Continued from the previous page.

SAND BEACH

When I first arrived at Sand Beach about 9 AM on Sunday morning it was nice to find it nearly void of people so I could take better photos.

View of Newport Cove and Sand Beach from the Ocean Path; the headland is to the right.

This is the only sandy beach on Mount Desert Island because of the way Newport Cove is protected by the Great Head peninsula. Most of the "sand" is composed of shell fragments.

I took the next three pictures when I first arrived at the beach, when there were more clouds:

 

 

After hiking around Great Head I crossed back over Sand Beach to reach the Ocean Path again.

By then (about 10AM) more people were enjoying the sunny beach but only two were in the chilly water, which only reaches 50 F. in the summer:

 

 

Although dogs are allowed on most of the trails in Acadia NP, they aren't allowed on Sand Beach. I saw several folks with dogs there, however, because there is a trailhead on the far side of the beach for the trails on Great Head.

If you want to hike with a dog on the headland, the best place to park is at the trailhead on the north side of the trail loop rather than at Sand Beach.

GREAT HEAD

I could see Great Head extending out into the Atlantic most of the way as I walked north on the Ocean Path from Thunder Hole:

Great Head is a peninsula on the far side of Sand Beach. The loop trail around the rocky headland offers very pretty views of the cove and the Atlantic Ocean.

Going CCW from the trailhead on Sand Beach, I quickly encountered some rock climbing on the south end of the headland. The views were great, though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next set of photos is from the eastern side of the peninsula:

 

 

 

 

The forested trail around the northern end of the loop was much easier to hike but not nearly as interesting as the rockier trail right by cliffs with better coastal views.

I saw only about ten people and a couple dogs on this two-mile hike on Great Head that Sunday morning. It's not as popular or as easy to access as the Ocean Path. I enjoyed the serenity.

Photos continued on the next page:  Ocean Path between Thunder Hole and Otter Cove

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, Cody the ultra Lab, and Casey-pup

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© 2014 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil