national – Polyphagic Abby

Date Published: Nov 12th, 2024 | Last Updated: Nov 12th, 2024
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: October 13th, 2024

If you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s a post of an overview of Acadia National Park if you need more info about where to stay, where to eat, getting around, and other travel recommendations.

Discover Acadia National Park: Your Guide to Mount Desert Island

Acadia National Park is the “Crown Jewel” of the North Atlantic Coast providing breathtaking coastal views, mountainous hikes, scenic drives, beaches, and a town with no shortage of restaurants. This national park is a must-do in Maine!

Besides climbing the Beehive Trail, Jordan Pond is one of the most popular places to visit in Acadia National Park due to its numerous trails, beautiful views, and the ever so popular ‘pop overs’ served at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant. Jordan Pond is situated in the centre of Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park (see map below for reference).

It gets extremely busy here, so I’d recommend coming here super early to get a good parking spot near Jordan Pond House Restaurant, spend your morning hiking (keep scrolling for a list of suggested hikes), then finish your hike at Jordan Pond House Restaurant for some lunch (make sure you have a reservation, or arrive before they open – see more tips below).

Note: The cellphone service here is very spotty and limited. There is free wifi at Jordan Pond House if you need to last minute download maps or send a message before embarking on hikes in this area.

Map of Acadia’s Mount Desert Island and location of Jordan Pond

Where to Start?

Start at Jordan Pond House Restaurant (2928 Park Loop Rd, Seal Harbor, ME 04675). This is one of the very few restaurants in Mount Desert Island (apart from Bar Harbor) and is also the start to many trails. There is very limited parking here and once lots are full, park rangers will block it off so you can’t just sit and circle waiting for a spot to open up. Most people park along side Park Loop Road once the parking lots fill up.

If you don’t get here early enough, try to find parking at a lot farther away and take the free Island Explorer Bus to Jordan Pond House (runs every 30 minutes). We didn’t realize we could’ve taken the free bus and ended up walking an extra 30mins to our car after our 4 hour hike 😭 – learn from our mistake!

Hiking the Jordan Pond Trails

There are numerous trails you can hike around the Jordan Pond, and many of them conveniently start at Jordan Pond House Restaurant. I’ve highlighted the 3 most popular hikes in the map below (Jordan Pond Path, Jordan Cliffs Trail, and Bubbles Trail), but you can also combine all 3 hikes to get the best of all of them (highlighted further down in red) – which is what we did!

(South Bubble Loop doesn’t technically start at Jordan Pond, but many people will start at the restaurant and walk the Jordan Path then join up with the Bubbles Trail to go up the South Bubble).

Here’s a topographical map of the Jordan Pond area for reference:

Map from Acadia National Park: https://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Jordan Pond Path (yellow)

Distance: 5.3km
Elevation: 19m
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated time: 1 hour
More info: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/maine/jordan-pond-path

This easy around-the-pond path is one of the most popular hikes in the Jordan Pond area. It takes roughly 1 hour to complete and the path is relatively flat and easy to walk on. You start at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant with iconic views of the Bubbles, then follow the trail around the water the entire way.

Jordan Cliffs Trail (green)

Distance: 4.8km
Elevation: 316m
Difficulty: Hard
More info: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/maine/jordan-cliffs-trail-to-penobscot-mountain

This is an exhilarating loop trail that takes you via the exposed cliffs along Jordan Pond for gorgeous views. It starts off at Jordan Pond House then through Amphitheatre Road where it joins the Jordan Cliffs Trail. Continue on the Jordan Cliffs Trail for the views, then turn left onto the Penobscot Trail to the Penobscot Mountain Summit, then back via the Penosbscot Mountain Trail to Jordan Pond House. This is considered a very difficult hike with rock scrambling and iron rungs. You can then loop back via the summit of Penobscot Mountain and the Penobscot Mountain Trail.

South Bubble Loop/Bubble Trail (blue)

Distance: 2.3km
Elevation: 150m
Difficulty: Moderate, steep
More info: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/maine/south-bubble-mountain-and-jordan-pond-loop

The South Bubble Summit is another place for iconic views of Jordan Pond. There’s also “Bubble Rock” here which is a large boulder that sits on the edge of the cliff, brought here by a glacier thousands of years ago. You can either reach the summit via the ‘Bubble Rock Parking Lot’ as pictured in the map above, or you can combine it with the Jordan Pond Path and make it an out-and-back hike to the summit then back down, skipping the rest of the Bubble Loop. The path up to the South Bubble summit is very steep with lots of rock scrambling, so be prepared with a good pair of hiking shoes!

