Acadia National Park, ME

We got up this morning, walked Auggie, and checked to make sure we had the green light to change campsites. Luckily, the site we were moving to was empty, so we packed things up about 9:30 and moved 1/8 mile closer to the entrance. We backed in and had a little bit of trouble getting unhooked from the hitch. With a little help from our new neighbors from Canada, we were set up again and ready to leave for Acadia National Park by 10:30. 

The Canadians were leaving and they were kind enough to give us their park pass. It had 5 days left on it (the pass is for 7 days) and saved us $20. That was very kind of them. We headed into the park at the Hull’s Cove Visitor Center entrance.

Our scenic drive on the 27 mile Park Look Road began along oceanside cliffs and through mountain forests.

The water color was a deep blue and the trees were a vibrant green.

Unfortunately, the park is plagued by pollution from the large metropolitan areas along the East Coast. When the trade winds from the southwest blow up the coastline to Maine, they bring along all those pollutants. You can see the haze in many of my photographs even though it looked pretty clear from where we stood. As we drove along, one view was more spectacular than the next.

We started with a drive up Cadillac Mountain (1530 ft.), the highest point on the East Coast.

This is a view of the road coming up Cadillac Mountain. If you look real close you might be able to see a car on it. Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast. Here we viewed it from a distance.

From the top, we had stunning 360 degree views of Bar Harbor, Frenchman’s Bay, and the Cranberry and Porcupine Islands.

We continued on the road that took us along the rim of the rocky cliffs to Sand Beach.

We could tell it was a popular place by all the people who had gathered there.

We found a place to park and walked down the steps to the pink granite and shell beach. It was a nice sunny day, but the temp was 63 degrees at the beach and 73 degrees in the mountains. There was a brisk wind blowing over the 50 degree water and yet there were still people swimming in the water. We were very glad that we went on our whale watching tour the day before with the wind kicking up waves and whitecaps on the water today.

I just had to test the water for myself….but not for long!!! Brrrrrr! It felt as cold as Lake Michigan in August back in Wisconsin. The beach is 290 yards wide, snuggled between the mountains and rarely reaches temps warmer than 55 degrees. I can attest to that!!

We drove farther along the coast with more fantastic views of the beach and rocky cliffs. 

This time our stop was at Thunder Hole.

Here the surf races in to the naturally carved inlet and with the right conditions will explode as high as 40 ft. with a thunderous roar.

The wind, tide, and wave conditions weren’t strong enough today, but we did hear a couple of loud booms….enough to get the idea.

From there, we could enjoy the views of the beautiful Otter Cliffs. This is what I imagined the Maine shoreline to look like.

From the park road, we took a side trip to the town of Seal Harbor.

From the beach there, we were able to view the assortment of boats on moorings in the harbor.

They were well-protected from the wind and waves around the corner. We drove farther along the shoreline and down to the water’s edge where we saw this quaint Scandinavian-looking chapel.

The Park Loop Road continued taking us north as we looked for moose in the low-lying marshy areas. In the higher elevations, we traveled parallel to Jordan Pond (which Bob said was too big to be a pond) and Eagle Lake which was twice as big. They were such a deep azure blue against the green forest and blue sky. We passed a couple of carriage roads that are used only for carriage rides, biking, and hiking.

No motor vehicles are allowed. We picked out a couple of trails to do some biking in the next day or two. Down the road we passed a beautiful older house. Bob called it the Hansel and Gretel house. I had a lot of character.

We arrived back at the campsite at 3:30 and sat down to relax and let Auggie walk check out the squirrels. He heard and smelled one nearby, but couldn’t see him up this tree.

It wasn’t long before our new friend, Eileen, walked up. She sat down and talked with us for the next hour. We made plans to go to dinner together. Bob and I did some trip planning before we picked them up from their campsite and went down the road to Bar Harbor Lobster Pound for a lobster dinner.

This restaurant served their lobster family style with corn-on-the-cob on the side. You could also choose soft-shelled or hard-shelled lobster from the lobster pound outside.

When the lobster came, we were all ready to dig in.

We all enjoyed our dinner and Chuck topped his off with a slice of blueberry pie.

We chatted for awhile and went back to the campground, to our own individual campsites for the evening. They would be leaving tomorrow, heading off to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island….the same direction we were going. Maybe we run into them again. Bob built us a nice campfire while Auggie and I took our evening walk. Our new location provides us with a good vantage point for watching campers arrive and depart. It was quite entertaining. The campground is supposed to be full for the weekend, but our neighbors on one side have yet to arrive. I made myself some hot chocolate and we say around the fire until darkness fell and it got chilly…yes, I said chilly. Can you believe it? This is just the way I pictured Maine would be!