Acadia National Park, Maine 2020

August 13-17, 2020

It was already mid summer 2020, Cabin fever from the coronavirus epidemic was affecting us all, and we happened to hear a Pandora ad targeting Vermont residents that Maine is open and welcoming visitors from a few select, low-coronavirus areas. Just like when you go to a grocery store hungry you buy more food, the ad worked on us because we were so hungry for exploration and adventure and ocean time. We had never been to Acadia National Park as a family, and we thought that limited visitors due to coronavirus would make the well-known crowding problems better, so we immediately researched the trip options. We found that while the National Park Service campsites were closed for the season due to Covid-19, private campgrounds were operating and we found (and immediately reserved) an open site at the Mount Desert Campground. That turned out to be an excellent choice.

Previously we avoided going to Acadia because we know it gets incredibly crowded. Despite its small relative size, it was the seventh most visited national park in 2019 (3.4 million, equal to the much larger Grand Teton and just behind Yellowstone), translating into a very high density of people. This year it was still crowded, but had only 65% of the normal visitors so it was less intense and indeed perfect for a first visit. The majority of Acadia National Park is on Mount Desert Island (MDI), separated from mainland Maine by a short channel and causeway.  On the island, there are two major sections or halves of the park divided by a sound, with the eastern side much more crowded than the western side.  Coming to Acadia with a western perspective of national parks (we had visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks the previous summer and are familiar with the Utah and Colorado National Parks), it seemed quite strange. The park comprises a patchwork of park parcels that are surrounded by large tracts of private land, as well as large chunks of park splattered with little patches of private land. It is not one continuous chunk of land and especially on the west side you repeatedly drive in and out of national park boundaries while traveling by car.  Interspersed within the blocks of national park land are small inland and coastal towns and active and picturesque harbors.  Acadia National Park does not give the sense of wilderness in the way that, say, Baxter State Park or Yellowstone National Park would. Even after hiking some of the peaks within the park you can still see roads and houses and boats on the ocean.  But, it is nevertheless beautiful and it was great to go with kids. It was fun to see historical houses from the 1800’s and lobster boats working their pots.  We all had a great time and want to return again.

The first full day, we began by visiting the Hull’s Cove Visitor Center. We began by exploring the park loop road, which begins right at the visitor center, and winds its way through the eastern section of MDI section of the park. The loop road accesses some of the most popular sites in the park, such as Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Jordan Pond. Soon after starting on the road, we witnessed the notorious parking hassles in Acadia at the Sand Beach/Beehive hike parking areas. At mid-morning, it was already overfilled, so we kept moving, not even attempting to get a spot amongst the chaos. The drive guides you through coastal areas that in my mind are so typical of Maine coastlines: rocky and lined with coniferous forests with fishing vessels offshore. In a word, breathtaking.

Eager to leave the crowds behind, we headed over to the western side of MDI (the quieter side) to explore. One of the main reasons we wanted to experience Acadia was so that our kids could experience ocean, with a particular focus on tidepools. We had read about the Wonderland Trail being the best, most kid-friendly place for such experiences. We actually ended up returning again later for more. It was beautiful and so much fun for the kids. Little crabs and shellfish abounded in the tide pools, but the sea stars that we expected to see remained elusive. We were also excited by seeing a gray seal stick its head out of the water to check us out only sixty feet offshore, and on our second visit we watched a group of eider ducks (mother with young) which was new to us. The hike to the shore from the parking lot is short (less than a mile) and easy (flat and wide and we walked it barefoot). To finish up the first day which was quite hot, we went for a swim at Echo Lake Beach (freshwater) just north of the beautiful town of Southwest Harbor. Although it gets very crowded, on a hot day it is worth stopping there for a dip in the water. It is a nice setting, and the water is cool and refreshing, but not too cold. The ocean water is too cold to swim.

On day two we decided to get a nice and early start to get a parking spot at one of the most popular corners of the park and beat the crowds. We rolled out of bed and took our camp stove to the parking lot at Great Head and had breakfast of oatmeal in the parking lot. This way we avoided the massive crowds of the Sand Beach lot, which usually fills up by late morning, and by being a bit more distant from the usual route. The Great Head to Sand Beach hike delivered exactly the “Acadia” experience I had imagined: it begins with a stunning shoreline overlook with some tidepools and a nearby bell buoy ringing in the mist. There were sizeable waves, and it was slightly foggy and cool. The trail continued up to a rocky headland with an expansive view of the ocean and surrounding parts of the peninsula. Stunning. Continuing around on the western side of the headland, Sand Beach came into view with the plentiful people streaming down from the regular parking lot. Approaching the beach from the rocky side is certainly much less crowded. We stayed on the beach for an hour, and then followed an easy connector trail back to the Great Head parking lot. This was a great hike and is highly recommended, but go early. We didn’t do any scientific study on this, but got the impression that the smaller Great Head parking lot is much less crowded than the Sand Beach parking. It is easily accessible from Schooner Head road in Bar Harbor which does not have an entry station, but once at the parking lot, entry fees are required and you must display the tag on your car (entry fees can be paid at the Hull Cove Visitor Center in Bar Harbor). We even saw rangers coming to check cars.

