Bass Harbor, Acadia National Park
Bass Harbor (and the Bass Harbor Lighthouse) is a nice spot to visit - especially if you have a group that really enjoys climbing on the rocks, and exploring whatever marine life they might find in the tidal pools. Our group was like that, so we killed most of our morning here.When you leave the parking lot you walk briefly through the woods, and then come to a stairway that leads down to the rocky shore, where you'll get the best view of the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, and also some great views of the ocean.
The teens were quick to make their way out onto the rocks. I was a little slower, because I kept snapping pictures of them, and of the scenery.
Here's four of our girls, who have climbed up on a boulder, and are striking their "intimidation" pose. They are truly intimidating. Trust me.
One of the teens found a crab, and decided to give it a container of lip balm, to see if it would grab on. It did.
Pete kept referring to the crab as "she", and when someone finally asked him how he knew the crab was a "she", he answered in his own, perfectly reasonable style, "Only girls carry around lip balm". How can you argue with logic like that?
One of the teens asked me if a barnacle was a plant or animal, and I said I thought it was an animal. Here's a web definition of a barnacle: an invertebrate animal that lives in a hard shell attached to a rock, boat bottom or other hard surface. Barnacle shells are cone-shaped, like tiny volcanoes. Barnacles are crustaceans, related to crabs, shrimp and lobsters.
Several of the teens had never seen a barnacle feeding before. I explained to them that if you look closely enough in the tidal pools, you can find a barnacle that every couple seconds opens up and a small feathery "claw" extends to snag whatever tiny creatures might be floating by. After looking for awhile, I managed to find three barnacles feeding, and the teens spent several minutes watching them. I looked up barnacles and found that their feathery limbs capture organisms up to 1 millimeter long, and as small as single celled organisms.
Finally, before heading out, we all got together for a group picture. And here we are:
After our visit to Bass Harbor and the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, we went to Sand Beach, which I'll write about in my next entry.
You can also read about our visit to Seawall by clicking the following link: Seawall Campground and the Seawall - Acadia National Park
Posted On Aug 29, 2005 at 3:47 AM
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