If you’re short on time, this is the hike with the best views around Jordan Pond (in my opinion, anyway).

All 3 hikes combined: Jordan Cliffs Trail + Bubbles Trail + Jordan Pond Path

So many trails around Jordan Pond intersect each other so you can mix and match and make up your own trail as you like. The most popular mix of trails is the Jordan Cliffs + South Bubble + Jordan Path trail. You get the best elevated views of the Jordan Pond from the Jordan Cliffs Trail, with the iconic panoramic scenery of the Bubbles Trail/South Bubble Summit, and the serene easy flat water-side trail of the Jordan Pond Path. This combination of paths is the hike that we chose to do and is what I’ll focus on in detail for this post. 😊

Length: 7.2km
Elevation Gain: 358m
Trail type: Loop
Difficulty/Terrain: Moderate to Hard with exposed cliffs, iron rungs to climb, rock scrambling, and steep ascents
Estimated duration: 2.5 – 4 hours, depending on your level of fitness (we took 4 hours due to a road closure and also multiple stops for photos 🙃)
Starting point: Jordan Pond House Restaurant
Things to bring: water bottle, sunscreen & hat, good hiking shoes, tick/insect repellent depending on season, screenshot of the trail map
More Trail info: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/maine/jordan-cliffs-trail-to-bubbles-trail-to-jordan-pond-path

A Detailed Hiking Guide:

You’ll want to start this hike clockwise to make it easiest on yourself. Some of the rock scrambling on the Jordan Cliffs Trail can be a bit dangerous if you do it counter-clockwise.

Red is the combined path of all 3 trails. We had an unexpected road closure and had to do slight detour (outlined in pink dots)

A) Start at Jordan Pond House Restaurant. From the back of the restaurant, walk towards Jordan Pond and start by enjoying the calm of the Jordan Pond waters with views of the North & South Bubbles in the distance (aka the geological boobs – you were thinking it too).

Path from the back of the restaurant towards Jordan Pond

B) Continue briefly left onto Jordan Pond Path and walk over the mini bridge then make a right onto ‘Carriage Road’.

C) Carriage Road will then split – take the left uphill (Amphitheater East Carriage Road) and continue on.

D) You will eventually see a small sign that points to the start of Jordan Cliffs Trail on the right side (pay attention, the sign is small and easy to miss).

Follow the Jordan Cliffs Trails through the trees. The path will become more and more rocky until you eventually emerge from the trees and onto the cliff-side views of Jordan Pond.

Continue on the cliff-side trail with iron rungs and rock scrambling while enjoying the views for the next 2km. This was the most difficult part for us and involved getting on our hands in some parts to get down a large step or climb up a big boulder. It’s tiring, but take your breaks and drink plenty of water. We actually ran into a few people doing this trail backwards and while doable, many were struggling to get down the iron rungs. I wouldn’t recommend it. Also, keep your eyes peeled – some hikers reported seeing a porcupine in this section!

E) The path will eventually lead you back into the trees where the cliff-side views stop for now. You’ll see a sign – continue to follow the Jordan Cliffs trail downwards where you’ll meet up with Deer Brook Trail. This part is a sharp descent, so make sure you’re wearing shoes with good grip.

F) Turn right and continue downwards on Deer Brook Trail.

G) You’ll cross over ‘Carriage Road’ again briefly then continue the rocky scramble down where you’ll pass by Deer Brook Bridge, a cool double arch historic bridge built for carriages in 1925. Continue the rocky descent towards the beach at the North end of Jordan Pond.

H) Once you’re at the beach, take a breather and appreciate the flat easy-walking terrain along the beach.

Follow the beach and you’ll reach a sign on the left that points to the Bubbles Divide Trail where you’ll make your way up again. Note: this trail was under construction when we went, so we continued on the Jordan Pond Path along the water until we reached the Bubbles Trail, where we did an out-and-back to the South Bubble summit (our detour is shown in pink dots on the map).

The Bubbles Divide Trail was under construction at the time so we had to detour

We had an unexpected road closure and had to do slight detour (outlined in pink dots)

I) Turn right onto the Bubbles Trail towards South Bubble.

J) This where ‘Bubble Rock’ sits – the iconic glacial boulder that rests on the edge of the cliff.

K) Due to the road closure, we ascended the Bubbles Trail from this point. The climb up to the South Bubble summit was no easy feat. It’s a steep ascent with lots of rocks to climb and uneven footing, and it gets more difficult the closer you are to the top.

