Acadia National Park

by Mike Graf

  James leaned over toward his parents. “That’s why we are going to go swimming at Echo Lake and not Sand Beach, right?”

  “We’ll try both,” Mom replied. “But I have a feeling where we’ll spend more time in the water.”

  “Speaking of ocean creatures,” Wanda said, “everyone look at three o’clock.”

  “It’s a seal!” Morgan called out.

  “There are more over there,” James added.

  The passengers watched the seals in the water and on the rocks at East Bunker Ledge.

  Morgan waved and called, “Hi, seal!” Then she looked at her family. “It’s looking right at us!”

  “Their faces look like puppy dogs,” Mom said.

  Wanda heard Mom. “Those are harbor seals. And many people describe them just like you did. They grow four to six feet long and weigh two hundred to three hundred pounds when fully grown. We often see them above the water, including that baby over there,” Wanda pointed. “But they can actually dive and stay underwater for up to fifteen minutes.”

  James did some quick counting. “There are at least twenty of them out there.”

  While everyone on board watched and photographed the seals, Morgan looked around. She saw a fin protrude above the water, but it was gone in a split second. What was that? Morgan said to herself, hoping she would get a better look.

  The animal reappeared. Its back arched above the water’s surface, then it dipped back under, all in about a second’s time. On the animal’s third trip above water, a small baby was paralleling it, just a few feet away. This time Morgan noticed the adult’s blunt-shaped nose.

  Morgan’s heart raced. She quickly estimated the location of where the animals would next appear from where she last saw them, and hoped they would surface again.

  The mother and baby cooperated. Then Morgan glanced at the animal identification chart and called out, “Harbor porpoise, everyone! Nine o’clock!” The marine mammals both simultaneously rose above the water’s surface and glided back under.

  “So graceful,” Mom commented to her daughter while Morgan tried to snap pictures.

  “Good eyes, Morgan,” Dad said.

  Soon the boat had moved beyond the range of the two porpoises, and they were out of sight.

  “Quite some nice surprises we’re getting on our boat cruise today,” Mom said, beaming.

  “That was a treat,” Wanda said, overhearing Mom again. “Porpoises are actually part of the whale family, and they grow up to six feet long. They can dive all the way to six hundred feet or more below the surface, but they usually stay near the top of the water to come up and breathe every twenty-five seconds or so. They are fairly common here in the Gulf of Maine.”

  Soon the boat slowed down, preparing to dock at Little Cranberry Island. “We have thirty minutes to walk around on Little Cranberry,” Wanda told the visitors. “The park service has a very nice museum right off this dock, and there are shops and stores here and farther in town. But there are also streets just to wander around on, so there’s plenty to do for all. And, sometimes,” Wanda emphasized while looking right at Morgan and James, “some of the kids in town have prepared baked goods to sell to us, too. Enjoy, everyone, and see you here in thirty minutes back on the boat.”

  Little Cranberry Island Museum

  Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad walked off the boat. Right away, several shops grabbed their attention and they peeked in, keeping a thought on the time. They also took a quick look at the museum. Ship models, tools, photographs, and other objects such as clocks and harpoons from earlier days on the island led Mom to say, “I wish we had a few hours here, at least!”

  Wanting to try to see more of the island, the family walked the relaxed streets of the little village, passing by island homes and several areas of stacked lobster traps. Morgan noticed three girls selling something at a makeshift stand in front of one of the houses next to the road.

  While James, Dad, and Mom went to inspect the lobster traps, Morgan walked over to the girls. One was older, Morgan guessed near her babysitter’s age, about sixteen. Another was clearly younger, probably in kindergarten or first grade, Morgan thought. She wondered what the school was like on the island, or even if there was one.

  The third girl looked nine or ten, exactly Morgan’s age. Morgan walked up to them. “Hi,” she said. “What are you selling?”

  “Cookies,” the girl Morgan’s age answered. “We have chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and also some gingerbread.” She pointed out each.

