Acadia National Park

Entrance Sign

Sweeping mountain views, rugged ocean scenery, and abundant wildlife all contribute to the splendor that is Acadia National Park. Acadia's 46,000 acres stretch from Isle au Haut in the southwest to the Schoodic Peninsula in the northeast. However, the heart and soul of Acadia is Mount Desert Island, a place of scenic pink-granite mountains, deep glacial ponds, cobblestone beaches, and ocean-side cliffs. Bald Eagles, ospreys, and peregrine falcons patrol the skies while seals, porpoises, and seabirds fish the cold waters of Frenchman Bay and beyond. Mount Desert Island is the third largest island in the continental United States and boasts such natural wonders as Somes Sound, the only fiord on the East Coast, and Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the East Coast north of Brazil.

Acadia National Park consistently ranks as one of the ten most visited national parks in the United States. With 3 million visitors entering the park every year, it sees the same amount as much bigger parks, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. With that many people enjoying Acadia's limited and fragile resources, everyone must remember to help protect the resource. It is imperative that everyone learn and adhere to Leave No Trace principles.

Location
Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are located forty-five miles southeast of Bangor, Maine. From Bangor, drive east on the Alternate Route 1 to Route 3 in Ellsworth. Following Route 3 south will take you to Mount Desert Island. The entrance to Acadia National Park is located off Maine Route 3 in Hulls Cove, just north of Bar Harbor. Once you are on the island you can take advantage of the park's free bus system, Island Explorer, from late June through early October.  Nature Man highly recommends this transportation system to get around the park.

Lodging
There are two campgrounds in the national park: Blackwoods and Seawall. Many private campgrounds including a very nice KOA (Nature Man camped here) are in the area.  Bar Harbor Northeast Harbor, and Southwest Harbor are full of inns, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts.

Food
Restaurants are located throughout the island, with the biggest selection in Bar Harbor. The Hannaford on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor is the island's largest grocery store. The Alternative Market, located across from the Bar Harbor town green, has a good selection of health foods. In Southwest Harbor, you can buy groceries at the Southwest Harbor Food Mart.

National Park Service Information
First-time visitors to Acadia National Park should begin their visit by stopping in the Hulls Cove Visitor Center on Maine Route 3. Here you can pick up a schedule of ranger-led events, talk to a ranger about your park visit, and pick up fliers and books about Acadia.

A Diversity of Life

Rocky Shores

Sea meets land at Acadia, and life thrives from shore to summit. Tide pools or pockets in the rocky shore trap pools of water as the tide recedes. Amazing plants and creatures, starfish among them, survive in the worlds between the tides. Woodlands or Spruce-fir forest dominate the park until 1947, when fire burned 10,000 acres. In its wake grew birch, aspen, and oak. The fire brought more variety to both the woodlands and the wildlife the new growth attracted, such as the red fox and white-tailed deer.  Lakes or glacially carved valleys cradle freshwater lakes in Acadia's interior. Here waterfowl, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates thrive. Mountains are home to woodlands and numerous plant species. On some of the cliff faces peregrine falcons nest.

Scenic Driving and Carriage Roads
The 20-mile Park Loop Road connects Acadia's lakes, mountains and seashore. Cadillac Mountain Road offers panoramic views of the coast and island-studded bays. Acadia's 44 miles of historic carriage roads are one of the finest examples of broken-stone roads left in America. You can bicycle on the carriage roads or the 27 miles of paved roads.

Nature Man Photography is pleased to bring you the following:

Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park

Entrance

Devil's Millhopper, the Florida State Park system's only geological site, gets its Millhopper name from its funnel-like shape. During the 1800's farmers used to grind grain in grist mills. On top of the mill was a funnel shaped container, or hopper, that held the grain as it was fed into the grinder. Because fossilized bones and teeth from ancient life forms were found at the bottom of the sink, this was said to be the millhopper that fed bodies to the devil, hence, the Devil's Millhopper.



