Acadia National Park

October 29-November 1, 2018

TL;DR: We made it to Maine at just the right time: The fall colors were in full bloom, it hadn’t started snowing yet, and hardly anyone was around. There’s not a whole lot that can beat Acadia’s rugged coastline dotted with reds, oranges, yellows, and greens. Though lobster rolls come close.

The sights

Bangor, Maine

Jess has recently gotten into Stephen King, so we stopped by his house in Bangor, which is the inspiration for the fictional city of Derry in his books. Creepy. It’s a pretty beautiful, huge red house with a spider web gate and …a red balloon in front! Yes.

Bar Harbor

Right outside Acadia, Bar Harbor is picturesque. It was pouring when we arrived, so we went straight to Atlantic Brewing Co. Met some lovely humans from Saratoga Springs who were on their honeymoon. We really wanted to get a growler of their beer, but they wouldn’t fill it up. Will anyone??

Acadia National Park

We love. This. Park. Need more time. Definitely coming back.

Day one

We drove in through the Cadillac entrance on Park Loop Road on the east side.

Took a bit of time to get to Otter Point because we stopped about every three minutes to take pictures and look at the incredible colors.

Hiked at Sand Beach and then over to Great Head. Got a liiiiittle lost up there because the signage isn’t great. Cool combination of walking through the trees and being up high on cliffs. Could even see the water line up there.

Beautiful red bushes, tree-covered hills, and gorgeous cliffs along the edge. Fall colors like we’ve never seen before! We were pretty turned around when we saw an elderly couple who also seemed lost. We went separate ways and were a little nervous leaving them… But when we came out of the bottom, they came out at about the same time. Success!

Drove to Otter Point and walked along the cliffs. Discovered that people even rock climb there, which is flat-out terrifying.

Up on the east side of the center peninsula, we were surprised by how many houses there were along the peninsula and the harbors. #goals

Day two

We got a sunny day and it was spectacular.

Our first stop was supposed to be the picnic area at Pretty Marsh, on the west coast of the peninsula, but it was closed.

So we went back to a commercial road that went out to the coast and caught a group of fisherman/crustacean-catchers who were unloading a boat while singing. Not staged.

Then we headed back down south and ended up exploring the Long Pond Fire Road. It wasn’t paved, but still in pretty good shape (other than a few low hanging branches) and full of colorful trees with views out onto Long Pond and Hogdon Pond.

Drove down to the southern tip and stopped at Bass Harbor Lighthouse.

Next was Ship Harbor, where we took a walk down through the trees to the water. The tide was out, so there was a lot of smelly mud.

At just the right time, we happened upon Charlotte’s on the last day they were open (yay!). While we ate lobster, we talked to Charlotte’s dad, Gil, who shared a lot of wonderful things. Namely:

Maine is a place for contemplation and finding yourself.
He hates Henry Kissinger and Nixon (from when he worked with them in DC).
He has dual citizenship in Maine and Switzerland.
He was joined there by a friend who was a ham radio operator that had been to every county in the country (allegedly).

So, yeah. We ate lunch with Gil, and then were on our way.

Echo Lake Beach looked pretty fun/intense. The only available route involved climbing iron ladders on the side of the cliffs, which seemed a bit extreme for the cold and wet weather and us.

Instead, we drove over to the middle section of the peninsula and biked on the carriage roads created by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. We had them mostly to ourselves and frequently had to stop to take pictures of the amazing views: huge patches of colorful trees and small lakes/ponds in the distance. The ride was pretty manageable for the first 75% with some mild uphill parts and steep downhill sections. Then the last 25% was mostly uphill—not steep, but long.