Acadia National Park was named “America’s Favorite Place” by Good Morning America this year, and with good reason — It’s certainly my favorite place so far. This is my first National Park Adventure and now I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of them. I even made a resolution to visit 1 a year… so hopefully this is a resolution I’ll keep (probably easier than “losing those last 5 pounds” FOR REAL).
We drove from Southern Maine (about 4 hours) along the coastal route (not 95) because we wanted to stop in Camden (not worth it). It’s like the Hilton Head of the North but the two lane traffic for several hours was torture and if you’re a 20 something there’s really nothing to do there. When I’m 65 and own a yacht I’ll reconsider, although I’ll probably go to Bar Harbor in that case. Or Hilton Head.
2 minutes after crossing the bridge onto the island we decided to do a quick, free, 1 hour brewery tour at Atlantic Brewing Company. It’s super small but the beer was great and the staff were friendly and helpful. You should do it before the hardcore outdoors-ness kicks in.
We reserved our campsite on Mount Desert Island at Smuggler’s Den Campground in Southwest Harbor, which I would recommend doing because it was packed on the Monday and Tuesday nights we were there. There’s a little camp store, pool, bathroom situation, etc. Even a grocery store right up the street.
Our first hike was Beech Mtn, not far from the campsite but we drove there anyways. The hike was a good warmup for what was to come — large rock faces, steep trails, and a great view. There were several good lookout spots and people walking their dogs. There are several different trails but we just did the basic loop and only got lost once. Not because the trail ended, just because we wandered off.
Here’s the first view you’ll come across and get really excited about but NOT EVEN KNOW.
After a ways you’ll come to this tower which you can kind of climb to the top of. This is a nice place to stop and have a cold one.
From this point, I think there was a trail you could go down, which I think frizzled off again like the one on Rattlesnake Mtn? What is it with trails just randomly ending? You could go back to the parking lot, or finish off the loop which was about another mile. We decided to keep going and I’m glad we did. Look how awesome it is!
So picturesque!
As we wandered off the trail to kind of get lost, we found these thrones! And some locals were like HEY! How did you find those? Well, we just found them but they were awesome. Sorry, locals, for ruining the secret but no one will be able to find them anyways.
What a great first hike! After this, we went back to our campsite to make a fire and hot dogs! We needed to rest up for.. Precipice!!
A Place in Prague 