July 2020

Acadia National Park is located on Mount Desert Island in coastal Maine, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. In 1917 John D. Rockefeller, Jr, who owned a home on the island, built a 57-mile network of trails for horse-drawn carriages. Today these are known as the carriage trails, made of fine loose gravel and winding throughout the central region of the park, around lakes and through forests. The trails were a big draw for us.

Once we checked into our campground in Bass Harbor we took off with the bikes in tow to check out the park. We made a brief stop at the visitors center for a park map and carriage trail map and then set off for the Eagle Lake parking lot to start our first ride. We rode an 11-mile route past Eagle Lake, Bubble Pond and Jordan Pond. At one point we pasted a gated lodge built in 1932 to keep motor vehicles off Rockefeller’s carriage roads. The lodge is now a residence for park employees. Pretty cool digs!

Two days later we were back in the park with our bikes for another ride. This time we started on the western edge of the carriage trails and rode the Mountain and Hadlock Loops, about 15 miles in total. We stopped in a beautiful spot along a stream for lunch. I was really glad to have my ebike since the trails are quite hilly and it was a pleasure going uphill on my new bike 🙂

On the way back to our campground we stopped at the Park Headquarters campground to meet up with our friends from Tampa, Pete and Brenda, who were volunteering in the park this summer. They offered to take me on a hike the next afternoon and I quickly agreed! We hiked 3.3 miles along the Gorham Mountain Trail with a 525 foot summit, offering spectacular views of the coastline from the top. It’s rated as moderate but was plenty rugged for me. We took the Gorham Mountain Cadillac Cliff Trail, which breaks to the right for a short bypass. It was quite rough in places but worth the extra effort so I would recommend this route, especially if you are wearing proper climbing shoes. Due to Covid-19 we did wear face masks when passing by other hikers but crowds were thin so we had them off most of the time.

At the summit were views of Sand Beach and Otter Cliff. It was a fantastic hike and I highly recommend it!

The next day Jade came to spend the afternoon and night with us by herself (her first night a way from Finn since he was born a year ago). Richard took us on a drive on the Park Loop Road and we drove to the top of the 1,530′ Cadillac Mountains for fabulous views of the coastline, even though it was a bit hazy.

After returning to the Park Loop Road Richard dropped us off at Sand Beach so that we could walk the Ocean Path down to Otter Point, approximately 2 miles. We agreed to rendezvous in an hour and Jade and I set off on our hike. It was absolutely stunning and I couldn’t stop taking pictures! This is another hike you shouldn’t miss and it’s very flat and easy.

There is so much more to see and do in this park. If you are up for a real hiking challenge, Precipice and Beehive Trails offer difficulty in spades but be prepared to navigate numerous iron rungs, ladders, handrails and wooden bridges to get to the top. Maybe in my younger days I would have been up for the dare but I’ll be 60 soon so I’m living more cautiously 🙂

This is a wonderful destination National Park to visit with lots of fantastic places to stay not far outside of the park and proximity to the cute town of Bar Harbor, not to mention abundant lobster. I highly recommend a visit. We’ll definitely be back!