Today's hike takes place on a Wednesday morning instead of the usual Thursday morning due to schedules & weather. But we make it hiking that is all that matters! We head down the Fernald Point Road in SW Harbor and we park in the parking area at the base of Flying Mountain.
Flying is the smallest mountain on MDI so we knew the hike wouldn't take long so we had to extend the route to fill our morning. We couldn't go back to work too early! We started at the gate in the parking area at the end of the Valley Cove carriage road. We head down the carriage road for about a tenth of a mile and take the Valley Peak Trail and leads to the west & north up to Valley Peak. The trail is more rugged than we anticipated. A very shady hike that goes up and up. We arrive at the summit in about 4/10 of a mile. The summit has great views if you step out towards the edge of the mountain a little as the summit marker is a bit back in the woods. The mouth of Somes Sound as well as Southwest Harbor lie below us. The sun is shining and we can check off mountain #1 for the day.
We proceed on the Valley Cove Trail that will eventually take us across and down St Sauveur Mountain. Having hiked St Sauveur a few weeks ago the scenery is familiar but we never tire of it as it's such a beautiful spot we don't mind that we get to see it again. Today a sailboat is moored in Valley Cove below us. We discuss how the people probably dropped anchor in the night and have slept in and will be up soon to have breakfast in a cozy little cove off the coast of Maine. We smile and just imagine for a bit. Then the hike continues. We check off mountain #2 for the day.
Down to the Man 'O War Brook Road we go to pick up the Flying Mountain Trail that will follow along the edge Valley Cove back to Flying Mountain. The Flying Mountain Trail starts out as mostly wooded then as you get closer to the cove it opens up for small views along the shoreline where the trees are thinner. We catch a nice breeze off the water that cools us off from all of our hard work. As quick as the shoreline has appeared it disappears. We are a little disappointed as we thought we would see the small sailboat up close. But not to worry as the trail winds around the west side of the cove we do get to see it again and up close!
The trail leads up and down and over, up and down and over rocks then to an open ledge area that follows closely to a very steep ledge cliff. Unlike any trail we have seen so far we take some time here to check out the view of the cove with the small sailboat and the sheer size of the ledge cliff we are passing. By the way, no activity on the boat and no breakfast to be seen so far. Renee is worried that they may not be okay. I think they are on vacation on a sailboat in Maine and have no real concept of time!
We continue on past the ledge cliff and back into a wooded area of the trail that is now skirting the base of St Sauveur Mountain. We come across an interesting flowering plant. We still have to look it up to see what it was. I have lived here all my life and have never seen a plant like this before. Long reddish, dark pink stem with multiple little stems that had a white ball a the end each little stem. Maybe the flower petals had fallen off already or maybe it really looks this way in bloom. We don't know. A mystery yet to be solved.
We continue along the trail and come to a boulder field that sits beside the cove. We are impressed with all the rocks but not the fact that the trail goes through them. We meet a young couple. She doesn't look too excited about the boulder field either. The rocks have to be scrambled up and over to make our way to the other side. I look around and up and notice the cliffs that make up the east side of St Sauveur so I mention it to Renee and stop for some pictures. We had just been over them and under them so looking back at them was quite eye opening to say the least. Well, at that very moment Renee was not doing so well. Did I mention my hiking buddy is afraid of heights? Well, she is but never lets it stop her. Until today. She has no control of when the feeling hits, it just does.
We pass the Valley Cove carriage road and proceed along the cove to make our way up Flying Mountain.
We take a quick look back across the cove to the boulder field that we had just conquered. Renee is proud of her accomplishment, as she should be. That was tough to do and she had done it. We meet many people as we proceed up to the summit. Being the smallest mountain means you are also a busy mountain as it's a quick & fun hike for many who normally don't hike a lot. The trail has a gradual incline to it through wooded areas and a few open ledges.
We come to the summit after just 284' which seems so sudden compared to all the others we have done. There is an open ledge that overlooks Somes Sound and the tip of Fernald Point. We know a lady that has a home on the point so we look her property over from this view. We take our usual summit photo to once again get the proof we need that we were here! The summit is a busy place with people coming and going all across it. The trail loops around the top of Flying Mountain before descending back down to the parking area. On our descent we meet even more hikers along the trail making this hike one of the busiest yet. Mountain #3 done for the day. Time to get back to work.
When we get to the parking area we see a couple parked beside my Jeep that we had met on the trail on north side of Flying Mountain. The man comments how that was a quick hike for us. Thinking we had only done Flying Mountain and returned to the Jeep. We were quick to inform him that we had done Valley Peak, gone across St Sauveur Mountain, around Valley Cove then done Flying Mountain. He retracted his statement as we then told him we had to get back to work. The couple were quite jealous that we have Acadia in our backyard. We were quite proud & happy that we do.
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