiring mind is rarely found in someone 93 years old. We talked about family, both alive and dead, politics, technology, morality, books, life – the changes she has seen over almost a century. It was a delightful way to spend the morning and part of the afternoon.

We stopped for lunch at Rogers Pond in Kennebunk. The pond sits next to the Mousam River and is down a side street, out of the way so if you didn’t know it was there you’d pass on by. There is a road around the pond, a perfect place to walk Ginger and Finn. After a sandwich we again walked around the pond and chatted with a fellow Vermonter who happened to be there.

He told us that he came upon people with nets out in the Mousan River some time ago and asked what they were trying to catch. To his surprise (and to ours) they said they were after eels. Being the inquisitive type I had to Google eels in Maine and to my surprise I discovered it is big business. Last year eels were selling for $2,300 a pound. They are prized by Asians in sushi, called unagi (unagi is actually one of my favorite sushi dishes too). For more information on Maine eel fishing you can go here: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/science-research/species/eel-elver/factsheet.html

After our visit to Rogers Pond we took a spin down to Goose Rocks beach where dogs are welcome in the “off” season. Once things pick up during later in June dogs are excluded but we were well ahead of the June 22 dog-less date. Finn, the border collie has never been to the ocean so this was a first for him. He didn’t waste any time getting wet. Ginger is an old hand and has traveled everywhere with us so the ocean was just one more thing she has seen before.

We returned to the Red Apple Campground late in the afternoon. This campground is spectacularly nice. It is expensive ($70/night) but it comes with every conceivable amenity (dog park, pickle ball courts, shuffleboard, horseshoe pits, heated pool, water, sewer, electric and cable TV, etc). One amenity is unique – order a lobster by ten AM and they will bring it, cooked, to your campsite for supper. And the price is far more reasonable than going to a restaurant to eat. So for $20 I got my other must have meal – a pound and a half hard shell lobster cooked perfectly.

The weather was perfect for our two days in Kennebunk, our camp site was perfect, I got my two Maine must have meals and we had a great visit. The only glitch was the tick infestation but that is going to be the norm this summer according to all the experts. The wet rainy weather this spring and a relatively warm (but snowy) winter has meant the ticks survived and have multiplied beyond all expectations. We have them at home and I suspect we will find them wherever we travel.

You might wonder what we are doing in upstate New York near Syracuse when we said we were on our way home. Our trip home has turned into a rescue mission. Helen is the president of Green Mountain Pug Rescue, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to rescuing pugs in need. She got an email from a family who have some illness issues and need to surrender their two pugs. So instead of spending a day in the Lancaster, PA area reliving 35+ years ago we are in upstate NY to pick up two pugs in need and bringing them back to Vermont where they will be evaluated for personality and medical issues (if any) and then fostered until an approved permanent placement with a forever home and family can be arranged.

For anyone interested in this part of upstate NY, Green Lake is a lovely campground with large, private sites, lots of woods and some wonderful hiking and biking trails. Highly recommended. Stay tuned for a postlude – facts and figures about the trip.

So you ask, where have we been since the last post? It’s really quite simple. We have been pushing across middle America, where there is lots of corn and lots of flat land. From Rock Cut State Park we traveled south of I39 to I74 and then east to I70. One on I70 we traveled around Indianapolis to a busy little campground and resort on the east side of Indianapolis and just north of I70, Cornerstone Campground and Retreat. The campground was filling up fast when we arrived Friday evening and has been having lots of problems as a result of all the rain they have been getting. While we would normally boondock, the 85-90 degree weather has us seeking shelter in the form of electric hookups so we can run the AC and cool the camper down. There are no pictures because, frankly, there wasn’t much to see but flat land, corn and more corn. We did stop at the REI in Indianapolis to exchange a hat for Helen. As usual, REI’s customer service is second to none and the exchange was done in minutes.

On Saturday we pushed again to make time across the midsection of the country and went from the Indianapolis area through Ohio and made it a short way into Pennsylvania. We decided we would boon dock at the Cracker Barrel in New Castle, PA but after an hour of steady cacaphony from the interstates that intersect there we decided to move along to what appeared to be a safer choice, the Walmart in Latrobe, PA, just a few miles up the road. What we thought would be a nice quiet spot turned out to be the Saturday night hangout for the motorcycle and hot cars gang from Latrobe and parts thereabouts. From 2200 to 0030 we were treated to squealing tires, firecrackers and loud pipes on chopped motorcycles. Not a good sleeping night!

From Latrobe we traveled PA 30 to Gettysburg where we are this evening, in Artillery Ridge Campground on the edge of the battlefields.

On the way to Gettysburg we unexpectedly came across the Flight 93 Memorial and stopped to pay our respects to the brave souls who lost their lives bringing Flight 93 down before it could complete its mission to crash into the Capitol.

