"'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give you shelter from the storm.'"
                                                 - - Bob Dylan

Hider:   Tom Cooch
Clues:   Easy 
Terrain: Moderate 
Hidden:  08/17/99

Mt. Desert Island is located in Maine's Penobscot Bay, and contains Acadia National Park The park is small but exceptionally lovely, and receives the most visitors per square foot of all the national parks in America. 

Thunder Hole is a cleft in the ocean cliffs on the east side of Mt. Desert Island. The waves travel down the channel, tumbling basketball-sized rocks around and trapping pockets of air at the end. This produces loud thundering claps, particularly when the tide is advancing.
 

DIRECTIONS

Take Maine Route 3 south one mile east of Ellsworth, and proceed to Bar Harbor. Take Route 233 west for 1.1 miles. The entrance to the park will be on your right  (You will immediately loop back over a bridge to proceed southwards). After 0.4 miles, make a sharp left onto the Park Loop Road (which here becomes one-way). Proceed about 10 miles along this beautiful drive. There is a toll station along the way where you will be required to pay a $10 fee, good for a week. However, if you come early in the morning you can avoid both the fee and the traffic! There are signs and a parking area at the Thunder Hole site. 

Click here for a map, or to visit the Acadia National Park web site.
 

CLUES

Your stroll begins on a paved walkway a bit below the road. You are a little nervous at the rumbling noises you hear, but the sky looks clear. You start off  following a course of 40 degrees onto a dirt path. The path soon forks, and you bear left away from the shore, then right, and proceed along a rocky ledge in the direction of a tall spruce. 

At the next fork, you bear right towards the ocean cliffs, and proceed downhill and out about 10 paces onto a large flat rock. The tide seems to be coming in and the sounds of thunder are growing louder. You glance nervously around and at 230 degrees notice a cavelike opening that might offer shelter. You scramble over towards it and take a seat inside. You can feel the booming in the rocks themselves. Your hand comes upon an object stashed in a cleft. 
 

NOTES

Hunting for this letterbox involves scrambling over some steep shoreside rocks. Caution is needed and children should not be unaccompanied. 

This box is well-concealed in its hiding spot, and is frequently reported missing. Be persistent!

A pace is taken to be the average distance an adult will advance by moving one foot forward - approximately three feet. 

All bearings are magnetic. 

Before you set out read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.

This letterbox is #10 placed by The Orient Express.