Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these! We got back from our cross country trip on July 1 and haven’t done much traveling since. One does have to work on occasion. 🙂

We had two additional camping outings this summer. One to Boothbay, Maine for a few days in August and the other just recently to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. Both outings were entirely enjoyable!

Since I’m trying to have this blog be a repository for our travel adventures and since Acadia National Park is such a special place and one that we absolutely love, I decided to do a post.

For any of our New England friends who haven’t taken the time to visit Acadia or haven’t been in quite awhile, we strongly encourage you to visit. It is just SO SPECIAL with the mountains and the ocean. It’s an intimate National Park, rather then the behemoths on the West Coast, which are spectacular but can feel overwhelming because they are SO BIG.

Acadia is slightly over 49,000 acres. Park Loop Road is 27 miles and winds it’s way through coastland, mountains, and lakes ending at the top of Cadillac Mountain. There are 45 miles of packed gravel historic carriage roads that are great for hiking and biking. Acadia is one of the most visited national parks in the country and embodies the beautiful rocky Maine coast. It is spectacular and well worth a visit… often… if you happen to live in this part of the country!

On this particular visit, we had the benefit of Tropical Storm “Jose” offshore which churned up the waters and gave us amazing surf. Thunder Hole along Park Loop Road is known for the sound that is made when the waves crash into the “Hole.” Although most times there’s not much thunder going on unless you are there after a storm. This was such a time, and it lived up to it’s name! Ocean Path along Park Loop Road is a walking path that winds along the ocean and the rocky shore. All of which was at the height of it’s glory because of Jose.

We stayed at the KOA Oceanside where we used to have a seasonal campsite once upon a time when it was under a different name. We had the best site (thank you Carolyn!) with spectacular views thru all the back windows of our 5th wheel across Western Bay. And enjoyed amazing sunsets and even a moon set one night in front of the campfire. That was very cool with a crescent moon reflecting over the water and fireworks across the bay. The moon set at about 9 pm. Apparently early autumn moon sets in this area are typical. Who knew!

It’s always interesting to see what other campers choose for their “tiny homes.” We had a chance to see our first Rotel… a rolling hotel on wheels. Half tour bus and half hotel. It sleeps about 25 in coffin-sized sleeping chambers. Not very appealing to us but fascinating to look at. They are produced by a German company. (Reminded me of how mushers transport their dogs to races.) Pictures are below.

We visited and walked Ship Harbor Trail, which is also along the coast and made more spectacular this trip because of “Jose.” Also we walked the Shore Path which is in downtown Bar Harbor. You are treated to the ocean (and Fall Foliage Cruise Ships) on one side and historic homes and hotels on the other side of the narrow pathway. The Shore Path is along private property but open to the public by the grace of the property owners.

Things we didn’t have a chance to do this time… hike the carriage trails, which were created by John D. Rockefeller Jr. as a way to see Acadia without the use of motorized vehicles. There are over 45 miles of packed gravel carriage roads with 16 stone bridges and two gatehouses that were built in the 1920’s. Pretty spectacular. We usually hike one of the carriage trails but the water was just too much of a draw this time. Another fun thing is to walk across to Bar Island, which can only be done during low tide and is within walking distance to downtown Bar Harbor. How often can you walk to an island! But, alas, we ran out of time.

We had two sets of friends/camping buddies stop by for a visit on Sunday who now live in the Bar Harbor area and who we used to camp with more-years-ago-than-I-care-to-admit. Lovely to see them all!

Weather was a balmy 85 degrees for our visit. We were in shorts and flip-flops and I sat in a chair by the water’s edge with my feet in the water to cool off. Unheard of at the end of September usually!

We will visit Acadia again and I encourage you all to as well!

That’s it for us for this calendar year for camping. We look forward to new adventures next spring… hope everyone has a safe winter and do share your travels with us please! We’d love to hear about them!! Much love to you all!