I’ll remember Acadia for its burst of colors, for our peaceful bike ride through the car-free Carriage Roads, and the big waves crashing upon Thunder Hole. Maine I will remember by its stereotypes— lobster, of course, and a lighthouse perched on the cliff. It was one of the most autumn-embracing experiences we could have had in our first autumn back on the east coast, and I cherished it so.

Best Time to Go

In our opinion, the best time to go is definitely in the fall, to see the foliage change beautiful colors. Peak foliage is usually around mid October, but you can check Maine’s Official Fall Foliage website for details: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/projects/fall_foliage/whenandwhere/index.html#peak.

We went during Columbus Day weekend, and it was a great time for the colors. The area seems to shut down after Columbus Day, like the free bus shuttle stops running and restaurants close for the season. So check when the season starts and ends.

Flying in

Fly into Bangor Airport. It is a small airport so it’s more expensive ($350 a ticket for us, round trip from NY). But it’s only about an hour drive to the park from there.

Booking a campsite / Hotel

Blackwoods Campsite in Acadia is the closest one to all the activities, so we chose it for the convenience. We secured reservations 6 months in advance. As for a hotel just to sleep the night we got in, we booked the Charles Inn. It was nothing fancy, but had everything we needed for a night of rest.

General Tips

• Basically every attraction has super tight parking. Jordan Pond area was the worst, Bubbles was also bad. Ocean Path allows parking on the side of the road at least, so there’s more of an opportunity with this one. We did alright with parking by going super early in the morning, starting our days at sunrise.
• Reception is spotty; have everything downloaded/printed out before coming to the park.
• Hiking is a choose your own adventure, not one set path or loop to be followed from beginning to end. Instead, many of the trails intersect and are called something else at the intersection, which can be kind of confusing actually. The view from the top is the same but it’s all about which path you take to get there, whether it’s through the forrest, climbing over rocks, or whatever.
• The Park Loop Road is a 27-mile scenic loop. Most of the sights mentioned are along this scenic drive, so it’s not something you have to plan in separately. Most of this loop is one way, so factor that in when planning an itinerary for sights along this road.
• Our hotel front desk said the best lobster places are on the coast.

Itinerary

Have a plan, but everything is weather dependent. For example, the weather may affect which day you’ll want to check out Thunder Hole. Or it might rain and that’s not the best time to do a hike that has exposed ledges. We had a plan and it got completely shuffled for these reasons, but it’s not hard to reorganize since many sights are close to each other. Here’s what we ultimately ended up doing:

Friday

• Get rental, drive to Charles Inn, sleep

Saturday

• 9:15a – Leave Charles Inn
• 9:30a – Grab Subway sandwiches to go
• 10:00a – Stock supplies at Walmart
• 10:30a – Trenton Bridge Lobster for late breakfast/early lunch
• 11:30a-12:15p – Hulls Cove Visitor Center
• 1:00-1:45p – See crashing waves at Thunder Hole, eat Subway
• 2:00-2:15p – Check out Sand Beach
• Walk back to car to park it at Thunder Hole parking lot
• 2:45-4:30p – Gotham Mountain Trail & Cadillac Cliffs Trail
• 4:30-5:30p – Continue walking south on Ocean Path, reach Otter Cliff, turn around and walk back to car
• 6:00-7:45p – Jordan Pond Restaurant for dinner (quoted 30min wait, seated in 15min)
• 8:00 – Arrive at Blackwoods campsite

Stock up on supplies

Start the morning with grocery shopping. We grabbed Subway to serve as a late lunch later. There’s also a Walmart on the way to the park (17 Myrick St, Ellsworth, ME 04605), where we bought fruits, veggies, and breakfast. We noticed this Walmart has a deli if you prefer to skip a stop at Subway.

Trenton Bridge Lobster

This lobster restaurant has the feel of a mom and pop shop and is also on the way into Acadia. It was our first taste of fresh Maine lobster and we loved it. It would be the cheapest lobster we found all weekend.