Later that day, we headed over to the western side of the park to hike the Beech precipice trail to Canada Cliffs trail loop. This hike begins right at the Echo Lake Beach parking lot, at the far end of the lot in the loop, and ascends the cliffs that are seen from the lake. At first glance, the cliffs as seen from the lake appear impenetrable, but the thrilling trail finds a route using steep rock steps and ladders. It is short distance, but strenuous. After reaching the top on a final set of two metal ladders, we followed a short loop from the north side along the top of the cliffs, giving sweeping views of Echo Lake and over to the eastern side of MDI, as well as the ocean to the south. From there, we decided not to descend the steep stairs and ladders and head south along the Canada cliffs trail, which does not go on any steep sections. It was beautiful! After following the rocky ridge line (easy hiking) for some distance, the trail begins to descend through a beautiful pine forest and has very few people which is unusual on Acadia hikes. It was a great hike and we can highly recommend this route.

Day three, our last full day in Acadia National Park, took us to an Acadia classic: the Jordan Pond trail to South Bubble. The “Bubbles” are the two bubble-like hills at the north side of Jordan Pond. Today we also rolled out of bed early (around 7) and drove straight to the parking lot, anticipating that they fill up later in the morning. The very small parking lot for the bubbles was already full! So we continued to the much larger Jordan Pond parking lot, where there were ample spaces available. We had another tailgate-oatmeal breakfast which worked out great. Later, when we returned from the hike by late morning, the parking lot would be full with cars circling around waiting for hints of people about to leave and then turning on blinkers while impatient cars behind them backed up. We were glad we came early.

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The hike starts out very easy along Jordan Pond, a very beautiful lake nestled on MDI and surrounded by scenic hills. The trail is exceedingly well constructed and very easy. We continued along this enjoyable route until we arrived at the junction with the South Bubble Trail. This is the point where the casual, scenic stroll turned into the leg-press uphill on continuous stairs just like the previous day. Actually, we did not do adequate research on this hike, because had we known about the rock scrambling and (light) exposure near the summit, we would have skipped this one with our kids. I had our four-year-old still in a child-carrier on my back, and our athletic eight-year-old was somewhat scared, but ultimately very satisfied when she had completed the climb. The exposure and scrambling is only for the last few dozen feet, and without kids would have been no big deal and in fact quite fun for us. By the way, the exposure is not severe, i.e. if you do take a fall, you would fall no farther than ten feet or so; it is not life-threatening. The strenuous difficult climb up made the summit that much more spectacular, and we enjoyed a nice picnic with spectacular views. It was beautiful. We descended to the north of South Bubble, and decided not to go up North Bubble, saving it for next time. It is definitely on our list, though. We have heard good things. We returned via the east shore of Jordan Pond, the same way we came, and casually walked back to the parking lot. We enjoyed watching a pair of mergansers along the way. By this time, the trail had gotten very crowded, and we were passing people every minute or so. It is a beautiful trail but be prepared for crowds.

After the morning’s hike, we headed over to the Carroll Homestead, which is barely in the National Park on the western side, just north of Southwest Harbor. The primary reason we did this was because Hanna needed to attend a ranger-led program for the junior ranger badge, and this was one of several options. It was quite interesting to see how these hardy people lived. If you are interested in the history of the island, it is interesting to visit. If you have limited time in the park, or are primarily interested in seeing natural wonders in the park, I would recommend skipping this place. Nevertheless, the Park Service does a nice job preserving the site and the interpretive ranger there was very helpful.

This was unfortunately our last full day in Acadia, and the kids wanted more tidepool time before leaving Maine. We went into Bar Harbor for ice cream (Jordan Pond Ice Cream is excellent) but were overall not fans of this extremely touristy town (Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor are so much nicer we thought). The idea was to check out the walk to Bar Island at low tide which seems to be on every “must-do” list for Acadia, but for us it was way too crowded and the tidepools and scenery definitely nowhere near as nice as that off the Wonderland trail. So, we retreated and drove back to the Wonderland trail to let the kids play. It was so nice. They kept playing as the tide was coming in, using the seaweed’s float bladders to make little floating islands for periwinkles. Ellen and I sat on a rock, enjoying watching the kids play and the overall scene was beautiful. So typical Maine.

And that was unfortunately the last of our activities in Acadia National Park, but we are hungry for more. We feel like we only scratched the surface, so we will be back for sure. We had to leave because we had camping reservations in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on our way home to Vermont. We did stop in Ellsworth for lobster and ice cream, and we can HIGHLY recommend both the Union River Lobster Pot, and Morton’s Moo Ice Cream. Both of these places are in the pretty downtown part of the town, just off of Route 1. The Union River Lobster Pot has a very nice setting on the Union River, with great outdoor seating, and the food was wonderful.