We woke up to a rather foggy morning today with a very tiny bit of fresh snow on the ground. We drove to the Schoodic Peninsula to visit the only part of Acadia National Park on the mainland. There was quite a bit of fog but also some nice blue sky. A nice bonus was seeing a number of birds including multiple Bald Eagles! Afterwards, we headed back to Portland, Maine via the scenic route on US-1, stopping to visit a few sights along the way.
Grindstone Neck Point
Our first stop of the morning was Grindstone Neck Point near the entrance to Acadia National Park. We were happy to see a bit of blue sky mixed in with the heavy fog that was enveloping the area.
Frazer Point
Our next stop was Frazer Point inside of Acadia National Park. It was quite foggy!
We saw a small lobster fishing boat that appeared to be picking up lobster pots from the water. It stayed for a few minutes before heading away towards nearby Winter Harbor.
We noticed a Bald Eagle in the trees on an island to the north of us. The distance and fog unfortunately didn’t make for great photography. We watched it as it flew from one tree to another. This isn’t actually the first Bald Eagle we saw today, we saw one fly by as we were driving!
Eventually, the Bald Eagle started flying towards the water to the west of us. Here it is showing its impressive wingspan.
The Bald Eagle suddenly dived towards the sea! Is it going to try to catch a fish?
Yes! It caught a fish! While we’ve seen many Bald Eagles, mostly in Alaska, we’ve never seen one snatch a fish out of the sea! A pretty incredible sight to see!
Later on, we also realized that there were two Bald Eagles present in the area after seeing another flying around when this one had returned to the top of a tree to enjoy its catch.
Other than the Bald Eagles and some gulls that were following the lobster boat, we also saw a few other birds in the sky and on the water.
Not Schoodic Head
We were planning on driving up to Schoodic Head, a 400 foot or so tall mountain, but unfortunately the unpaved road up was closed for winter. Instead we stopped nearby and took a photo of this scene where the blue sky returned!
Schoodic Point
Our next stop was Schoodic Point, the southernmost point of the Schoodic Peninsula. Quite a beautiful scene with clouds and fog in the distance but clear skies all around us. We stayed for a bit enjoying the scene and watching the waves slam into the rocks.
This gull isn’t afraid of a little bit of water!
Blueberry Hill
Once we left Schoodic Point and continued on the park road to the east, it started getting foggy again. No clear blue sky at nearby Blueberry Hill! This was the last stop we made inside of Acadia National Park.
Prospect Harbor
We drove by Prospect Harbor to the north of Acadia National Park on the Schoodic Peninsula. Everything was fogged in but we saw a few moored fishing boats as well as some fisherman activity on a nearby pier.
Fort Knox & Penobscot Narrows Bridge
As we entered Bucksport, Maine, along US-1, we spotted Fort Knox and the adjacent Penobscot Narrows Bridge on the opposite side of the Penobscot River. We stopped in the Bucksport Veterans Park to take a look at the scene! While it was quite foggy, the flat river water made for a rather pretty scene!
Fort Knox, Maine, is the lesser known Fort Knox. However, like the more famous fort in Kentucky that was used to store US gold reserves, it was named after the same Henry Knox. The park is closed for the winter but the grounds are open for walking. We did a full loop around the fort, enjoying the view and the snow.
The adjacent Penobscot Narrows Bridge had a viewpoint where the roadway from an older bridge was located. An interesting and modern design for this small 2 lane bridge. Apparently it also houses the highest publicly accessible observation point of any bridge in the world!
Rockland
We passed by Rockland, Maine, on our way to Portland. It was rather foggy in most of this small and busy town but we found a bit of blue sky on the south end of town. And we found a fogbow!