  “You have just what I like!” Morgan smiled. She selected four of the treats and reached for her change purse while glancing back to see the rest of her family, now looking at a house with some ornamental garden displays.

  “That will be four dollars,” the girl said. “By the way, what’s your name?”

  “Morgan. What’s yours?”

  “Kaitlyn. Where are you from?”

  Morgan paused for a second, picturing a map of the United States and how very far away her home was compared to where she was now. “San Luis Obispo, California. That’s completely on the other side of the country, right near the Pacific Ocean.” Morgan looked back toward the water. “The ocean there is pretty cold, too. We only go in during the summer. But even then, it’s pretty chilly. My parents have wet suits.”

  Kaitlyn smiled. “I know where you live! Last summer my family and I went to California to go to Disneyland. But we also traveled to San Francisco, going up the coast. We stopped at Hearst’s Castle. You live near there, right? Then we went to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite and saw the huge sequoia trees.”

  “Yes!” Morgan exclaimed. “You sure know a lot about California. By the way, I’m going into fifth grade next year. How about you?”

  “Me too!” Kaitlyn beamed.

  Morgan looked at the tiny island-bound village and compared it to her hometown. “Where do you go to school?”

  “Right here on the island,” Kaitlyn answered. “At the Ashley Bryan School. Last year there were ten students in the whole school. It’s pretty cool.”

  “Ten students?” Morgan replied. “I had twenty-eight students in my fourth-grade class last year!”

  “Wow,” Kaitlyn said, picturing a very crowded, noisy classroom full of kids.

  Morgan noticed James, Mom, and Dad approaching her. She remembered the limited time they had on the island and thought quickly. “I have to go in a second, but do you think I could write you? We could be pen pals!”

  Kaitlyn beamed. “I would love that!”

  The girls quickly jotted down addresses for each other. Morgan added on her note her family’s e-mail address. “Do you get e-mail out here?”

  “Of course,” Kaitlyn replied. “But it isn’t always reliable.”

  The rest of Morgan’s family waltzed up. Morgan said to James, Mom, and Dad, “This is my new friend, Kaitlyn.” She looked at James. “Can you take a picture of us?”

  James took the camera and snapped a photo of his sister and Kaitlyn.

  As the Parkers quickly headed for the boat, Morgan turned and called back, “I’ll e-mail you the picture, OK?”

  “I can’t wait to see it! And I’ll write back right away. I promise!”

  The Parkers were the last to get on board. Once they sat down, Morgan took out the treats and shared them with her family.

  They headed back to sea and eventually Mount Desert Island. On the way, Morgan mentioned, “I like Little Cranberry Island. I could see living there.”

  Mom smiled. “Us too, dear. Us too.”

  4

  This Thing Probably Hates Me Right about Now

  The next morning, Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad took the Island Explorer bus from their campground to the Otter Point parking lot. and Michael for Tidepool School. The rangers introduced themselves, then gave each child a nametag written on duct tape.

  The two rangers, a dozen or so kids, and their parents crossed the highway. They walked along the Ocean Path to a short spur trail to a rocky tide poo
l zone near the sea.

  There the rangers gathered everyone around a rocky bowl they called the Amphitheater. The rangers then went on to explain the cause of the tides.

  After, Michael asked, “So, given what you know, what tidal stage do you think we are at now?”

  “Low tide,” James, Morgan, and several other children called out in unison.

  “That’s right,” Ranger Michael said. “And it’s the best time for exploring these tide pools.”

  A MASSIVE TIDE

  * * *

  The highest tides in the world occur just north of Acadia at the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine at the Bay of Fundy. This is mostly in Canada, but partially touches the state of Maine. There, tidal surges, or high tides, can get to fifty feet or more!

  Tides are caused by gravity interacting between the earth and the moon. The gravitational attraction of the moon causes the oceans to bulge out in the moon’s direction. Another, smaller bulge happens on the opposite side of the earth. Since the earth rotates every twenty-four hours, there are two high tides and two low tides daily.

