The plan was to canoe camp and hike at Donnell Pond for the weekend. No other members signed up for the trip, so Chris Petersen and I (Helen Hess, TC) decided make it a day trip, take the dog, and leave the canoe at home. Instead of parking at the boat launch, we parked in the lot near Schoodic beach and hiked up Black Mountain. I’ve spent lots of summers on Donnell Pond and have only ever hiked Schoodic peak. It was always so hot that one hike did us in, and we’d return to the water for the rest of our fun. So I chose a date in early May when the weather would still be cool. We got even luckier with the bugs…there were none! Our hike through the woods was sometimes steep, but often gentle, through a festival of tiny leaves as the trees start to celebrate spring and the moss is as green as can be. We went up the Black Cliffs trail and then out to Black Mountain east peak for the spectacular views. We looked at Mt Desert Island to the south and at the rows of windmills, looking like an otherworldly amusement park, to the north, all under an ever-changing sky. We returned to our car via a loop that skirted Wizard pond and led us back to the beach by mid-afternoon. The wind had picked up, and the whitecaps on the pond made us feel quite satisfied about our boat-free plan for the day.
May 1, 2021: Donnell Pond Hike
