Schoodic Point

I love a day like today, when the state geo-site is in a perfedctly lovely spot and traveling to it is through magnificent scenery. Yeah, Maine! The geo-site for the state is located at Schoodic Point, the tip of the Northeast Unit of Acadia National Park.

Our campground is located right on the Schoodic National Scenic Byway and a portion of this Byway travels through Acadia National Park along a 7 mile one-way road. At about the halfway point of this one-way road is Schoodic Point.

At the beginning of the Cambrian period, a small chunk of continent - Avalonia - broke away from Gondwanaland, the landmass that would someday fracture into South America, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica. For 120 million years this mini continent "sprinted" to the north and west, bound on a collision course with Laurentia, or proto-North America. When the leading edge of Laurentia plunged beneath Avalonia, the resulting friction created temperatures hot enough to melt rock, causing great cauldrons of acidic magma to rise to the surface. Some of it extruded onto the surface, while the rest solidified underground guaranteeing that this future shoreline of Maine would long possess a rock-solid foundation of granite.

As the acidic magma bodies cooled, they contracted and cracked. New injections of basaltic, dark-toned magma filled in the fractures and crystallizaed as dikes - tabular igneous intrusions that cut across the preexisting rock. More than once, a generation of younger dikes cut across older dikes, and these intersections are clearly visible at Schoodic Point, Maine's geo-site.

Morning view from our campground on a clear, blue-sky day.

Along the Scenic Drive we stopped at the West Gouldsboro Library with rather limited hours.

It may have limited hours but it has charming architecture. 

Just exploring, we took a side trip through Winter Harbor to Grindstone Neck. Similar to Poppasquash Point in Bristol, RI, Grindstone Neck has lovely homes that are probably summer "cottages". We drove to the end of the Neck where there was a stone beach, roses that filled the air with fragrance and a nice stone bench. 

From the beach you can see across the water to other islands. 

Because we had read about Maine's geo-site, we recognized this "dike" at Grindstone Point.

Here is a narrower one.  It looks almost as if it was painted on the rock. 

View from the stone bench.

Occasionally lobster boats would pass by.

And this tour boat passed by on its way to Winter Harbor.

Mr. Spock getting a good look at the dike at Schoodic Point.

A woman curious about what Spock was looking at.

Spock getting a good look at the dike.

Looking out to sea at Schoodic Point.

Irises blooming on Schoodic Point.

Evie and Bill, no relationship, were at the Schoodic Education & Research Center.

Our lunch spot at Blueberry Hill, about 2 miles down the road from Schoodic Point.

After lunch we hiked up to The Anvil, a lookout spot about 200 feet up.  This is a view to the west, toward Acadia National Park/West.

On the way down from The Anvil, towards the east and Schoodic Island.

This was our last geo-site for a few months, although I'll bet that there will be plenty of interesting spots in Canada.