Smoking brakes and sardines

Route

I woke up at Dolly Copp bright and early, ready to hit the Auto Road, which leads to the top of Mount Washington. I made coffee for the first time on the trip and ground the beans way too coarse. A weak cup. Next time, finer and more beans should do the trick.

I got to the Auto Road gate around 8:15am, before it opened at 8:30am, so I was one of the first up to the top! The climb was pretty crazy: switchbacks and steep terrain well above the tree line, and stretches with no guardrails and sheer drop-offs. The road is narrow, and one false move would send you cartwheeling down the mountain with no hope of survival. The truck made the climb like a champ, even weighed down with all the gear.

At the top, the foliage across New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine was absolutely spectacular. The day was so clear I could see past Maine to the Atlantic Ocean, truly a treat. It's the highest peak in the Northeast, and in 1934 the weather observatory at the top clocked a 231 mph gust! This is still the record for the Northern Hemisphere.

After about 30 minutes I headed back down, and I now understand why there are so many pullouts for cooling your brakes. I was in 2nd gear the whole way, and 20 mph was still WAY too fast to be going. At one point my right front brake was literally smoking, and I had to stop and let it cool off. Note to future self: if you smell burning, stop immediately. I then proceeded to stop at almost every pullout on the way down and kept it to 10 mph max, which seemed to do the trick.

The reds, yellows, and oranges never let up the entire drive to Acadia from New Hampshire. Between the plentiful lakes and constant stream of mountains dotting the landscape, my eyes were never bored either. I understand why people love it up here so much. The winters are brutal, but it's God's country.

Driving through Searsport, I passed a sardine festival and, of course, had to stop. I have a soft spot for sardines, in that I love to eat any and all varieties, so I wasn’t not stopping. At one point in time, Maine had more than 50 sardine canneries. The last one in the country, located in Prospect Harbor just up the coast from Acadia, closed back in 2010.

I made it to Blackwoods Campground in Acadia around 5pm, popped the tent, set up the rig, and made some bomb chicken pesto pasta on the stove. Dessert was a chocolate pistachio brownie that I picked up along the drive, eaten by a crackling fire under the pines with a delicious Maine IPA. Every site in the campground was full. Everyone here for the same reason. To explore Acadia.

By Bill Steigerwald's account, Steinbeck made the same run in 1960, the White Mountains to the Maine coast in one long day. He instead stopped on Deer Isle, just down the coast.

Rhea

She joins on Day 8, and I have to make room for her in the rig. I've got to figure out how to get the most out of the weight limits and space before she climbs in. I already dumped out a water jug on my way down Mount Washington. I probably didn’t need that much to start with.