Hulls Cove Visitor Center

It’s usually useful to begin any trip to a national park with a stop at the visitor center. This visitor center is one of the places you can grab a map and buy a park pass. To my disappointment, this one doesn’t have an informational video. Also, the line to get questions answered was very long, wrapping around like lines at amusement parks. Not the fault of the friendly rangers though, just high demand. One useful question to ask is what are the best times/days to see Thunder Hole’s crashing waves while you’re at the park.

Thunder Hole

Thunder Hole is an inlet with a small cavern towards the bottom that was carved by waves over time. When these waves come crashing into the rocks and air gets forced out of the cavern, it produces a loud boom sounding like thunder, hence the name.

The best viewing times to see these thunderous waves are 1-2 hours before high tide because you’re trying to catch when the water is rushing in. But besides coming at the right time, it also takes a bit of luck.

In our case, our weekend was sandwiched in between light rain and much of our days were cloudy. While these conditions hinder good views, they’re at least great for watching Thunder Hole in action. The more turbulent the ocean, the higher the waves splash. Some front-row viewers even got a small taste of the action. I don’t know if it’s necessary for “bad weather” to see Thunder Hole’s big waves. But I do know that when the ocean is calm, Thunder Hole is calm, and it sounds more like a toilet gurgling, as one TripAdvisor reviewer described.

Sand Beach

According to the sign there, sand beach is “one of the few cold-water shell-based sand beaches in the world. Sand beaches are uncommon in Maine, because cold water traps gases that dissolve seashells and most of the coastline consists of hard granite that erodes slowly. But here, the offshore rock, diverts a strong current into a glacially formed pocket which captures shell fragments”.

I couldn’t have explained the science better than that sign. Sounds cool right? I’ll report back that as a normal everyday visitor though, it’s hard to appreciate this beach without knowing that science. It is otherwise just your typical beach, where you’re allowed to get in but the water is totally too cold to do so. We spent only 15 minutes here before moving on.

Gorham Mountain Trail & Cadillac Cliffs Trail

We really enjoyed these hikes and the views from the top. They are rated moderately strenuous, with inclines but nothing too challenging. Most of it goes through the forrest. We actually meant to take the Gotham Mountain Trail the entire time, but after reaching the big rock with the Waldron Bates memorial plaque, we turned onto the Cadillac Cliffs Trail by accident. And I’m glad we did.

The Cadillac Cliffs Trail took us past some fun, interesting looking cliffs (surprise). It involves a bit of scrambling over big rocks but it’s all family-friendly and that can be part of the fun. 

Near the top, there is an open area with great viewpoints and a lot of people. From here you can see the coastline, a lot of foliage below, and Sand Beach. We spent awhile enjoying the views here, but deceptively, it isn’t actually the summit. The summit is marked with a sign and is another 10-15min walk away. Its view is different, less variety in scenery but a whole mountainside full of foliage.

We took the Gorham Mountain Trail back down. It was more straightforward than the Cadillac Cliffs Trail, a bit less steep and no need to scramble over rocks, but also less memorable, just an average hike through the forrest.

Ocean Path

The Ocean Path trail is an easy, 2 mile one-way trail along the coastline, and an Acadia classic. The trail starts at Sand Beach and ends at Otter Cliff. Hikers can then either hike back or take the free park shuttle back (if in season).

It is mostly flat, which results in a pleasant stroll with nice views for people who don’t even like to hike. Having lived in California for some years though, we have enjoyed the coastline scenery before. This trail didn’t wow us but we still appreciated it, and we could imagine how it’d be stunning to those who don’t get to see the coasts very often. The path takes goes past various spots like Thunder Hole and the Gorham Mountain Trailhead, so it’s possible to combine any of these sights with the walk along Ocean Path.

