5 Wicked Cool Days in Acadia National Park

How We Got There

“Where is that?” This was the typical response I received when I told my family and friends where we were headed on our next trip. Well, Acadia is in Maine and is one of the top 15 US National Parks. In fact, it is the most visited place in Maine. So how is it that most people have never heard of it? To be honest, I hadn’t heard too much about it myself. We had never been to Maine. It is not a state that you just pass through. Maine is the northeastern most state and if you end up there it must be intentional! While researching the big NP’s like Yellowstone and Yosemite, Acadia kept popping up. My interest peaked. Planning this trip would check off both a national park and a new state! If you know me, you know I have travel wish lists. I wish to visit every national park and every state in the US. And so the planning began!

We flew into Boston Logan International Airport because it had the best deal on flights at the time. I love a road trip as you get to stop along the way so that was not a problem for us. There are closer airports such as Portland International Jetport and Bangor International Airport if you don’t mind spending a little more or are limited on time. Its about a 5 hour drive from Boston to Bar Harbor ME where Acadia NP is located. We stopped and spent a day in Portland, ME on the way. More about that in here: https://dawntillduskaz.com/lobsters-lighthouses/. The drive from Portland to Bar Harbor was an eventful day! So many things to stop and see! Here is a list of the highlights:

1. Saw the world’s largest rotating globe at Garmin in Yarmouth, ME
2. Happened upon the Bikeman’s bike shop in Bath, ME and hung out with the owner! My husband Cesar was in heaven!
3. Enjoyed the views at Peraquid Point Lighthouse
4. Walked a mile out to Breakwater Lighthouse in Rockland, ME
5. Hiked to the top of Mt. Battie in Camden Hills State Park and took in the awesome views!
6. Stopped to admire Penobscot Narrows Bridge near Belfast, ME

Arriving in Bar Harbor

We made it to Bar Harbor just in time to see the sunset on the Bar Harbor Land Bridge. The land bridge is a natural sandbar which is accessible during low tide. You have approximately 2 hours before low tide to 2 hours after low tide to enjoy a walk across the land bridge where you can search for shells and seaweed or cross it to the reach Bar Island on the other side. Bar Island is part of Acadia NP and is a nice place to hike however pay attention to the tide as you would not wish to be stuck for several hours waiting for the next low tide! You can find the land bridge right off of Bridge Street in Bar Harbor. Park on West Street and walk down.

Where We Stayed

It was a long day and we were ready to get settled in to our motel. Our home away from home for the next 5 days was to be The Highbrook Motel in Bar Harbor. Located right outside Acadia NP and less than 5 minutes from downtown Bar Harbor it was just what we needed! I reserved our 5 nights through Airbnb however you can also reserve through their website. The Highbrook is an older style motel which was recently renovated. I must say we have rarely seen such attention to detail and amazing customer service! They have their own app where we ordered our free breakfast to be delivered to our room every morning at a requested time! Need more towels, soap, or clean sheets? Just open your app and place your order! What more could we ask for?!

Day 1

Cadillac Mountain Sunrise

Our first full day at Acadia NP started at 3am! Yes, I said 3am! The sunrise on top of Cadillac Mountain is the first light seen in the US and it is magnificent! May – October a vehicle permit is required to control the crowds so if you plan to go, get a permit through www.Recreation.gov. No permit is required if you wish to hike or bike to the top, however you may not want to do that in the dark! To reach the summit of Cadillac Mountain by car (which is the highest peak in the park) you will drive 3 miles up the mountain. From our motel room it took us less than 15 minutes to get there and we were one of the first vehicles to arrive! Parking is limited. If you get there late you may not find a parking spot and have to park along the road and walk. It is pretty chilly this early in the morning so bundle up! We brought along extra blankets from the motel and settled in on the rocks awaiting the sun to peak up from behind the ocean. And what a treat it was! Absolutely breathtaking!

The Beehive Trail

After experiencing this magnificent sunrise we headed back to our room for a little nap and awaited the arrival of our breakfast. Our day was just beginning and what a day it would be! After packing a picnic lunch, we headed back to the park. You will need a national park pass or the American the Beautiful card to enter however no special permits are needed for the rest of the park.

