My wife and I will be in Acadia National Park.

We already know about the black flies( we bought our deet)....does anyone have any tips of things to see or do in the park.

We'd like to do some biking and hiking.

Thanks

We just came back from Acadia last week. I would suggest buying the tour tape or cd at the visitor's center. It gives a little more information on the 27 mile park loop. (it was only $3 more to buy it than to rent it, and we didn't want to have to worry about getting it back to the visitor's center on time.)

If you get a clear day, definitely go up to the top of Cadillac Mountain right away. The weather changes quickly and you might miss out on the view.

Take heavy rain gear with you. We arrived in Acadia around 4. It was a clear day, so we drove to the top of the mountain. For the next three days, it rained heavily and was very cold. We ended up going to the Wal Mart and buying heavy raincoats because we didn't want to miss out on anything!

Sand Beach was pretty (even in the rain.) There was also another stop that was beautiful, but I don't remember the name. About half way through the loop, keep your eyes open for a wooden staircase on the left side of the road. It goes down to a small cove. The "beach" is entirely filled with smooth rounded stones. There was a water fall coming from the mountain which flows over the rocks and into the water. It was my favorite part of the park.

We didn't have enough time to do any walking along the carriage trails, but they looked intresting also.

1. Jordan Pond house for lunch or popovers.

2. follow the roads down to southwest harbor or northeast harbor, fun communities

3. Lobster at Beale's Lobster Pound

4. Rent a kayak, you'll see seals.

5. Take a ferry out to an island community. Swan's is nice, take a bike and ride around. The Cranberries are nice too.

6. Hike, hike, hike. Cadillac even in the fog is fun. Be very careful if you consider the Beehive Trail.. there have been a few serious accidents there.

Dress in layers. Make sure you have a shell/windbreaker with you.

Go to Thunderhole during high tide.

We kayaked and two seals (separately) came quite close to me!

We enjoyed lobsters at Abel's Lobster Pound.

Jordan Pond House for ice cream!

Have a wonderful time!

Thanks for the great tips.

We will be there in about two weeks.

How rough or calm is the kayaking. should we expect to tip over.

Hike up to the summit of Bubble Mountain/Bubble Rock.

No need to worry about tipping over in the kayak. Ocean kayaks, or at least the ones's the rental places use, are very stable. The guides as good as guaranteed it wouldn't happen.

There is a nice trail on the far side of Sand Beach that takes you along the coast where you can walk on the rocks and explore tidal pools. It's very pretty. And yes be careful if you climb the Beehive, I did it as a kid and it was pretty scary.

You mentioned that you want to do some biking - the carriage trails that run through the park are excellent for that. We enjoyed biking on the trail that goes around Eagle Lake. Go to www.nps.gov and choose Acadia for lots of info on the park, including a map of the carriage trails.

We are heading to Acadia in July. A site that offers some good information on the park is:

www.softech-consulting.com/acadia/index.html

As Liz mentioned, you don't have to be too worried about tipping over in your kayak. However, if you are concerned, you can take a tour so at least the guide will be able to rescue you and help get you back into your boat.

There are a lot of tours offered. Most of the tours will choose a pretty calm paddling spot taking into acct the many variables (group size and experience, weather, tides, etc.)

On the one we took, the guide was exuberant on land, but less than helpful on the water. He mis-judged the weather (or something!) and we ended up paddling thru a lot of headwind, with 2 crossings with whitecaps. I could easily picture someone capsizing if the waves broadsided their kayak.

We just forgot about the guide and enjoyed our day of kayaking; we saw an eagle and osprey dueling, later on more eagles, seals playing in the coves and harbour, as well as the two that came to "cheer me on" and a few types of birds.

This was part of a b'day gift to my DH, so him having fun was the most important thing.

We enjoyed ANP so much that we are planning a return visit next year. We will definitely kayak there again but for reasons solely relating to the guide, we will not use the outfitter we used this time (Coastal Kayak). Their phone and store staff, and policies are excellent though.

On a different note...if you're looking for a yummy breakfast in BH, try the 2 Cats Inn on Cottage Str.

Thanks for the great info.

We will be in Bar Harbor on Sunday.