While the parking lot by Sand Beach may fill up, parking along the road goes on and on. So it’s more possible to find a parking spot for this hike than for some of the other parking lots in Acadia.

Jordan Pond Restaurant

It’s said to be one of the best restaurants in a national park. They’ve been serving popovers and tea since the 1890’s! What’s a popover, you ask? This fluffy muffin bread thing you eat with jam or butter, pretty good.

Lunch or after-lunch tea time are their most popular hours. We instead came for dinner since what else are we going to do when it’s dark out? We agree that the food was good for a national park restaurant. But I mostly loved the cozy atmosphere after a long, packed day out in the park. They take reservations. https://jordanpondhouse.com/jordan-pond-house/

Sunday

• 6:00a – Drive to Cadillac Mountain
• 6:43a – Sunrise at Cadillac Mountain (but too cloudy!)
• 7:40-9:55a – Hike Bubbles Divide Trail
  • 8:00-8:30a – Take pics at Bubble Rock
  • 9:20a – Summit North Bubble
• 10:05a – Find parking for Jordan Pond
• 10:35a – Take pictures at Jordan Pond
• 11:00a-12:45p – Hike Jordan Pond Trail
• 1:00p – Drive to city of Bar Harbor
• 1:30p – Rent bikes at Bar Harbor Bikes
• 2:00p – Start biking on Carriage Roads
• 3:50p – Catch shuttle back to Bar Harbor
• 4:30p – Drive to Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, find parking
• 5:24p – Descend stairs to boulders beneath the lighthouse
• 5:54p – Sunset at lighthouse
• 6:15p – Leave lighthouse
• 6:45p – Line up for Beal’s Lobster (25min wait to order)
  • 7:30p – Receive food, eat!

Cadillac Mountain for sunrise

Cadillac Mountain is one of the first places in the U.S. to see the sunrise. Being *the* destination to see a sunrise in Acadia, this place gets super crowded long before the sun actually rises.

Visitors can drive all the way to the top, or hike if they prefer. There is a parking lot at the summit but once it fills, cars begin parking on the side of the road for a long way down the mountain.

The first day we tried to see the sunrise, it was way too cloudy. Twenty minutes before sunrise, we were at the summit looking for parking and a man waved to us he was leaving his spot. If he hadn’t, we probably would’ve searched for parking through sunrise. But we quickly saw why- there was nothing to see from the top when it’s a cloudy day. It’s just not worth it. But on nice days, there is an easy .5 mile loop around the summit to take in the view from every direction.

Bubbles Divide Trail

Take the Bubbles Divide Trail to see the famous Bubble Rock, this big boulder balanced on the edge of a cliff. The hike is moderately strenuous, a short 1 mile (30min.) one way. To get there, take the South Bubble Trail up to the summit of South Bubble. Then it’s a quick detour to Bubble Rock, where you can take all your classic attempt-to-push-the-rock-off-the-cliff pictures.

When done, you have the option to continue forward on the South Bubble Trail for some nice views of Jordan Pond, and turn around before the descent gets steep and difficult. While we tried to do this, I picked the wrong path and we ended up coming back the way we came. At the signed fork in the road, we decided we might as well hike to the summit of North Bubble. The views of Jordan Pond from up here were great and supposedly even better than from South Bubble. It was an hour detour for us including time to take lots of pictures. Then we continued back the way we came to the parking lot.

Note that the parking lot is very small. We noticed overflow parking that holds an additional 5 cars or so, but otherwise no parking along the road. Multiple activities are worth waking up early for due to limited parking, but if you could only choose so many, this would be one of them.

Jordan Pond 

Walking around the Jordan Pond is another classic Acadia activity. In fact, the banner photo on their national park guide is of the Jordan Pond. The most scenic spot, same as where the banner photo was taken, is at the southern point of the pond, the area conveniently next to the restaurant and parking lot. It provides a view of Jordan Pond in the front, changing foliage all around it, and the two bubbles mountains in the back.

