Acadia and Bar Harbor
Cadillac Mountain
This post was originally published November 16, 2017.
It doesn't feel right for the year to almost be over and for me to not have talked about the biggest national park in Maine. Acadia is too big to cover in one day or one blog post--in fact, I spent one post just covering some of the gardens there. Even though Acadia wasn't established until 1916 or even named Acadia until 1929, the location has been the hub of Maine's tourist activity since the early to mid-1800s when the first hotels were built. The National Park has quickly grown to be one of the biggest tourist attractions in New England with over 3 million visitors in 2016 alone.
It's no surprise really. The area is incredible beautiful with roughly a gazillion mountains and another bazillion coastal points, there is always something to see and do in Acadia. Cadillac Mountain might just be the most well-known and visited mountain in the park. Accessible by both cars and strong-willed hikers, the peak stands 1,530 feet over sea-level and is the first place to witness the sunrise in the United States between October 7 and March 6. But for those people who don't have the gusto to meet the sunrise on the highest peak along the North Atlantic Seaboard during Maine's coldest half of the year, spectacular views can still be had. Several islands sit within viewing distance of the open peak, including the Porcupine Islands, all prickly with trees.
Eagle Lake sits on the other side of the Mountain, and nearby is one of Acadia's other fresh water glacial masterpieces: Jordan Pond. Jordan Pond has the kind of water Juan Ponce de Leon could only dream of in his quest for the fountain of youth. There's no swimming, but kayaking and canoeing is allowed for anyone who wants to know what the bottom of a pond looks like at its greatest depth. Trails circling the pond make for long, casual walks in the woods, as the sun reflects off the water and bounces off the rocks. From the little footbridge is a clear view of the Bubbles--two round mountains that can be best equated to, in my professional opinion, a butt.
Beyond the mountains and along the rocky coast, is the seaside town of Bar Harbor complete with a whale museum, whale tours, and whale size crowds of people during the peak summer months. Like most of Maine's coastal towns, artisan shops line one-way streets and quaint little restaurants fill up the space between. By far, my favorite sandwich shop, Epi's, currently operates in Bar Harbor, where they serve pizzas, subs, and homemade cookies that I believe are so good they ought to be mandatory for everyone who stops in. Last time I visited, I was met with warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies straight from the pan. After gorging myself on those, I strolled down the streets past the ice cream shops, the Christmas shops, and fountains until I reached the water. At different times in the year, markets will be set up in the park with sales ranging from scarves to soap. Once, I had a long conversation with a vendor about her daughter's seaweed farm in the Penobscot River. When I spoke to her, I had been researching Maine aquaculture for about five months, learning about why people came to the water to live and work. Now, I've been researching the topic for two years, and no words could explain the answer quite as well as the way the woman's eyes lit up when she talked about her newfound passion for seaweed.