May 30, 2021 • 78

Lens-Artists Challenge #150: Let’s Get Wild

This week, our guest host Dianne Millard asks us to share our adventures in “the wild.” You know I’m a city girl, but I deeply love nature and its power to heal, rejuvenate and inspire us.

Acadia National Park has been our dream destination for many years, so we made a resolution to visit there before we left New England and started our travels. It’s still cool up in Bar Harbor, Maine, but since we’re starting our travels soon, we packed up and drove north last week.

We weren’t disappointed.

We knew the park is very popular, but in fact it’s one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the United States with over 3.5 million visitors per year. Of course, in May, the park was quiet, an ideal time to enjoy the beauty and majesty of this massive, breathtaking part of the country.

The park is very diverse–encompassing beaches, marshes, woodland, and 26 mountains. No wonder why it’s a hiker’s paradise. Here you can see the view from Park Loop Road, which is the main thoroughfare through the park.

One day we trekked around Jordan Pond, which has stunning views of several mountains. As you can see, the water is crystal clear.

The woods were fragrant with the scent of pine. Various types of moss covered many of the felled trees.

Some of the trees were new to us–like Jack pine and pitch pine.

Here you can see pine cones growing in a cluster.

Another day, we hiked along the Ocean Path with stunning views of the rocky Maine coast and Sand Beach. Those little specks you see on the sand are people! The colored specks in the water are lobster pots. Of course, we ate our share of the local specialty.

Talk about a million dollar view… This last image was shot at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point along the northern Atlantic seacoast. To give you a sense of the scale of this scene, the white cluster near the shoreline is the town of Bar Harbor with a population of 5,000 people. I wish I could say I hiked to the top of the mountain, but….

Our special thanks to Dianne for hosting this week’s Let’s Get Wild challenge and allowing me to share our adventure to Acadia National Park, a pristine sanctuary that is still wonderfully wild. When you visit Dianne’s site, you’ll see plenty of beautiful examples of her photography shot in the wild and you’ll quickly see how her love of nature has been integral part of her work as a forest ranger with the National Parks Service. Be sure to visit her post.

More thanks go to all of you who participated in and enjoyed last week’s Blue and Green challenge. Your images were wonderfully cool, diverse, and refreshing!

We hope you’ll join us next week when it’s my turn to host From Large to Small. Here are the details: Pick a color and take several photos that feature that color.  Start with a photo of a big subject in that color (for example, a wall) and move all the way down to a small subject in that same color (for example, an earring).

Until then, have a wonderful creative week and please stay safe.

Categories: LENS-ARTISTS, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Photography

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78 replies »

  2. We have a good friend who has gone there every summer for quite a few years for work and has shared its beauty with us. Your photos just reinforce that we need to get there at some point to see this marvelous park.

    janet

    Liked by 1 person

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    • It’s so wild, Beth. I was absolutely flabbergasted at the number of mountains there and the variety of the topography. It was a real treat. We want to go back, for sure! I hope you can go, too.

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      • Patti, we were there about 15 years ago in early spring before the busy season. It was cold and rainy but so beautiful. We didn’t get to go up Cadillac Mountain. I would love to do that one day – and eat some more lobster rolls!

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Acadia is such a treasured place Patti, and your images are a great example of why that is so. My husband’s cousin, who worked for the National Park Service, was in charge of preserving the ecology there for many years. We’ve experienced the park in many seasons over many years, and yet I feel we’ve not even begun to see it! On our last visit we got totally lost and were really quite frightened that we wouldn’t find our way back. Fortunately we eventually ran into another hiker who was more familiar with the route we’d taken and was able to get us back on track. Your post illustrates perfectly how glorious nature can be when nurtured and protected. Thanks for the reminder of how very important that is to all of us and to those who will follow.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Hi, Tina. I know what you mean…we had to ask other hikers for directions a few times. It’s a bit of a maze in spots. But the beauty…wow. It’s stunning. And you’re right…it needs to be protected. Have a great week, too. We’re back to our jackets here. The warmth will return in a few days.

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  6. Lovely to see photos of Acadia. It’s the one place I’ve been to where I couldn’t take any photos. It rained hard the whole weekend. We walked through the park in the rain, and enjoyed the walk, but it was impossible to take photos. My memory of the place is also a little different from your photos. Looking at them, I feel I should go back in a different season.

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    • I’m so sad that you couldn’t take photos when you went there. I can just imagine how beautiful (and dreary) your trip must have been! I think you’re right to plan to go back. September should be beautiful or June–in terms of fewer crowds and the weather. I hope all’s well with you, too.

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  7. Patti, thanks for taking me back to Acadia NP. We were there in 2013 as part of our cross country trip. Your beautiful pictures brought back wonderful memories. One funny thing, here in California our local Sierra mountain range summit, locally, is about 6,000 feet. When we got to Cadillac Mountain which summits at 1530 feet, we just looked at each other. The difference between the East and West coasts are amazing. We live in an amazing and diverse country.

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    • Hi, Anne. So you were there! Glad you got to see it. I was surprised that the summit is so high on the west coast. Very different typography!! Thanks for stopping by as always!

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  11. Pingback: Lens-Artists Challenge #150: Let’s Get Wild — P.A. Moed – ° BLOG ° Gabriele Romano

    • It’s gorgeous there, Amy. I guess the place was so magnificent that it’s hard for a photo to really show that!! Thanks for your kind words. I think it would take hundreds of photos to show all the beauty we saw! Have a good week!

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  16. Pingback: Lens-Artists #150: Let’s Get Wild – tbl

    • Hi, Ana. Wonderful! Planning ahead! It’s an interesting challenge–thinking about how to best photograph items to show their size. I’m delighted you like Acadia, too. I hope all’s well with you and your family. Have a good week—

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    • Hi, Marlene. To tell you the truth, that’s my favorite spot, too. I loved Jordan Pond. Just gorgeous. Glad you enjoyed it, too. Thanks for stopping by!!

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  20. Color me green with envy. Later today, a photographer friend of mine is passing through town on his way to Bar Harbor. I am not sure what his particular targets of photo opportunity are when he arrives, but now I have at least one pretty good guess. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Hi, John. There are so many photo opportunities there. It’s hard to take a bad shot. The tricky thing will be the weather. We’ve been getting a lot of rain, so hopefully he’ll get some sunny days, too. It dropped 50 degrees this week. Crazy!! From 90 to the 40’s. I hope he’s going next week!!

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  21. Hi Patti, Jordan Pond’s clarity is such a rarity. Most water we see here is not dirty, but it’s not crystal clear either. Thanks for taking us on a journey we probably would never have seen. I’d love to visit all the National Parks, but it’s amazing how many there are. Have fun on the rest of your trip.

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  25. Pingback: Lens-ArtistPC-150-Let’s-Get-Wild – WoollyMuses

  26. Your photos capture the peace and beauty of Acadia so well, Patti. Thank you for sharing a place that is near and dear to your heart with us.

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  27. Pingback: Let’s Get Wild! Lens-Artists Photography Challenge #150 – 1WriteWay
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