Architext: Into the night

Friday, June 24, 2016

Into the night - Penobscot

We descended into the forest in utter darkness. typical stretches of acadian trails are loosely paved with a jumbled mix of scavenged rocks to help prevent erosion. Walking these types of rocky trails is slow to begin with, but in the night, our hike slowed to a lumbering pace as we had to navigate all the irregular rocks on the trail. Using our phones as flashlights we made our way past running creeks and washes of light colored stones on pine needle floors to the northern end of Jordan Pond’s shore. Sometimes a hiking experience pivots on critical half-baked decisions made earlier in the expedition.

Penobscot trail runs north south along a ridge parallel to Jordan pond. Two hours before our plight in the dark, we were on the top of the world walking on Penobscot summit. we decided to head north instead of retracing our steps to the south because the Spring Trail we ascended which involved iron rails, ladders, and rocky inclines would’ve been too dangerous to descend in the dark especially for kids. We assumed the descent to the north could not possibly involve ladders and treacherous cliffs. On the windswept mountain top, the sunset was glorious. We could see all the way south to the atlantic, north towards eagle lake and Frenchman’s bay, Cadillac mountain to the east, and somes sound to west. No one was on the mountain except us. Out of the hundreds of parking spaces at the trail head, we had the only car in the lot. The wide granite ridge of Penobscot mountain was like a thruway to the purple sky. Dotted with small pine and fragrant berry bushes, the ridge was wide enough for everyone to choose their own path. The price of the view was descent in darkness. At the top we assumed walking along the water’s edge would be flat and open.

After making it to the western side of Jordan pond in the dark, though, we encountered a trail through a rockslide. Negotiating the boulders, listening to the waves of unseen water below us, we hardly walked on the forest floor for the rest of the hike as the trail after the rockslide was on narrow elevated wood planks. K held her phone like a digital torch to light the path for the group. Expletives from J could be heard when his adolescent feet fell between the cracks of the planks. I was further back trying to take long exposure pictures of this madness. At points, there were clearings in the pine forest canopy by the pond, framing the big dipper constellation. From the southern end, a tranquil view of north and south bubble rock across the pond to the haunting calls of loons. J and B expect a standard itinerary, a level of safety, and caution…. to them, embarking on a hike almost twice as high as Beehive at 6:30 PM, and walking in darkness was reckless. They get bitten by mosquitoes and start worrying we can’t readily find our car in the massive parking lots at the base. We tell them to relax and look at the moonless sky and the theater of stars… to enjoy the best hike we've had in acadia.