To do a full loop around the pond, take the easy 3.5 mi. Jordan Pond Trail. We started at that most scenic spot then went counter-clockwise. The first 3/4 is on flat dirt and gravel. There’s then a brief section that requires stepping on large rocks, and the last 1/4 is on raised wooden planks. The loop took us 1hr 45min, including some stops along the way.

Parking around Jordan Pond was the most atrocious of all. We were fortunate we went early around 10am; at that time, we still had to drive around to find a spot. But that was nothing compared to 1pm when we got back to our car and saw like a hundred cars line up on the road to turn into the parking lot. This is another activity you should come early for.

Biking on Carriage Road

A unique feature of Acadia NP is its Carriage Roads: 45 miles of car-free road, only accessible to pedestrians, bikers, and horse-drawn carriages. They were constructed back in 1913 to 1940, as a gift from philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. who wanted to travel into Mount Desert Island via horse drawn carriages on motor-free roads. Today, they are a wonderfully peaceful way to explore the park. 

We rented bikes because it seemed the most efficient way to explore the Carriage Roads, plus we had never biked in a national park before. It ended up being my favorite activity in Acadia. I’m not comfortable on a bike, but once cars are removed from the equation, it’s actually fun. The entire ride was just beautiful, my favorite parts being the many long downhills whizzing through the fall colors around us. There’s much less overhead in stopping for pictures while on a bike than in a car. The whole experience is just a lot more intimate.

In my research, three places came up for renting bikes, all in the nearby city of Bar Harbor. They are Bar Harbor Bikes, Acadia Bike Rentals, and Pedago (seems to be e-bikes only). The prices were pretty similar across all three and they are close to each other, so it doesn’t seem to matter which one you go with. We rented from Bar Harbor and had a great experience. We received path recommendations, instructions on how to ride into the park, and the whole process went smoothly. It took 15min to ride into the park.

I wanted to do an easy route, so the one we took was 8 miles and took 2 hours. We started at the Duck Brook Carriage Road Trailhead. We rode north in the direction of Witch Hole Pond, covered the smaller loop above it, then rode South to the bottom of Eagle Lake, and finally cut east to marker 7, where we got picked up by a bus back to the city. We also could’ve rode another 2 miles south to the bottom of Jordan Pond before getting picked up by the bus— this was also recommended as easy, but we didn’t have the time. In all, the route was doable for me. Maybe once I had to get off the bike and walk it uphill, some very few times I had to stand up to peddle, but most of the ride was not painful and pretty fun.

As a final tip, there’s nowhere to get drinking water on these roads, so bring enough!

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

When people think of Maine, they picture waves rolling onto a rocky coastline, jagged cliffs, and a lighthouse perched on top. This view is exactly that. It’s also the best place in the park to watch the sunset.

Visitors descend down a short staircase onto an area filled with boulders. We picked up a cool tip from a photographer there: when snapping pictures, time it so that the lighthouse’s red light is blinking on 🙂

Since it’s the best place to see the sunset, it gets crowded. Parking is inevitably hard to find. The lot holds a mere 20-25(?) cars. The only road to this lot is long, a 10-15min walk, and parking on the side of this road is not permitted. If you’re driving down this road and run into a line of cars, it’s best to turn around and find other street parking. Don’t waste your time waiting just to find out at the end the parking lot is full. (Note I did see a dirt area on that road that held a few more cars but wasn’t sure if it was valid parking). For reference, we arrived about an hour before sunset, ran into that line of cars, turned around and found street parking, then walked the road back to the lighthouse.

Beal’s Lobster

The line for this place was long, but the food was worth it. Aside from lobster, we also tried some other seafood, including the last 4 Maine clams they had for the season! (it was the last day they were open this season) The grilled fish  was unnecessary; got it because it was a fish we hadn’t heard of before, but white fish is all similar to me at the end of the day.