  Michael continued, “Because of Maine’s rocky cliffs, the incoming tide has little place to spread out. So the tidal surge here is from eight to fourteen feet. That is about twice my height and one of the largest high tides in the world!”

  The other ranger, Nancy, stepped up and asked for several volunteers. She took them to the side and gave each an object to hold behind their back until the right moment. “The tidal creatures we are about to find are what I call ‘expert adapters,’” she said. “They have to be ready for all kinds of conditions,” Nancy looked at the kids up front. “And our friends up here are going to show us what some of the elements are.”

  The first child in the group held up a bottle of moisturizer. “That’s right,” Nancy said. “With the water here coming and going, tidal creatures have to adapt and find ways to keep moist, such as staying under seaweed.”

  The next child in line held up a bottle of superglue. Nancy explained, “Yes, the waves do batter our tidal friends constantly. How do they deal with it? Some of them have their own type of glue and they cement themselves to the rocks. Pretty cool, huh?”

  Morgan was next in line, and she held up a small container of sea salt. “The water is certainly salty around here,” Nancy said. “You wouldn’t want to drink it, that’s for sure. But how salty it is depends on where the water is, how much rain has fallen in the pool, and how much evaporation has occurred. Our tidal friends are able to adapt to the various salt conditions.”

  Finally James showed the group a thermometer. “The temperature varies in these pools,” Nancy said, “and our ocean friends have found ways to deal with that as well, some by hiding out in cooler areas such as under rocks.”

  Nancy looked at the four kids, “Thank you, volunteers, for helping show us what tidal creatures do to survive.”

  Michael spoke to the group next. “The pool of water right here is only a semi–tide pool. It has been mixed in with rainwater. But let’s start exploring it first. Go sit nearby it and watch for signs of life. Be patient and wait. It may take a moment or two, but I guarantee you will see something.”

  All the kids walked up to the pool, while the parents either watched or joined their children. James immediately saw a small snail creeping along an underwater rock. “Look,” he whispered, “a periwinkle! We’ve seen these at California beaches, too. This one is really tiny.”

  Morgan noticed tons of barnacles locked onto the rocks.

  Nancy walked over to Morgan. “I want to show you something. The barnacles don’t appear alive, but look closely.” Nancy waved her hand back and forth in the water, creating small ripples. “When you do that,” she explained, “the barnacles react as if the tide is coming in, and they want to eat.”

  Morgan noticed a group of tiny, feathery legs protruding from the barnacle. “There they are!” Nancy exclaimed. “That’s how they gather particles of food from the water.”

  Morgan then waved her hand back and forth over some other barnacles. Their feathery tops came out of their shells and lapped back and forth in the small current. “Cool!” Morgan said.

  A moment later, the rangers gathered everyone together again. “That was just the warm-up!” Michael said. He held up some plastic containers. “Now we really get to find some creatures. But here are some rules for your safety as well as for our tide pool friends. You can’t gather a creature that is stuck to rock. That may kill it. Also, please remember where you found each animal because at the end of our time together, we’re going to return them to their homes. Another thing, you will need to put ocean water in your container and change it out a few times so it doesn’t get too warm. Finally, and this one’s important,” Michael emphasized, “don’t turn your back to the ocean. Parents, please accompany your children for safety, and nobody go beyond where Nancy and I go.”

  “OK, one last thing,” Michael added. “In a little while we’re going to meet back here to see what each of us has found.”

  All the kids took a container and began their search. Morgan and James immediately found a small pool of water, with James instantly reporting, “There are tons of mussels in here!”

  Morgan saw several round shells with ridges leading to a volcano-shaped cone. “What are these?” she asked.

  Michael came over. “These, my friend, are limpets. They are actually mollusks or sea snails with a conical shape. They’re one of my favorite tide pool creatures.”