I’ll admit, our legs were getting pretty tired at this point that we almost didn’t want to climb back up a mountain that we just came down on, but I’m glad we pushed ourselves and did it. It was a tiring climb up boulders the whole way, with some tricky areas where long legs were helpful, but after all the climbing over scraggly rocks, the view at the top was 100% worth it. Second to the Beehive Trail, it’s another iconic picturesque view that everyone seeks. It was too bad that the clouds started rolling in so there wasn’t much sun when we got to the top, but it was still so beautiful that we spent some time just sitting and taking it in.

Pointing to Jordan House in the distance, where we started this hike!

Take a break here and enjoy the panoramic views and be in awe at how far Jordan Pond House is in the distance, where you started this journey.

Scramble back down the steep rocks on Bubbles Trail to Jordan Pond Path. For reference, it took us 1 hour to get up and down the Bubbles Trail from the Jordan Pond Path including resting and photo time at the top. So although it is a difficult climb, it’s not very long!

Scrambling back down the Bubbles Trail the same way we came up due to the detour

Continue following Jordan Pond Path and enjoy the flat even ground all the way back to Jordan Pond House (roughly another 30-40 minutes).

Overall it took us 4 hours to do the whole thing (including the detour from the road closure) at a slow-med pace and stopping for photos and taking intermittent rest breaks.

Jordan Pond House Restaurant – make reservations!

Address: 2928 Park Loop Rd, Seal Harbor, ME 04675
Website: www.jordanpondhouse.com
This restaurant has seasonal hours – refer to their website for updated information.

Outside of Bar Harbor, there is a very limited selection of restaurants on Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park. Jordan Pond House Restaurant is the most popular choice not only because of their good food, but also because of its convenient location where many trailheads are located – most notably Jordan Pond Loop, South Bubble Trail, and Jordan Cliffs. The back patio of this restaurant also offers views of Jordan Pond and the North and South “bubbles”.

It gets EXTREMELY busy here and finding parking is no easy feat. Toby dropped me off while he went to look for parking and he had a LOT of trouble finding parking. Every single lot was full but luckily he eventually snagged a spot in a small lot…a 30 minutes walk away! It was INSANE. Next time, I’d recommend coming here super early and do some hikes, then make it back in time for lunch.

Note: there’s very limited cellphone reception in this whole area, but the restaurant does have free guest wifi so keep this in mind if you’re planning on communicating with each other when waiting for seating or coordinating with parking.

I would highly recommend making a reservation at Jordan Pond House as early as possible. Their reservation book is usually booked out a couple of MONTHS in advance. You may have some luck calling in person to check for cancellations, but their online reservations were completely full everyday. If you haven’t planned ahead, then I would recommend showing up a little before they open to try and get a spot. We didn’t have reservations and I arrived 3 mins before opening time and there were already at least 30 people standing in line! When 11am hit and the doors opened, the line started moving as they slowly filled up the large restaurant. I got to the front of the line 20 minutes later and they put me on the waiting list, where I only had to wait 10 minutes before I was seated. If you had a reservation, you could skip right to the front of the line where there was a separate check-in counter for reservations. When we finished eating, it was about 12:30pm and on our way out Toby had overheard that there was going to be a 1.5 hour wait to be seated!

The lobby of the restaurant. If you had a reservation, you could walk right up to the front.

For the only restaurant in the area, the food was actually surprisingly good! A little pricey, but hey, they’re the only place around.

They’re known for their popovers, which is kind of like a hollow muffin made with a thin batter, served with butter and their local-made jam. It was good, but not mind-blowing.

Their famous pop overs served with butter and local blueberry jam

We also had a meatloaf sandwich which was delicious and a $40 lobster roll (when in Maine…) which was average but they were VERY generous with the amount of lobster meat. I also couldn’t help but also order the lobster stew which was also pretty decent and Toby had a flourless chocolate cake for desert (which was average, but he liked it).

If you didn’t have a reservation and don’t have time to wait in line for walk-in seating, there’s an upstairs “grab and go” area for takeaway food. The menu here is a little more limited and I don’t believe you’ll be able to get popovers for takeaway, but there’s outdoor seating upstairs and also plenty of picnic tables on the grass to enjoy the view of Jordan Pond and the Bubbles without having to wait in line.