Monday

• 5:45a – Drive to Cadillac Mountain (attempt #2)
• 6:15a – Wait at the summit for sunrise 
• 6:46a – Watch sunrise, then walk around the short loop at the top
• 7:30a – Drive to Beehive trailhead, nap in the parking lot lol
• 10:30a – Hike Beehive Trail
  • 11:00a – Reach summit
  • Attempt to take The Bowl path back to parking lot, end up going to the Bowl by accident, continue on the Bowl path to get back to our car by Sand Beach
• 12:15p – Drive to Thurston Lobster Pound, was closed
• 1:00p – Drive around, quick stop at Ship Harbor
• 1:45p – Eat at Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound
• 3:15p – Buy lobsters from Trenton Bridge Lobster to fly home with us
• 3:30p – Drive to Bangor Airport

Cadillac Mountain

The second time we tried, it was still cloudy but a big improvement from the day before. It gave us a chance to take pictures this time and walk the loop around the summit.

Beehive Trail & Bowl Trail

The Beehive Trail is one of the classic iron rung routes of Acadia. It is not so much a hiking trail. Instead, the NPS labels it a non-technical climbing route. It means instead of walking on a path, it’s more climbing over big rocks, sometimes with the aid of iron rungs, yet it does not require rock climbing experience. At times, there are exposed ledges.

Knowing all that made me slightly nervous. But actually doing it, our conclusion was- that’s it? It wasn’t too bad, we’ve been through worse. I’ll even go so far as to say that it was fun using the iron rungs, like I was playing in a jungle gym. It may have been because it was so foggy it was hard to see far into the distance, so maybe less scary. It took us half an hour to reach the summit.

It is not advised to climb down the Beehive, so instead, we took The Bowl route back down. We did not mean to go to the Bowl itself, which is a lake, but we took a wrong turn. It’s not a big detour, and we got some nice pictures of the fog rolling over The Bowl, so we didn’t mind. If you do not intend to go all the way to the Bowl, once you reach an intersection that points to parking at Sand Beach, continue in that direction. Parking for the Beehive Trail is the same as Sand Beach, which is what confused us. If you do decide to go to the Bowl, once you’re ready to go back, there’s a signed intersection that splits to either Beehive Trail again, or Bowl Trail Loop Road. Go in the direction of the Beehive Trail to get back.

Lastly, it is best not to do the Beehive when it’s wet. Climbing on slippery rocks, especially with exposed ledges just isn’t a good idea. We had to shift our schedule around because of this. Also, the Precipice Trail is the other really well-known iron rung trail and I spent a long time researching which of the two to do. The difference is that the Precipice Trail is longer, more strenuous, and scarier. If you’re unsure about these routes, a suggestion is to start with the Beehive Trail, see if you enjoy this kind of thing, and if so, try the Precipice Trail.

Drive Around

We were only supposed to wake up early on one day to catch the sunrise. Because we woke up early two days, the extra hours allowed us to finish our itinerary sooner than anticipated. We took the time to drive around, hoping to see more of the island. The eventual destination was Thurston Lobster Pound, another highly rated lobster spot, but when we arrived, we found it was closed for the season. We also stopped by Ship Harbor, a spot that didn’t make the cut into our itinerary. Confirmed, there’s not much going on there.

Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound

So instead we had lunch here. It caught our eye because driving by, there were a lot of people interested in dining at this road-side eatery. We thought their fried clams were great, clam chowder also good, lobster rolls we had better elsewhere, and blueberry pie nothing special. The environment was fun though, with goats roaming around and cozy outdoor seating complete with a fireplace.

Trenton Bridge Lobster

Victor was so excited about the thought of flying home some live lobsters to eat at home. So we went back here because the prices were great, they packaged up the lobsters for us, and it was on the way to the airport anyway. One box held four lobsters and some clams, and we were able to take it as one of our carry-ons.

We then continued the Maine experience from our home, feasting on the fresh lobsters to end the weekend 8)