Acadia National Park, Maine
Mount Desert Island, the home of Acadia National Park, has a rich history dating back 5,000 years. Native Americans lived, hunted, and fished on the island. The French, explorer Samuel Champlain, named the island Isles des Monts Déserts in 1604, 16 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In 1759, British troops won key battles in Quebec and ended the French settlements on Mount Desert Island. Settlers made their way by making furniture, farming and fishing on Mount Desert Island.
George B. Dorr, worked tirelessly, in the early 1900's to conserve the land on Mt. Desert Island. He and other investors started a group to preserve land and acquired over 6,000 acres. Dorr offered the land to the federal government and in 1916, President Wilson created Sieur de Monts National Monument. Dorr continued to buy more land and fought to have it made into a National Park. In 1919, President Wilson and Congress, change it into Lafayette National Park. Dorr became the park's first superintendent and in 1929, the named changed to Acadia National Park.
Acadia National Park:
- 47,000 acres on Mount Desert Island, Maine
- One of the most visited parks each year, averaging 3 million people
- Contains 7 peaks above 1,000 feet
- 158 miles of hiking trails
- 45 miles of Carriage Roads
- 16 Stone Bridges
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Sunrise 4:48a, June 20, 2018, from the top of Cadillac Mountain
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Park Loop Road:
Acadia occupies most of Mount Desert Island broken into the eastern and western halves of the island. The eastern side hosts the Park Loop Road and is the most trafficked part of the park.
Cadillac Mountain:
We started at the visitor's center and made our way to Cadillac Mountain, where on our first day, it was freezing!!
Schooner Head Overlook:
We continued on Park Loop Road and pulled off at Schooner Head Overlook, where we were told by a nice lady in the parking lot to walk down a path to the ocean and you can see a cave. Brodey was incredibly anxious to climb something, so off we went. Here are the breath taking views we discovered:
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| Doug taking Loki and my picture |
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| Brodey on the side of the cliffs |
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| Dunovan blending into the rocks |
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| Brodey climbed into the cave |
We went Back to Schooner Head another day because we loved it there so much....
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| I love this one of Dunovan just soaking in the view |
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| Doug in the cave at low tide |
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| Brodey in the cave |
The Beehive:
Not far from Schooner Head, we stopped to take The Beehive Trail to the top of Beehive Mountain. Not a long trail, just under a mile, but the challenge is its 520 vertical climb using iron rugs. The views were well worth it!
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| Always interesting when this is at the beginning of the trail. |
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| Just before the big climb... |
Here we go....
Doug and I are glad we didn't tell our moms we were doing this climb ahead of time, ;-) Doug was the photographer on the way up and he followed me the whole way. Such a gentleman (really I just think he didn't want to have the stress of being a single dad!)
We made it safe and sound and all in one piece, well, Doug scrapped his knee but he embraced the bleed and didn't want a band-aid.
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| Sand Beach from the top of Beehive Mountain |
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| Egg Rock from the top of Beehive Mountain |
Don't worry- we didn't have to go down the way we came up, there was a nice smooth path than led us back down. Lots of people actually go up that way but what is the fun in that!?! We passed The Bowl and had some more beautiful views on the way down.
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| The Bowl |
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| I'm so short! |
Eagle Lake and Carriage Road:
We did a nice 4 mile ride around Eagle Lake. We even got to stop and have our picture taken under one of the many stone bridges in the park.
Cadillac Mountain at Sunrise:
Doug convinced us that driving to the top of Cadillac Mountain was a good thing- it was actually a phenomenal thing!! We got up at 3:40 am and could already see peaks of light on the horizon. It was a half-hour drive from our camp ground to Cadillac Mountain and the place was packed when we got there. It was a beautiful, clear morning and a perfect day for sunrise. Dunovan time-lapsed the event, hope you can play it.
June 20, 2018. Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine. 4:48AM.
Dorr Mountain Ladder Trail and Dorr Rim Trail:
A 3 mile loop with the 1st 1/2 made up of granite steps and a few ladders. This trail was not crowded and I think may have "Broke Brodey." His take was that he likes to "Climb rocks, not steps!" But we all made it to the top and the views were amazing. It gave us a great look at Bar Harbor with a cruise ship in the harbor. We had a nice lunch at the top, took some pictures, and walked the Dorr Rim Trail back down. Highly recommend this trail.
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| See that red dot, that is Doug's truck from about 1/4 way up the beginning of the trail. |
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| A little friend we made along the way. |
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| We made it!! |
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| Doug made it too! |
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| Bar Harbor from Dorr Mountain |
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| Much easier trip back down but still hard on the knees! |
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| Picture looking up at Dorr Mountain from the road. |
The West Side of Mount Desert Island:
We took a 1/2 a day to explore part of the west side of the island but still parts of Acadia NP. Take a ride with us....
Bar Harbor Head Light House:
This light house is on most of the promotional fliers for Acadia NP. It was serene seeing it in person. Good way to spend a rainy day.
SeaWall:
Bar Harbor:
One of the highlights of Mount Desert Island is Bar Harbor. We visited the town several times to shop and have dinner. We enjoyed seeing the cruise ships and sail boats in the harbor, people walking their dogs in the park, and going in and out of the many shops. It is a very dog friendly town and the shops didn't mind us bringing Loki in with us the one day we had him with us.
Here are some photos of Bar Harbor from various locations and the only ones we took while we were there. Guess we were to busy shopping and eating.
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| Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain |
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| Egg Rock |
Sun is getting real low....
So this ends our time in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island. These pictures are from our ocean front campground. Everyday we got to enjoy the sunset while sitting outside of our camper or walking around on the shore.
