If I told you these pictures were from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor, Maine I'd be lying. These were taken at one of the spots on the way up. I'm sure these parking and viewing areas were created for cowards such as myself. You know....people that are so afraid of heights that they are instantly convinced that they are going to die when they see nothing but sky while they are driving up a terrifyingly high mountain. Yeah, I'm one of THOSE people. I know...I know... you can't be more surprised than I was to find out what a coward I am. I honestly had no idea. This was my first mountain drive and it's probably going to be my last. The real surprise was that as soon as I got out of the car and started walking out onto the gently sloping rock face I no longer felt afraid. I guess that means I'm only a coward when it comes to cars flying through the air.
I specifically remember asking the hotel personnel if Cadillac Mountain was going to be a scary drive like Mt Washington is in CT, when they recommended we drive it. I was assured that nooooooo, it's not scary at all! And it's a MUST! (Luckily for them I didn't see them again while I was there.)
Later I did tell one of the rangers how terrifying the experience was for both of us and she wasn't surprised at all. She said there are several 'rescues' performed every year because people go part way up and can't go any further or go all the way to the top and can't come down. I thought...Oh Really??!! Now I don't feel so bad about turning around and coming back down. And the trip down incidentally was even MORE terrifying because the wide open sky was now on my immediate right because I was on the outside lane. There are no guardrails to be seen anywhere.
So try to picture the ride down with two terrified women; one repeating over and over just look at the yellow line, just look at the yellow line, while the other one was dangerously close to crying and unable to speak at all. When that didn't work I interjected all manner of one liners such as: no reason to be afraid, everything is ok, my legs are NOT turning to water, etc. But the only thing that really worked was getting back down below the tree line.
By the way....it was COLD on that mountain too! This is Bunny freezing but no longer terrified. Of course we still had to drive down from this spot.
And this is proof that they do indeed train to take people down from Cadillac Mountain. We saw them training the next day....while walking on a much less hazardous trail.