Formation
Limestone is the foundation on which the surface of Florida sits. Although this stone is vary hard, it is easily dissolved by a weak acid. Rain water becomes a weak carbonic acid from contact with carbon dioxide in the air. As the water soaks into the ground, it passes through dead plant material which causes the acid to become even stronger. When this water reaches the limestone layer, small cavities are formed as the rock is slowly dissolved away. Eventually the ceiling of the cavern becomes so thin that it can't support the weight of the earth above it. When the ceiling collapses, a sinkhole is formed.

Description

232 Step Stairway To Bottom

The sinkhole is 117 feet deep and 500 feet across. It has a 232 step stairway leading to the bottom and a one-half mile nature trail around the rim. The sight and sound of water flowing down the slopes of the sink provide one of the most enjoyable features of the park. This water begins as rain seeping down through the surrounding landscape and drains through the soil into a layer of limestone. Clay beneath the stone prevents further downward movement causing water to then flow along the limestone layer. It then spills out to form the springs around the sinkhole. There are about 12 springs, some cascading to the bottom where they flow into natural drain in the sinkhole which eventually finds its way to the Gulf Of Mexico.

Plants and Limestone

Plants
Besides the Millhopper itself, the 63 acre park features a wide variety of plant communities, formed and adapted to the varying amounts of sunlight, moisture and fire. Three basic communities exist in the park: The sand hill, the hammock and the swamp. Pine trees grow in the highest area where the soil is sandy and dry. The widely spaced trees let sunlight reach the forest floor and allow a thick cover of grasses and flowering plants to grow.  This community is maintained by occasional fires that sweep through the area and kill back the invading hardwoods. Broad leafed trees grow in the moist and fertile soils of the hammock. Gums and willows grow in the small park swamp.


Animals
The park is home for many animals. Frogs, lizards, snakes, birds and small mammals are common. The Gopher tortoise listed in the species of special concern, is found within the park.

Interpretive Center
An interpretive center provides explanation and exhibits of the site's natural history. Written materials are available there. Guided walks are offered every Saturday morning (weather permitting) and can be scheduled on other days by reservation for groups of five or more.

Contact and Location
For additional information contact Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park at 352-955-2008. The park is located at 4732 Millhopper Road in Gainesville Florida.

Nature Man Photography is pleased to bring you the following:

Limestone

Leave Nothing But Footprints

Registered National Landmark



 

Adorable Baby Owl Rescued in St John's County

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A motorist scooped up a baby owl in need of someone who gave a hoot.
According to St. Johns County Fire Rescue, a motorist flagged down firefighters to pass off an injured, baby owl found on the side of the road early Friday morning.
The injured owl was given to firefighters, carefully wrapped in a warm, red shirt and was swiftly transported back to Station 7.
Firefighters made contact with the Humane Association of Wildlife Care and Education (HAWKE) animal rescue in St. Johns County and advised them of the injured animal, according to SJCFR.
The baby owl was transported to the HAWKE facility and turned over for medical care.
First Coast News

I'm Florida - Need I Say More

Nature Man is pleased to bring you I'm Florida - Need I Say More. This video provides you nature lovers a sample of the bountiful beauty of Florida outdoors.

Pictures are from the Nature Man Library and the music is provided by the late and great Bobby Hicks.

Dave's First Peacock

This story is reprinted with the permission of the author Arnie Markowitz.  The story is about my brother David.  Love you Bro. Thanks Arnie, great story and great pictures!

To all appearances, Dave Johnston seemed to have it made: good job, good woman. He owned three boats and he caught lots of fish. But there was a dark secret. Although he apparently had a good life, there was a hole in his soul.  His heart bore a heavy burden.

Realizing he could not make it alone, Dave enrolled in a 12-step program. At his first meeting he stood and, with voice trembling, said "My name is Dave, and I have never caught a peacock. Help me. Save me!" The others laughed and booed. Dave ran out, crying. In desperation, he turned to me. I promised to help him catch a peacock.

November 7, 2013, a day that will live in, in, in I dunno, whatever. Anyway, today was the day he got Dave his first peacock. Here's a picture. See that smile?

