It’s Friday, March 27, and we’re on Amen Ridge looking northeast. A herd of altocumulus clouds is stampeding over Blue Hill Bay, turning parts of our day on and off as the sunlight tries to break through. Cadillac Mountain looms out of Acadia National Park, seemingly brooding.
Acadia, the nation’s seventh-most visited National Park in 2019, has reason to brood. Park officials issued an Internet alert that states, in part: “[T]o slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), all park roads, facilities, restrooms, carriage roads, campgrounds, visitor centers, and visitor services are closed effective Thursday March 26. *** [O]utdoor spaces remain accessible to the public .… Stay at least six feet away from people outside your immediate household. *** Rescue response may be delayed. Each incident increases risks for park staff and local first responders.”
Paradise lost. But, just for a while, we hope. (Brooklin, Maine)