First stop: The Beehive Trail! We parked in the Sand Beach parking lot which is normally packed but since we were there the week before Memorial Day we had no problems finding a spot. Directly across the street from the parking lot is the Beehive Trail. If you hike then this is a must! I recommend going early to avoid crowds. This is a trail you want to take your time on and enjoy! The views of Sand Beach can be seen as you scale the side of the mountain using rungs and ladders to guide the way. If you have a fear of heights, this trail may be challenging for you. It is a short 1.4 mile loop with an elevation gain of 450ft. I smiled all the way up! Our first hike in Acadia met my expectations!

Ocean Path

We decided to make the most of the great parking spot and check off a few other things in the area. The Ocean Path Trailhead starts here and is a very easy flat trail with ocean views on one side and Park Loop Road on the other. Approximately 1 mile down the path we came to Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is an inlet in Mount Desert Island(the island that Bar Harbor and Acadia sit on) that makes thundering sounds and ocean spray as the tide pushes the waves into the narrow channel. It was pretty calm during our visit but still beautiful! On the walk back up Ocean Path we could see the hikers up on the Beehive Trail and we were amazed at how high it looked! Did we really hang off the side of the mountain like that?

Park Loop Road & Jordon Pond House

Once we got back to the parking lot we grabbed our lunch and headed down to Sand Beach. This is a beautiful little beach with sand formed from shell fragments. We enjoyed our picnic lounging on a large piece of drift wood. After lunch we jumped in the car and continued on Park Loop Road.

Park Loop Road is a 27 mile road through Acadia NP and there are several stops and overlooks along the way. We really enjoyed Little Hunters Beach with its pebble beach and tide pools!

Next stop Jordon Pond House! Jordon Pond House is known for its popovers and tea and I had my heart set on trying both! They have been serving popovers on the lawn since 1893 and we wanted to take part in this tradition! I’m going to share a little secret! If you do not want to wait for a table at the restaurant, you can go upstairs on the deck and order a popover sundae and blueberry lemonade at the café! Its cheaper and you still get a view of the lawn while you eat! Besides what’s better than a popover but a pop over with ice cream!

Right next to Jordon Pond House is the Jordon Pond Loop Trail which is a 3.3 mile loop around the pond with stunning views. What we loved about this easy hike is the wooden boardwalk that takes you around the pond. It gives a unique feel to the hike and is cleverly constructed with pull over areas for passing hikers. You will hike over a few rocky areas before coming to a little bridge at the end of the pond. Once you pass the bridge you will come across two trails leading to the Bubbles. We decided to save the Bubbles hikes for another day and continued back around to the boat house. Be sure to look around for evidence of beavers along the trail!

Day 2

Carriage Roads & Ebikes

Day 2 just happened to be my 50th Birthday! To celebrate, we rented eBikes and road 33 of the 45 miles of carriage roads in Acadia NP. The carriage roads are wide rustic gravel roads that wind through Acadia. You will cross 16 stone bridges along the way. John D Rockefeller Jr. built these roads and bridges for horse drawn carriages as a way to explore the park with his guests. Nowadays the carriage roads are used for bikers and hikers. No cars allowed! I strongly recommend bikes if you want to cover a lot of ground. We rented ours from IslandTime Ebike Rentals. This was our first time on Ebikes and it was amazing! IslandTime met us at Hull’s Cove Visitors Center with brand new class 1 Ebikes. We got a quick briefing and off we went, map in hand! Most of the roads are lined with thick forest and it was quiet and peaceful. We ate our picnic lunch under one of the the beautiful bridges as we watched the stream trickle by. My only regret was that we ran out of time before we could cover all 45 miles!

Day 3

Beech Cliffs Ladder Trail

This day was jammed packed! Ever since we did the Beehive Trail I was dreaming about another iron rung and ladder trail! We decided on Beech Cliffs Loop. Now it was a bit tricky understanding how to start this trail so that we were going up the ladders and not down! You must go to Echo Lake Beach and park at the end of the parking lot. There you will find what looks like someone’s home and nestled in right next to that house is a trailhead with stone steps . This part of the trail is so fun! Right away you start climbing stone paths straight up and eventually you will run into ladders. Really tall ladders and double ladders. So cool! The views at the top show beautiful Echo Lake and when you are finished gazing at the beauty all around you, take the Canada Cliffs Trail back down to the parking lot. This trail has its share of moist greenery that gives the feel of a rain forest.