After the successful initiation, I assured Dave that he was worthy to catch bigger peacocks. As we approached a spot where I knew big ones lurk, I instructed him exactly where and how to cast. He obeyed and caught this fish. After that,  he caught some more like it. I should mention that Dave was casting my Marsh Minnowitz fly, the silver and black version.

At last we repeated an earlier drift. This time, we saw a small disturbance on a shoreline but could not make out what was causing it. Just to see what would happen, Dave cast a Rapala Skitter-pop lure, fire tiger pattern, with the spinning rod  he had brought along as a backup. Here is what he caught with that. It was the last fish of a 4 hour trip. I have certified Dave as a skilled peacock angler and cancelled his application  to the Secure Institution for Depressed Fishing-Doers. Please join me in congratulating him on a major achievement.

Swift the Manatee

Dan Holding the Ski-Rope

On a beautiful sunny mild early December day in Northeast Florida I am joined by two of my son-in-laws, Dan and Marcus, for a fishing trip to Sisters Creek. Sisters Creek is located off Heckscher Drive in the Northside of Jacksonville, Florida. This tale begins as we entered the creek off the Intracoastal Waterway late on a Sunday morning about three hours before low tide.  On our way up the creek we encountered an orange life-vest floating in the water near the shore.  We looked at each other and I yelled over the roar of the outboard "looks like nothing attached" so we passed it up thinking someone might come back looking for their missing life vest. 

Later that afternoon, after we had each caught around 6 undersized sea trout released for another day, we moved back up the creek to continue fishing. After several minutes of trolling up the creek against the tide we all look at each other in astonishment as the orange life-vest, seen earlier, was rapidly moving on the surface of the water towards our boat against the tide.  After a few minutes of staring at the oncoming vest with puzzled looks on all our faces we discovered that it was tied to a purple nylon ski rope.  As the vest approached the boat we saw an unidentified creature rise to the surface about 20 yards in front of the vest. Finally, as the vest got closer the creature surfaced and we discovered that the ski rope was attached to a signal buoy which was attached to some kind of swimming creature.  As I expertly guided us towards the rope with our trolling motor Dan grabbed the ski rope as it passed the boat and began pulling the ski rope in the boat slowly towards the buoy.  The creature attached pulled back very hard and Dan had to be careful not to be pulled overboard.  We could imagine the headlines "Man Pulled Overboard by Unidentified Creature". Once we got the buoy near the boat we discovered an unbelievable site!  The ski-rope, which was attached to the buoy, was harnessed to a giant manatee.  Yes, a very large beautiful Florida Manatee! Dan immediately passed the rope to Marcus who held on for dear life. "Hold on tight Marcus while we think!" 

After much amusement about Marcus' predicament we discussed what to do next and then it hit me to call the FWC wildlife violation number on the back of our fishing license's and see if they could put us in contact with someone who had any information on the Manatee. Dan dialed the number and made contact explaining our finding and concern. We did not want the beautiful, majestic Manatee to accidentally get the ski rope tangled in something and be trapped. We were concerned that the Manatee, who breathes out of water like humans, to drown as the tides moved in and out . We called the number and within 20 minutes a person called us back and explained that the manatee was named Swift and had escaped from a holding pen.  The buoy was attached by the owner with a professional harness but the ski rope and life vest had been added by another party for additional identification because they were concerned for the manatees safety. Big Mistake! The rope and vest presented a dangerous situation for Swift according to the folks in search of him. However, we were asked by the person on the other end of the line to not cut the rope and vest loose so they could more easily find Swift. We were informed that there was a boat in the area searching for the manatee. We provided the GPS coordinates of our location and explained to the folks on the other end of the line how to enter the creek from the Intracoastal Waterway and navigate to the location of Swift.  We immediately complied with their request to release the ski rope and let Swift swim freely. 

It was getting late in the afternoon and the rescue boat never appeared and we had to leave to get home before dark. We called the folks back and told them we had to leave. They indicated that it may be a more than an hour until the rescue boats arrival.  They had no problem with our departure and thanked us for the call, information and concern for Swift. Unfortunately, we never heard back from Swift's rescuers. We hope that they were able to find him and return him to his original home. What a memorable day on Sisters Creek!