Acadia National Park - First Timer's Questions
 

You may have seen that I am considering a trip to Acadia National Park for sometime in September after Labor Day. I've never been and have some questions.

1. Is there good hiking in Acadia?

2. Do most people stay in Bar Harbor If not, where? (it seems just a few miles from Acadia. We'd need a hotel not camping facilities.)

3. Would it make sense to fly into Bangor, spend two or so days in Acadia/Bar Harbor followed by a day driving along the coast to Portland and fly out of there? (Hoping for a good sense of coastal Maine - a place we've never been.)

4. Are there any websites dedicated to this area? (I've already visited the National Park Service site.)

Thanks.

There are more hotels and b&b's in Bar Harbor and it's immediate area, so yes I'd say most people stay in Bar Harbor. However, there are nice accomodations to be found in other Mount Desert Isle towns, such as Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Bass Harbor. The towns such as Bass Harbor, on the quieter west side of the island are slightly less convenient to the more popular parts of the park (such as the Park Loop road, and Cadillac Mountain), but they are much quieter, and may be less expensive.

There is lots of hiking in Acadia. It tends to be short, gentle sorts of hikes. The mountains aren't very high, so the trails up can be just a mile or 2. I like it because I've never been a terribly fit hiker, and I think you get good reward for less effort. If you are more interested in 10 mile wilderness hikes, you won't find that.

I find it difficult to drive along the coast from place to place in Maine. Route 1 is very boring and kind of industrial in places. I usually visit Maine by taking the highway to a different town, and then spending a couple nights there...Camden, Boothbay, Portland...from any of those places you can see bit of the coast. I think for a short trip such as you are planning, you would be better off just staying in Acadia. If you were bored, you could take the ferry across to Winter Harbor, and see the Schoodic peninsula part of the park, which would be lovely. I've been to Acadia 4 times, and spent anywhere from 3 days to a week on each trip, and I never run out of things to do.

Thanks, china_cat. Would you mind listing some of your favorite things in Acadia? I note that one can bicycle the Loop Road. Can that be done in a few hours - maybe a half-day? Thanks.

1. There is plenty of hiking in Acadia. We spent a week there with the sole purpose of hiking and did just that every day except one. One day that we spent in Bar Harbor exploring and took a whale watching cruise. That was the only day we even went into Bar Harbor.

2. We stayed in a B&B in Southwest Harbor (Kingsleigh Inn) and were happy to be on the "Quiet Side." We hiked all day, would grab dinnner on the way back to the Inn and would sit on our balcony and enjoy the view with a bottle of wine. Bar Harbor would have been too busy for us. We were glad to have chosen Southwest Harbor to stay.

3. Cannot comment.

4. I know that the website for Kingsleigh Inn, at the time, had many links that we used to plan.

Hiking in Acadia is great! That's our main activity when we go there. There are hikes at all levels-easy to strenuous.

The carriage roads are perfect for biking- no motor vehicles are allowed, and they're very scenic. I'd bike there rather than the loop road, which can get busy.

~Liz

My favorite hike, if it's open, is to go up the Precipice trail, walk along the ridge, and then down the Beehive trail. The precipice trail is sometimes closed because its a nesting area for peregrine falcons. Not sure if that is still true.

I also really enjoyed hiking up Acadia Mountain, on the west side of Soames Sound. It has gorgeous views of the sound, and the trail was deserted.

We rented canoes on Long Pond on one trip. We canoed on Soames Sound once as well. I imagine you can also get kayaks, but I'm a canoe person.

We took the sunset horse-drawn carriage ride up Gorham mountain. That was fantastic. There were, I think, 8 of us on the carriage, and it was a pleasant group. We chatted and enjoyed the scenery. You can also take carriage rides to tea at the Jordan Pond house. Tea and popovers, with the view of the bubbles is lovely.

I'm not much of a biker, so I'm not sure how long it would take to bike the park loop road. But the park is full of carriage roads, built by Rockefeller when Bar Harbor was a summer resort town for the rich, like Newport. These "roads" are nicely maintained gravel trails and are great for mountain biking. No cars, only hikers, and occasionally horse drawn carriages,so they are probably better for biking than the loop road.

I like walking the shore trail in Bar Harbor at sunrise. We stayed at the Bar Harbor Inn on one trip, and the trail starts from there, and winds along the coast. It's gorgeous in the early morning.

I like getting out on the water. Whale watches, naturalist cruises, Cranberry Island tours, there are a lot of boat rides to choose from, although you will probably find their schedules somewhat more limited after Labor day. Last trip we went out on the Margaret Todd, which is a schooner that leaves from the pier in Bar Harbor.

We took a sunset cruise on the Margaret Todd too. You can bring your own picnic items including alcohol.

Love the Jordan Pond House

Kayak tours are widely available.

We'll be there in August for the third time in 5 years. Can't wait.

We also took the sunset cruise on Margaret Todd!!! That was several years ago.

I still drool every time I think about the Jordan Pond House popovers.

My favorite is the popover with blueberry ice cream after a hike around the pond. I love that hike too because it makes me feel like a kid climbing over rocks and walking on narrow planks.

oh man...you guys are giving me a craving for popovers. But just making them at home won't do...you have to eat them while looking at the pond and the Bubbles.

Bennnie, I like that hike too. It was years ago that we did it, and we went up one of the Bubbles as well.

We did the early morning naturalist cruise on the Margaret Todd. It was really pleasant. There is nothing like looking at that coast from the water, its just wonderful.

I forgot to add to my list of favorite things...eating lobster. Anywhere. Lots of pounds, or restaurants. One year we rented a condo in Bass Harbor near the dock. We could walk down and buy our lobsters there, bring them home and cook them. I think they were selling for 4.99/lb then (it was probably 1990ish), and we ate lobsters for something like 10 meals...including lobster omelets for breakfast!

I prefer Southwest Harbor, too. We stayed at the Inn at Southwest Harbor, which was reasonable & included a delicious breakfast. You must have lobster at Thurston's lobster pound in Bernard. Definitely go to Schoodic Peninsula. It's beautiful & wild & not commercialized/touristy at all.

I just want to add that the Island is not that big that you would not be wasting a lot of driving time in trying to get from SW harbor to Bar harbor or to say Cadillac Mountain.

We were there in May, stayed at the Lindenwood Inn in Southwest Harbor. This Inn was great!! The peregrines were again nesting at that time. We had very little time and we only hiked one day. The park loop road was closed at that time, but I would guess it is open now. Our trip was pre Memorial Day.

There seemed to be tons of biking, hiking, paddling and eating. I wish we had more time there, but we did not.

It seems that Bed & Breakfast Inns are the main type of accommodation. Are there any motel type facilities that you might recommend? Something clean, quiet, and not too expensive? (I know "not too expensive" is relevant, but whatever you think appropriate.)

Our favorite is the Bass Cottage Inn (www.basscottage.com) it's a b&b, walking distance to downtown and the Bar Harbor Pier.
You can pretty much pick your hike either along the Carriage Roads, or stop in at the park office for info on other marked trails. You can rent bikes, kayaks, whatever. LLBean has a free park shuttle so you can take your bike and don't have to drive.

Thanks. Anything else in this area of Maine worth seeing? What about day trips to Nova Scotia on the ferry?