  Morgan and James searched on, clambering over barnacle-laden rocks and avoiding the piles of wet, slippery seaweed.

  Nancy saw some greenish, stringy seaweed near where the Parkers were searching. “We call that stuff ‘mermaid’s hair,’” she informed them.

  “Neat,” Morgan replied, taking a picture of the seaweed.

  “Sea urchins over here!” James called out. Morgan, Mom, and Dad carefully scrambled over. The pool had several purple spiny urchins in it.

  “Nice find!” Dad commented.

  James took one out for his container, placed it in, and then scooped up some water.

  “We got a crab!” a boy called out.

  The Parkers looked over. The boy was holding his small tide pool creature in a plastic container, walking toward his mom and dad to show them. As he passed near the Parkers, James asked, “Can I see it?”

  The boy diverted to James and Morgan. He proudly lifted his crab, which was scooting along in the plastic container, and announced, “This thing probably hates me right about now.”

  After Morgan and James examined the crab, the boy went up to his parents.

  Morgan found a tiny, slowly moving sea snail, another periwinkle. She plucked it out of the water and into the container. “Don’t worry,” she spoke to the miniature animal. “I won’t keep you in here long.”

  Meanwhile, Dad tried a new method for searching. He found some small stones right next to a tide pool and carefully rolled one over. “Ah ha!” he called out.

  Mom laughed. “I wonder who the kids are around here!”

  Meanwhile, Morgan and Mom climbed down to the large lower pool of water. The two rangers and many of the other families were already congregating there. One girl pointed out to her mom, “There’s a starfish right behind that floating seaweed over there.”

  That got the Parkers’ attention. They started searching just for sea stars.

  Soon, Morgan saw one. It had five thin arms and was an off-white color. Her heart raced with excitement. She reached in and captured the unusual, fragile-appearing sea star. Morgan placed it in her container and added some fresh water. Then she stood up and marched over to Mom.

  “Look what I have!”

  “Whoa!” Mom replied. “Now that’s a cool find.”

  Just then Michael called out, “OK, everyone. Let’s bring what you’ve got over to the Amphitheater!”

  All the families sauntered over to the group’s original meeting spot. Each of the children carried their cat
ches carefully. At one point Mom helped Morgan and James across a large crevasse in the rocks. “I don’t want you, or your tide pool friends, falling here,” she explained.

  One by one each of the kids showed what they had found. There were several crabs, lots of sea urchins, periwinkles, and many sea stars shared with the group. But when it got to Morgan’s turn, Michael and Nancy each looked amazed. “That,” Nancy exclaimed, “is a blood star. They’re much less common than regular sea stars.”

  Nancy picked up the star and showed it to the group. “But this blood star that Morgan found is rare for two reasons. One is that it is very large. Usually they’re no larger than a half-dollar, and this one is clearly bigger than that. And the other reason,” Nancy glanced at the sea star and smiled at Morgan, “is its color. Blood stars are typically bright orange to red in color. This one, though, is like an albino white. This is way cool, Morgan.”

  All the kids and many of their parents spent the last few minutes of their time together walking around and examining the collection of creatures.

  Finally Michael said, “It’s time to say good-bye to our tide pool friends. Please put them back in the exact location as they were found. Then return the plastic container to Nancy or me and say good-bye. It’s been great having you attend our Tidepool School!”

  The group clapped, then walked off to return their finds.

  When Morgan placed her sea star in the water, she said, “Thank you, blood star. Here you are, snugly back at home. I wish you a long and healthy, happy life!”

  Morgan stood up and dried her hands on her pants, then clambered up to join her family.

  5

  Indiana Jones and Tom Sawyer’s Island

  The Parkers’ quest for hiking adventures in Acadia continued. So they drove to near Jordan Pond and parked for the Bubble Rock Trail hike.

  The one-mile trail was an uphill, well-traveled path. The family hiked through the thick birch forest, anticipating the views that lay ahead.