Back of the restaurant with a ‘Grab and Go’ upstairs

Some Final Thoughts:

Start your day early!
Finding parking is a bitch here – start early!
Make reservations ahead of time if you can, or show up before they open
Try the meatloaf sandwich – you won’t regret it.
Bring a pair of good hiking shoes for all the rock scrambling

Date Published: Feb 14th, 2024 | Last Updated: Feb 14th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: czech, mains
Serves: 4-6 | Prep time: 3 hours (mainly to wait until the potatoes cool) | Cook time: 3 hours

Jump to recipe |

Vepřo knedlo zelo is Czech’s national dish (or at least one of them – I couldn’t find an official source to state what the official national Czech dish is, but most sources have pointed to this one (another source claims it to be svičkova)). Regardless of whether or not it’s the true national dish, it’s definitely very popular and found in most Czech restaurants.

The name of the dish directly translates to the 3 components that make up the dish: vepřo = pork, knedlo = dumpling, zelo = sauerkraut. Disclaimer: this page is not a recipe page of all 3 components, but rather a guide to making all 3 components in order with links to each of their dedicated recipes. I’ve chosen to split it up this way to make it easier for the reader to navigate rather than writing it all in one monstrously long recipe post with a million photos. Each component is also delicious on their own that you can pair it with other dishes instead of just in a vepřo knedlo zelo.

1. Vepřo = pork

The pork portion is usually a pork shoulder, which can be roasted or smoked. The first time I had this dish was at babička’s place and she served it with a smoked pork shoulder. She was cooking away with it for hours that the whole apartment smelled like smoked ham – I’m pretty sure my jacket still has a hint of it 4 weeks later 😅. When I set out to recreate this dish, we visited the lovely little Polish butcher a block away from us and found that they sell beautiful already-cooked smoked pork shoulder! We couldn’t resist and bought a few hundred grams (it was delicious). We still go back there when we’re feeling too lazy to cook and heat it up with sauerkraut and dumplings.

Instead of a smoked pork, a roast pork is the other version of this dish. When I first made it from scratch, I didn’t expect much since the steps were so simple and straightforward. I also don’t usually cook with pork much so my experience with making pork roasts is very limited, but I’ve gotta say, it came out really fucking good – even Toby approves! Although the smoked pork is good and easy, the roasted version is a lot juicier in my opinion. The recipe for the roasted pork shoulder is below.

Vepřová Pečeně – Czech-style Pork Roast

2. Knedlo = dumpling

Knedlíky are Czech dumplings. There are a few different kinds of Czech dumplings, but in this particular dish, it’s commonly served with either the bread version (houskové knedlíky) or the potato version (bramborové knedlíky) (you can find out more about the difference here). I personally prefer it with a heavier dense potato dumpling, but it can be served with the lighter fluffier bread dumpling version too. In this guide, I will reference the potato dumpling version (which happens to be easier too!). Here are links to both types of dumplings:

Czech Potato Dumplings – Bramborové Knedlíky

Czech Bread Dumplings – Houskové Knedlíky

3. Zelo = sauerkraut

You can serve this dish with whatever style of sauerkraut you like, but I prefer it with a sweet smokey version like this one here. Since this is my favourite sauerkraut, I will also be writing this guide in accordance to that recipe. Fun fact: I actually liked this version of sauerkraut so much that I needed to find a meat dish to go with it which is how I got onto making a vepřo knedlo zelo in the first place. I never would’ve made this dish if I hadn’t succeeded in making the sauerkraut 🙃.

Braised Bacon & Mushroom Sweet Sauerkraut

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the guide! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Directions:

1. Make the pork roast first. This is the most time-consuming and will take 2.5-3 hours to cook. Although lengthy, all this time is literally waiting. There’s nothing else that needs to be done with the pork once you pop it in the oven which makes it the perfect time to prepare everything else. When it’s done, measure it with a meat thermometer to ensure that it’s cooked and slice it. Easy. If you’re not ready to serve it yet while you finish the other components, leave it drenched in the drippings/oils from the pan to keep it moist and soaking up flavour.

2. While the pork is roasting in the oven, start making the potato dumplings. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to put the dough together and once the loaves are formed, it takes about half an hour to cook each batch. If you have extra stove space and extra pots, you can get two pots going at the same time so you can cook them all at once to save time rather than waiting for back to back 30 minutes. Make sure you set timers so you don’t forget about them.

3. When the dumplings are boiling, start making the sauerkraut. It takes about 30-40 minutes in total including two 15 minute braising times during the process, so while you’re waiting you can intermittently check on the dumplings.