I’m a creature of habit when it comes to vacations. I always seem to plan a trip during the year that goes to the ocean or the mountains. Sometimes I even manage both in the same year! I have a list of states I need to visit, so when planning the trip for late September 2021, I went to that list to figure out where to go this year. I decided that Michael and I would go to Maine. Despite all the planning and preparation, I honestly didn’t know what to expect when we finally got to Maine.
Throughout our Maine road trip, while enjoying myself, I still didn’t know what all the hype was about, but then we got to Acadia National Park. My friend, Olivia, raved about this national park. At first, I was like, "there’s nothing special about it," but on our last day as I was looking at the ocean with the mountains behind me reflecting on the last few days I realized that this national park had become one of my favorites. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is another that will always have a special place in my heart, but that’s a story for another time.
Acadia National Park is called the “Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic Coast.” It certainly is an impressive national park with its hikes, views, and scenic drives. We stayed at the Bar Harbor/Oceanside KOA in one of the camping cabins. This part of the Maine trip was going to be devoted to hiking and our last night would include a schooner sunset sail tour.
Day 1
We first stopped at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center. This is where we got our maps, found our Advice From shirt (sadly, Acadia missed the memo about clever puns), and paid our entrance fees. Checking the shuttle bus schedule, we got on board to go to our first hike in Acadia, the Beehive loop.
Michael knew the hike’s name and that it was around 2 miles. As we came to a cross roads in the trail, he looked up at a huge cliff face and watched as people were climbing it. He chatted with other hikers that were in the area that were saying things like “You’d have to be crazy” or “Wow, that is really scary.” After they went on, Michael turned to me asking which way to go and I pointed at the huge cliff face he was looking at. I gave him the option to turn it down knowing that it was a loop, and we could take the backway.
We were very thankful for our new hiking boots as we climbed up the steep trail. We took a stop at an overlook of the Sand Beach. We were greeted by other hikers a group of older gentlemen and another married couple with their 4-month-old baby. At this point of the trail, you start going up the cliff face with the help of rung and ladder sections. The only part where I got afraid was when you must go over a small metal bridge with nothing underneath you. Michael kept talking to himself as he realized that he had a healthy fear of heights (Editor's/Michael's note: a VERY healthy fear of heights). As this trail climbs, impressive views of the Maine coastline begin to appear especially as you get above the tree line.
Once we reached the summit, we took a break for lunch to admire the view and to people watch. After feeling rested we continued along the trail to the Bowl Pond. The view at the pond is very beautiful and peaceful as most people take the shorter route via the connector trail after hiking up Beehive. Continuing our hike out, we got an impressive view of Beehive. We stopped to look up at it and reveled in our accomplishment. We talked to some other hikers as they too stopped to look up at what they had achieved.
We made our way to Sand Beach to take it easy and figure out what to do before we checked-in to the KOA. At Sand Beach, we rested for awhile enjoying the view and watching people. We watched a dog that was so excited about going into the ocean. He ran into the waves and immediately regretted his decision. The water was icy cold so he quickly ran out and refused to get any closer to the water edge. After Michael was well rested, we decided to check out the other side of the beach to make our way to another trail, Great Head Trail.
Great Head Trail is a moderate ranked hike, but compared to what we just experience with Beehive it was quite easy. This trail offers spectacular ocean views along the coast and has some wooded sections. There is some slight scrambling up rocks, but nothing compared to Beehive. We found an overlook that looked out onto the ocean and had impressive views of Sand Beach with Beehive in the background. We continued to the summit marker which is near by some ruins of an early 1900s tea house. We then made our way back to Sand Beach. We hopped on the shuttle bus and discussed what hikes we would do the next two days.
We checked in to the KOA. The cabins were hidden away in a nook by themselves. We liked the extra seclusion, but for others it was annoying to ferry luggage from the parking area to the cabins. Then we had dinner at the KOA's food-truck-kitchen-trailer-thing. It was both unique and tasty.
Day 2
On our second day we decided to go up Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac Mountain at 1,530 feet is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard. There are many ways to get up to the summit. The most popular is the scenic Summit Road, however to visit via car you must have a reservation if visiting mid-May to mid-October. Michael and I decided to hike up by using the Cadillac North Ridge Trail, which is a 4.4-mile round trip.
