goatsgruff

My wife and I will be vacationing in Boothbay Harbor (1 day/1 night) and Bar Harbor (3 days/3 nights) in early Sept.

I'd appreciate any insight on the following:
1. Do you have a favorite hike (moderate climb) in Acadia?
2. What can you tell me about hiking at Lamoine St. Park? How about at Isle Au Haut?
3. With only 3 days in Acadia, do you recommend we go to Deer Isle to see Haystack Mt. School of Crafts?
4. We would like to kayak once... would you recommend Boothbay or Bar Harbor? In a specific place?
5. If you voted for kayaking in Bar Harbor above, is there good hiking in Boothbay? I've heard of Dodge Pt Preserve and Boothbay Region Land Trust, but can't get a handle on either of them. Or would you recommend seeing the tidepools in perraquid peninsula?
6. Do you recommend Thurstons in Bass Harbor?
7. I'm a pizza-holic. Do you recommend Reel Pizza in Bar Harbor?

Thanks so much for your help in advance!

BBEAR

I can't help with too many of your questions except #7 - Reel Pizza - our family LOVED it!! The pizzas were excellent with many unusual toppings available and they sell a microbew beer created just for them. You order your pizza and go into the movie theater which has sofas, recliners and TV trays. There is a large bingo board and you watch for your order number to flash. Your food arrives just before the movie begins. I believe there are also tables or counters with chairs if you prefer. We were there 2 years ago and my family still talks about it!

Also, we went sea kayaking in Bar Harbor and had a great time - the boys were ages 9, 11 and 15 at the time so we didn't do anything too outrageous. We haven't kayaked in Boothbay Harbor so can't compare the two. Our hiking was determined by the ages of the kids, so again we were a bit limited. We did reserve bikes to go on the carriage trail one day, but got rained out.

BTW if you like BBQ we stumbled upon a small microbrewy (Atlantic Brewing Co or something) that had an amazing all-you-can-eat BBQ on Saturdays for only $12. They had a huge smoker going filled with chicken, ribs, pulled pork, sausages, etc and many side dishes too. It almost felt like you were at a backyard party of someone's house - again, my family still talks about it! DH loved the beer and the boys loved the root beer.

Tide pools anywhere along the ocean are so much fun to explore. There's an easy hike in Acadia (on the quiet side of the island) where you can climb on rocks and explore tide pools - I'll try to find the name of it. The coast of Maine is spectacular!!

BBEAR

The trail is called Wonderland (appropriate name!) on the west side of the island. It's not well marked but ask a ranger for directions before you head out. You can get tons of great info at the National Park Service website. It's more of a walk than a "hike" but it's beautiful!

Judyrem

Bubble rocks are good too! Don't do the beehive...I was scared to death!!!!

tracys2cents

I've read some bad reviews of Thurstons lately, stuff like "what in the world has HAPPENED to this once-great place?". I would recommend TrentonBridgeLobster

dbenya

We just got back from Bar Harbor/Acadia and can recommend:

Jordan Pond trail -- always pleasant to either begin or end with popovers on the lawn at Jordan Pond House

Gorham Mountain trail -- varied terrain and a rewarding view at the top

We've found 'A Walk in the Park' -- available at the visitor center -- to be a great help in picking trails.

We found Thurston's to be as good as ever, but also enjoyed Tidal Falls. (Be forewarned, it's byob.)

Reel Pizza is the best. Get there early to snag a couch!

gigi

We just got back from 3 nights in Boothbay and 3 nights in Bar Harbor and had a great time. Here are my rec's:
Great Head is a really nice moderate trail in Bar Harbor and mt. penobscot is a bit more strenuous but really beautiful. We took the mailboat to Isle Au Haut from Stonington (1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from BH) and although it was lovely, we thought it was a lot of trouble to go to and did not exceed the beauty of Acadia (IAH is also part of the Acadia NP). We though Monhegan Island was a better day trip (from Boothbay or Camden).
We kayaked in Boothbay and it was a lot of fun to go around the islands there.
The Boothbay Land Trust has a website describing the hiking areas there and we tried most of them. All were very pretty but we especially loved Oven's Mouth. here is the link: http://www.bbrlt.org/Hiking.htm
I agree w/Judyrem - the beehive is the scariest thing I ever did!

goatsgruff

thanks so much for your insights!

our top 4 trails to hike in acadia are:
ocean path, gorham, beehive and great head.

we'll also bike the carriage roads, too.

pretty sure we'll kayak in boothbay.

of course, we'll be eating lobster for bf, l and d.

i'll check back on friday in case anyone has any other thoughts.

we leave sunday morning... can't wait!

jeff

fuzzbo

This is so timely as we are leaving on Monday to go to Bar Harbor

Question about the trails: are these trails that we could walk with a 3 year old? We've done hikes before with our all terrain stroller,too...any of the trails work with that?

We'll be stopping in Portland along the way: lunch recommendations? Something that locals like, fairly casual...we're open to any kind of fare.

The pizza place sounds great! Any other recommendations for breakfast, lunch, dinner in Bar Harbor? We have a 3 year old who eats anything, again - open to various fare, but we're not interested in anything too formal.

Thanks!

tovarich

Dont miss the Bass harbor lighthouse.Paul

gigi

I'm glad found the info you're looking for. Maine is the best! I can't wait to go back next year. Just one comment to make sure you know what you are getting into with the beehive b/c many people do not and you see them stop halfway up b/c they changed their minds. It is very advanced. there are iron rungs in places that you need to hang on to to get from one rock you can stand on to another. Not for the faint of heart! Just a cautionary - that may be what you are looking for. IT was really fun but so, so scary I couldn't believe that they actually let people climb it. We hike a lot too. I just don't want you to be stuck halfway up. Good news is that you don't have to come down the same way, the trail back down is really nice and easy. Let us know. Also Jordans' was good for breakfast right in town and the fish house grill at the pier is nice for a very casual dinner with great blueberry beer and steamers and oysters and fish. You can walk the shore path that starts right next to it afterwards too. Have fun!

gigi

fuzzbo,
there are 50 miles of carriage trails that you could walk with the stroller. I think I saw a stroller or two on the really pretty path that circles Jordan Pond, though it is a bit rough and has a lot of wood walkways that are thin or have a gap in the middle. Jordan's is great for breakfast (blueberry pancakes are the specialty) and it was interesting to see how the waitresses worked with the 3 short order cooks.

Judyrem

Gigi, I almost turned around mid way...what a scary thing...but going down looked even worse...so I took a deep breath and pulled like crazy and made it! The wooden and metal walkways over the crevices scared me to death! There were a family with young children that zoomed up past me...I don't knwo how the little ones pulled tthemselves up! I think middle age ladies should be banned from the beehive! ;-)

gigi

Judyrem,
Same thing with us. The only reason we kept going up was because we were too afraid to go down. My husband and I didn't say one word to each other until we got to the top, we were so scared!
Quite and experience though!

Judyrem

Gigi, when we got to the top, we were exhausted and relieved! We were talking to a fireman and his wife and HE was scared to death too! I was thinking when I was "stuck" midway, that my husband should call 911...what an embarassing moment that would have been!!!!! LOL You're right though, I will never forget the Beehive!