My wife and I are on a cruise stopping at Bar Harbor and we would like to hike in the Acadia National Park. Is it possible to hike from downtown up Park Loop Rd and Acadia Parkway without getting run over. Are there trails? If not, can you recommend some hiking expedictions? We have six hours.

If your visit is before Columbus Day, there's a free shuttle:

http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/gettingaround.htm

One other thought: if your cruise offers a bus ride up to the top of Cadillac, you could hike one of the four trails down.

~Liz

Stop at the visitor center & get a trail map. There are many trails of different levels(easy, moderate, difficult) to hike. We loved going up to Bubble Rock & also hiking way above the Lake on the cliffs. It is absolutley beautiful & you can drive to different locations on the Loop & then hike.Hope this helps.

Whatever you decide to do, you will absolutely LOVE Bar Harbor. It's a blast. What time of year are you going? There is some traffic up that route, it's windy roads too.

I have great memories from hikes through Acadia.

Acadia offers tons of hikes of varying length and challenge. elberko is right, up to Columbus Day you can take a shuttle from BH into the park, the best option if you're on foot and short of time. I have hiked most of the trails in the park and am never disappointed. If you're up for a few hours of hiking you can bag several peaks. My recommendation would be to take the bus down the Park Loop road to Sand Beach. If you aren't afraid of heights, take the Precipice trail to the top of Champlain Mountain (its not technical, but there are iron rungs and ladders in the granite to keep you on the face of the cliff). Proceed northwest from the summit back down the west side of Champlain. Then take the ladder trail up Dorr Mtn. From the top of dorr you'll see Cadillac across the valley and feel superior that you walked up while all those other tourists drove up Dadillac. From there you can take a number of trails down Dorr. This total route might be about 4 hours. If you're looking for something a little tamer, try Penobscot and Sargent near Jordan Pond. Even tamer, but also with beautiful views, the Bubbles.

Another option is to rent mountain bikes in BH and check out the carriage trails. wonderful riding. If you can fit it in, go to the Jordan Pond house for popovers or a full lunch. Even as a Mainer who visits this area each year, our family loves the JP house and makes it a special stop after a long bike ride or hike.

Hope you love New England's National Park!

We picked up a little trail guidebook for a couple of dollars in the bookstore on the main street in Bar Harbor. We found it quite useful.

Definitely go to the Jordan Pond House - its a tradition to have a popover there after your hike or ride. We went twice in one week.

Another vote for Jordan Pond HOuse. Just thinking about those popovers make me salivate!