Schoodic Peninsula

After our Beech Cliff Hike we made a quick stop at the Bass Harbor Head Light Station before driving over to the Schoodic Peninsula. This drive took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Winter Harbor. From there we took the 6 mile scenic loop stopping at several lookout spots along the way. My favorite was a secret spot called The Raven’s Nest. Its the 3rd pullout on the left and the unmarked trail starts on the right side of the road. The hike is pretty short and takes you to the most amazing spot of jagged rock. As the water breaks against the rocks it makes a thundering sound on either side of the narrow rock ledge. Well worth a stop! As we continued on the scenic route we came to Schoodic Point. This area had a military presence and there is a lot of interesting history you can learn by stopping at the Rockefeller Welcome Center. What I loved most about this area was scrambling on the rocks looking for tidepools and watching the waves pound the rough shoreline creating large sprays of saltwater. We must have explored this area for over an hour just watching the waves roll in. On our way back to Bar Harbor we caught a glimpse of the cutest little bridge and pulled over. Turns out it is the Somesville Bridge over Somes Creek and it is the most photographed bridge in Maine!

Day 4

The Bubbles

Remember I mentioned The Bubbles back when we were hiking Jordon Pond? Well today would be the day to see the famous Bubble Rock! There are two Bubble trails, North Bubble and South Bubble. We decided to do them both thinking these would be our last hikes in Acadia(we were wrong!). Bubble Rock awaited us at the top of South Bubble and breathtaking views of Jordon Pond at the top of North Bubble. As I am sure all visitors do, we tried our best to nudge Bubble Rock over the cliff however the 40 ton boulder decided to stay put! It appears to be teetering on edge and one huge gust of wind might send it on its way. In reality it was brought here by glaciers tens of thousands of years ago and has no intention of leaving its comfy spot anytime soon!

Our next activity of the day was supposed to be sea kayaking and to be honest we were second guessing our choice to book this activity. It was colder than we were used to and the winds were chilling us to the bone. Lucky for us the kayak company canceled our tour and we were free to do another hike! Cesar picked our next hike to the summit of Dorr Mountain and I’m sure he wished he had researched it a little more! His nickname of this trail was “Thigh Master from Hell!”. I thought it was a great choice! We got vertical almost immediately gaining 1100 feet in under 1 mile! Endless stone stairs lead the way with an occasional ladder and rung section and even a small slot canyon. Once near the top we followed the cairns marking the way down the Dorr South Ridge Trail. Round trip it was about 3.5 miles. Pretty fantastic way to end the day!

Day 5

Puffins!

Maine is the only place in the US to see the Atlantic puffins. Could we really leave Maine without seeing one? I started asking around to see if May was too early to catch sight of these little seabirds. Once I heard that there is a good chance to see a few we booked a cruise through Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. If you have a set of binoculars bring them! We rented a set on the boat and settled in for a 3 hour cruise! Eastern Egg Rock came into sight and what did we see? Seals! Lots and lots of seals and other birds. But no puffins. I was starting to think that our luck had run out when we reached Petit Manan Lighthouse on a small island out at sea. And there they were! About 10 puffins! I wouldn’t say this was a colony just yet, but I’ll take 10 as apposed to none! These little guys are so tiny and quick it was hard to get photos however we did enjoy watching them zip around! One of my favorite things is to witness a rare creature in their natural habitat. On the way back to shore we spotted several bald eagles and their nests. Such beautiful birds! It was All in all a successful outing!

There you have it! Our 5 wicked cool days in Acadia! The first time I heard the word wicked (as in “wicked cool”), I was a teen living in Italy where my Dad was stationed in the Air Force. My parents had friends who were from Maine and the word “wicked” was part of their regular vocabulary. My family quickly adopted it and used it jokingly when describing something we really liked. Who would have thought that 30 years later I would have a need to use “wicked cool” again!

Hope you all enjoyed our little visit to Acadia and that you are planning your own adventure to see this wicked cool place! Please remember to hike responsibly and leave no trace!