Pink (Granite) Cadillac (Mountain)
At approximately 1500', most would not call Cadillac Mountain tall, though it is the highest point within 25 miles of the shoreline on the North American continent from Cape Breton to Mexico.
The most prominent feature of Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, the mountain is known as the first place in the United States to see sunrise, though that is only true from mid-autumn through late winter.
The geology of the mountain is such that the granite on Cadillac Mountain is much more erosion resistant than most of the other layers of rock on Mount Desert Island, and hence forms the highest point, after millennia of glacier ice erosion. The pink granite has high concentrations of feldspar and is a very fine granite, unlike most of the other formations in the region, especially those found on the Cranberry Isles (seen here) to the southwest, which are more volcanic and millions of years older than the Cadillac Mountain granite.
One of America's smallest national parks, Acadia is, nonetheless, a fascinating place to visit and a real treat for explorers, photographers and day-trippers, alike.
Pink (Granite) Cadillac (Mountain)
At approximately 1500', most would not call Cadillac Mountain tall, though it is the highest point within 25 miles of the shoreline on the North American continent from Cape Breton to Mexico.
The most prominent feature of Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, the mountain is known as the first place in the United States to see sunrise, though that is only true from mid-autumn through late winter.
The geology of the mountain is such that the granite on Cadillac Mountain is much more erosion resistant than most of the other layers of rock on Mount Desert Island, and hence forms the highest point, after millennia of glacier ice erosion. The pink granite has high concentrations of feldspar and is a very fine granite, unlike most of the other formations in the region, especially those found on the Cranberry Isles (seen here) to the southwest, which are more volcanic and millions of years older than the Cadillac Mountain granite.
One of America's smallest national parks, Acadia is, nonetheless, a fascinating place to visit and a real treat for explorers, photographers and day-trippers, alike.