Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island: Places to Explore

Photo: Peter Guttman/PeterGuttman.com

Acadia National Park

With more than 30,000 acres of protected forests, beaches, mountains, and rocky coastline, Acadia National Park is the second-most-visited national park in America (the first is Great Smoky Mountains National Park). According to the National Park Service, more than 2.2 million people visit Acadia each year. The park holds some of the most spectacular scenery on the eastern seaboard: a rugged coastline of surf-pounded granite and an interior graced by sculpted mountains, quiet ponds, and lush deciduous forests. Cadillac Mountain (named after a Native American, not the car), the highest point of land on the East Coast, dominates the park. Although it's rugged, the park also has graceful stone bridges, horse-drawn carriages, and the Jordan Pond House restaurant (famous for its popovers).

The 27-mi Park Loop Road provides an excellent introduction, but to truly appreciate the park you must get off the main road and experience it by walking, biking, sea kayaking, or taking a carriage ride. If you get off the beaten path, you can find places you'll have practically to yourself. Mount Desert Island was once a preserve of summer homes for the very rich (and still is for some), and, because of this, Acadia is the only national park in the United States that was largely created by donations of private land. A small part of the park is on Isle au Haut, more than 10 mi away out in the ocean.