Pleasant Pemetic

The Rhodora

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew;
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same power that brought me there, brought you. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today, I hiked one of my favorite loops here in Acadia National Park. Leaving from the Jordan Pond parking lot, I used the Bubble and Jordan Ponds Path to reach its junction with the South Ridge Pemetic Trail. After spending some quiet time at the summit gazing out at the coastal islands, I descended via the North Ridge Trail to the carriage road that skirts Bubble Pond. Taking this to where it once again intersects with the Bubble and Jordan Ponds Path, I completed the loop back to the parking lot. It’s a 5.5 to 6 mile hike through several unique environments – from the shady, majestic spruce/fir forest to the rocky, exposed summit of Pemetic and, then, along the Bubble Pond shoreline.

I took a break at Bubble Pond and enjoyed some trail mix for lunch – reveling in the sunshine! There were some people canoeing on the pond. I made a promise to myself to get up early one morning and bring my kayak here before they close the parking lot for the season!