Our Snail Tracks

October 7, 2024

What a contrast to leave the isolated Maine woods and arrive at busy Acadia National Park. This beautiful park on the rocky Atlantic coast is one of the top-10 most-visited national parks in the country, with 4 million visitors a year.

The park is mostly located on Mount Desert Island, the largest island off the coast of Maine. There is a nice Park Loop Road that stretches 27 miles around several popular hikes, lakes, and viewing points. We made a few attempts to get to the historical Jordan Pond House for lunch, arriving two hours before our reservation. After circling the lot for 45 minutes and hassling with the traffic, we gave up. We quickly learned to avoid the most popular spots, as it was way too crowded.

We did enjoy visiting the remote and quiet Seawall area. We also enjoyed seeing the Bass Harbor Head Light Station (but parking here was nearly impossible with a hundred cars vying for a spot in a lot for only about 12 cars.) You can take a short hike and climb onto some granite boulders below the lighthouse. From that vantage point it is not hard to imagine how remote the area was for a lonely lighthouse keeper.

Out of all our exploring through the park, my favorite activity was a bike ride on the old Carriage Road around Echo Lake. Between 1913-1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. funded the construction of 45 miles of gravel roads throughout Acadia designed for horse-drawn carriages. Today they are open to hikers, bike riders and horses only. It is great to escape the crowds and enjoy the deep woods around a gorgeous lake.

We also enjoyed our campground spot just outside the park. Our view of the bay was pretty and we had nice camping neighbors.