As we started hiking it was quite foggy and even a bit chilly. We started the hike in woods, but the higher we got, the rockier it became. Also, the higher and higher we climbed, the more of a view we were getting even if at times we were just getting the clouds going through the mountains. At one point we reached a clearing on a rock face and were able to see Bar Harbor below, but the fog was so thick that you couldn’t see the ocean it just looked like higher mountains in the distance instead of little islands scattered around the harbor.
As we reached the summit, parts of it were clearing and we were able to get impressive views. We ate lunch on an outcrop of rocks and watched some more clouds roll in to block our views. On most of the other hikes we had seen a sign that pinpointed the summit so before we left, we tried to locate said post only to realize it was a small geographical survey metal marker in a stone! It was quite comedic trying take a picture near it.
As we finish our exploration of the summit, we descended back down the way we had come. This time we were able to get different views as the fog had cleared off and the sun came out more. It also made the hike down a lot warmer especially when we were on exposed rock.
After the hike, we decided to reward ourselves with a wine tasting at Bar Harbor Cellars. Michael and I each picked six wines to sample. We were amazed by how friendly and knowledgeable the staff were on their wines especially since they have a rotating menu. The guy who served us also recommended, C-Ray Lobster, as a great place for us to get a lobster dinner and clam chowder.
Later, we took his advice to go to C-Ray Lobster. It was quite busy with a long line and limited places to sit. Most of the seating is outside and there is a small portion of the seating under a pavilion. I got my lobster dinner and Michael got his clam chowder along with a local beer. Both the lobster and clam chowder were amazing! After having our main dinner, we opted to also get dessert, which was homemade Maine Blueberry pie, which was also extremely delicious.
Day 3
On our third and last full day in Acadia we decided to do an easier hike, Jordan Pond. Jordan Pond is a glacier-formed mountain lake with crystal clear water. This 3.1-mile hike offered wonderous scenery and views of the Bubbles.
It is quite a busy trail that loops around the lake. One side is relatively flat which made for easy hiking. The other side was a bit more challenging as you had to scramble on rocks. The more difficult side also had a narrow boardwalk along the trail in sections which made it tough at times to let people pass. Periodically there were wider sections to let you step out of the way. As we hiked on the more challenging section, I spotted a loon swimming in the lake!
The highlight of this hike was lunch at the Jordan Pond House. This restaurant is famous for serving tea and popovers, since the 1890s. It was quite busy, we had about a 45-minute wait which was easily passed by reading info signs and visiting the gift shop nearby. Once we were called, we luckily got to sit out on the lawn, which is a popular tradition. I ordered one popover with a Caesar salad and milk. Michael had one popover with Sheppard’s pie and coffee. The popover was so amazing we both wished we had gotten another! At the end of our meal, we had an important decision to make: to get another popover or dessert with ice cream. Michael and I have a weakness for ice cream, so of course the ice cream won out.
Now to end our last night in Acadia, we went into Bar Harbor to go on the Margaret Todd schooner sunset cruise. We sat towards the front of the schooner. The cruise starts with the crew introducing themselves and telling the passengers a bit about the ship. The crew also called for volunteers to help lift sail. Michael volunteered to help. We sat with a couple and a mother-daughter group. Conversation was easy with us telling of our travels around Maine and other points along our road trip and the others telling of their travels. There was live music playing in the background as we took in the views of the harbor and surrounding islands. While enjoying ourselves, that’s when we noticed the guy across from us kneeling and proposing to his girlfriend. It was awkward for us because we were like ‘uh, we need to give them a private moment, but should we be recording this special moment for them?’ Luckily, she said yes, and our little group celebrated with them! The mother, of the mother-daughter group, took their photo. We all watched the sunset over Bar Harbor.
After the cruise, Michael and I decided to walk a bit around the town of Bar Harbor since we had not really gone into it since we spent most of our time at the national park. There were only a few shops that were still open. We did manage to find good deals on some long-sleeve Bar Harbor shirts though.
Day 4
We packed up our stuff at the KOA and decided that we still had time to waste. We had yet to go to another popular spot in Acadia, Thunder Hole. This is a spot, if you arrive at the correct time for the tide, when the sea crashes into the rocky shore it sounds like thunder. As the sea crashes in, there is a small cavern where, when the rush of the wave arrives, air and water is forced out like a clap of distant thunder. The water may even spout as high as 40 feet. However, Michael and I did not arrive at the correct time. So, the thunder noise was more of a gurgle.
We just watch the waves crash into the shore at Thunder Hole. After a while we drove on to another point to just look out at the ocean. While just sitting there I realized how much I really didn’t want to leave Acadia National Park.
But we had to go onward to our next adventure!
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