Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, ME

Since this was our first time in Maine, our top priority was to visit Acadia National Park. We settled into Hadley’s Point Campground on Mount Desert Island for the first two weeks of June. The busiest section of the park and the town of Bar Harbor are on Mount Desert Island. This was shoulder season so we enjoyed a mostly empty campground with cheaper rates, uncrowded trails, Spring was in full bloom, and we even had a few warm sunny days.

The weather was perfect on the Sunday we arrived so we set out to drive Acadia’s Loop Road. We quickly saw how special Acadia is with the forest meeting the Atlantic, the pink granite, the mountains, and the crystal clear lakes and ponds.

The first major site along the Loop is Sand Beach, which is quite rare in this part of Maine’s rocky coastline.

You can park along most of this section of road and hop onto the Ocean Path trail for stunning views of the Atlantic (L). Thunder Hole (R) gets its name from the sound it makes 2 hours before high tide when the waves crash into a cave beneath the rocks. When we first saw it the ocean was swallowing the lookout point!

The next two photos are of Little Hunters Beach (L) and Jordan Pond (R).

One day after work we hiked Acadia’s most popular trail, the Beehive. It’s one of several trails in the park that have iron rungs and ladders and is definitely not for anyone with a fear of heights.

We also hiked The Bubbles which are the two rounded peaks on the far edge of Jordan Pond.

One of the most popular things to do in the park is watch the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain (timed reservations required). It’s the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard and from October-March it’s the first place to see the sunrise in the US. On the day we went, at 3:30am because all the good stuff happens an hour before the actual 4:50am sunrise, we saw nothing because the summit was fogged in!

Oh well. We made the most of the day by heading to the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, which we had to ourselves. At low tide you can walk out onto the rocks and see this iconic view of the lighthouse.

We drove by some of the cute harbors on this quiet side of Mount Desert Island.

And hiked the Beech Cliff and Canada Cliff Loop, which is another iron rung and ladder trail. I think we could spend an entire summer hiking in Acadia.

During our 2 weeks we also spent a lot of time wandering around Bar Harbor, walking along the Shore Path, shopping for the perfect t-shirts, and trying all the goodies.

At low tide we walked across the gravel bar, of which Bar Harbor is named, over to Bar Island. There is a small hill you can hike up to get a view back toward the town.

And then, Michael took some time off work and his parents flew up to travel with us!! We spent a couple of days exploring Acadia together, starting with Cadillac Mountain.

We drove the Loop Road, hiked the Ship Harbor trail in Southwest Harbor, and then had our first ever lobster supper at Thurston’s Lobster Pound. About 15 minutes after this photo was taken, a lady from the next table came over and asked if she could help with my lobster because she couldn’t handle watching me struggle with it any longer!

The next morning we hiked the Jordan Pond trail and had the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

Afterward, we spent the rest of the day in Bar Harbor, walking along the Shore Path, shopping, listening to the live music on the lawn of the Ivy Manor Inn, and having tapas at Project Social.

Next up is our family roadtrip to the Canadian Maritimes!