We made it to Gettysburg around 1100 and decided to try to do the battlefield tour today rather than waiting until tomorrow, where thunderstorms are in the forecast. We purchased a CD and did the battlefield tour with the CD narrating the various events of the Battle of Gettysburg. The casualty figures for the three day battle are staggering – 51,000 soldiers fought and died at Gettysburg over three days. The carnage is hard to imagine. But we found the tour educational as well. And at the end of the day it would take many more days than the short time we have left on our journey to truly explore all the aspects of this great turning point in the Civil War.

The 172nd Infantry of the Vermont Army National Guard carries on the tradition by keeping that phrase on the unit crest. And Vermonters have served in significant numbers in every conflict since.

Tomorrow we begin to turn north and start the journey home. We have no designated destination for tomorrow but hope to pass by the Lancaster area on our way to visit a smorgasbord in the Penn Dutch country as a way of remembering a romance that was kindled over 38 years ago in this same area and that still burns strong today.

Today was a three state day and 350 miles. Minnesota, Wisconsin and now Illinois. The day started off with a visit to the Jolly Green Giant and Little Sprout.

Of course Sprout would be lonely without the Giant.

Tomorrow will probably find us on the other side of Indianapolis, IN. Another state, another time zone and we’ll be another day closer to our next objective, Lancaster, PA>

Two days in a row with cell service. We must be back in civilization! We are at Flying Goose Campground in Fairmont, MN after having traversed South Dakota, 350 miles for the day.

We started the day with breakfast in 1880 Town, SD. Yes it is a tourist attraction but breakfast in the old rail dining car was great fun.

It is always amazing what you can see as you travel about the country. We had to stop for the corn palace in Mitchell, SD.

What is a corn palace you ask? Feast your eyes on this.

Along the way you see strange sights besides just corn palaces.

We ended our journey here. A lovely campground on Lake Imogene. Mostly high 80’s and low 90’s today. Very little traffic, lots of commercial scale wind farms and diesel fuel as low as $2.29. Tomorrow we’ll be in Wisconsin, the other dairy and cheese making state!

Our last post seems so long ago, July 4. But sure enough, we have been this long without cell service so I have a lot of catching you up to do.

Of course, when you go to Yellowstone you have to see a few of the “must dos” like Old Faithful. The geyser cooperated and we got to see the full effect.

More exciting was the eruptions of Beehive and Lion, two other geysers in the same location that erupt much less frequently and less predictably.

Beehive

One is reminded just how thin the earth’s crust is here and how the landscape is constantly changing as a result of the volcanic action so close to the surface.

All of Yellowstone seems to be smoking, steaming or erupting. But there are other sights as well.

Yellowstone is a unique place. Traffic can be a bit unnerving as people stop in the middle of the road to get far too close to buffalo. I have no idea what they are thinking but one person was life-flighted out while we were there after being gored by a buffalo.

The trip out of Yellowstone took us to Cody, Wyoming for the night. We used our down time to visit the Cody Museum, a fascinating place, well worth a day’s wandering.

We left Cody for Devil’s Tower where we spent the evening at Belle Forche Campground. This was the view from our camp site for the evening.

From Devil’s Tower we passed by Crazy Horse on our way to Mount Rushmore.

From Mount Rushmore we passed through the Badlands National Park.

We are holed up for the night in a KOA with the air conditioner running full tilt. It is a bit after nine P.M. and the temperature outside is still 90 degrees. Tomorrow we make a long run for Minnesota, Myre Big Island State Park, where we hope to spend the night. It will be our longest mileage day yet if we make it, 400 plus miles, but almost all of it on Interstate 90.

Not a great deal to share since we have holed up in Missoula waiting for our campsite reservations in Yellowstone to open up tomorrow. But since we have no idea if we will have service once in Yellowstone, here is a quick update.

We made a 300 plus mile run from Fairmont Hot Springs in BC to Missoula. That wasn’t the plan but plans change when you are winging it. We originally planned to stop in either Glacier National Park or that area, Whitefish or Kalispell. After hours on the phone calling any number of places to camp we discovered, not unexpectedly, that Canada and the 4th of July are prime camping days so everything was booked. We really wanted to find a place we could hook up to power because we are in a bit of a heat wave. Temperatures for the last week have been 10-20 degrees above normal, reaching into the high 90’s. Trying to keep our dog Ginger comfortable while we are out and about is important so being able to run the AC is important and that takes power. After multiple calls we scored a campsite at the Missoula KOA so that is where we are, and have been for the last three days.

As we passed through Kalispell we did have one treat.

We also got to see lots of pretty scenery on the way down.

With almost 7,000 miles on this trip so far it was time to rotate the tires on the truck. What a pleasant surprise to find that Les Schwab could get us in on Saturday before the 4th.

Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone for a week. Not sure what to expect having never been there but we have heard from folks here who were there last week that the bugs are fierce. I can hardly wait! Who knows when the next report will show up but when we have service we’ll bring things up to date. Bye for now.