What is there to see in Maine?
So many things I’m sure, but we decided to dedicated the day to Acadia, and it deserved it.
Acadia National Park
First we drove to the entrance station; our America the Beautiful pass got us right in. Then we began following the park loop road around Acadia.
Sand beach
Our first stop was Sand Beach. This is a beautiful beach and no one was there in the early morning. It was also raining on and off all morning and the dark clouds made all the colors look cooler.
The Ocean Path begins right by the parking lot to Sand Beach, behind the bathrooms. We walked the trail to thunder hole. I can see why they named it this because I thought it was going to start storming again based on the rumbling thunder noises. Pretty neat. You can continue on and follow the Ocean Path to Otter Point, but we walked back towards our car and found a different exciting trail.
Beehive Trail
If you’re heading south into the park, the trailhead for Beehive is on the right hand side of Park Loop Road just before the turn into the parking lot for Sand Beach (where we parked). This path is intense. It was still wet and slippery from the rain, so we weren’t sure how long we’d feel safe going up, but we had to try. Especially because all the similar hikes are closed because of peregrine falcons nesting.
From the beginning of the trail, you’re on small boulders. There are other paths that break off this trail, but we kept following the blue rectangles, telling us we were on Beehive. You go up and up until you come to cliff like areas where there are metal rungs set into the mountain. So you’re climing up the rungs, but also rock climbing a bit…next to a cliff. The rungs were so slippery and the path was sometimes very tiny, but the views were incredible.
We made it to the top alive! Then we followed the blue rectangles over and around the mountain, which takes you to a fork in the path. There is a sign here and we followed the path to the left. This portion had some rock stairs in place and big rocks in other places. It was way easier than the way we came up, but still gave us some boldering memories. Everything was still super slippery and wet. We took a right at the next fork and continued following the blue. Every fork after this one had a sign, we just kept following the one that pointed towards Loop Road and Sand Beach. We are so grateful we made it up and down safely!
We continued the drive on Park Loop Road (it’s a one way road by the way). We stopped at Otter Point, and then a lot more stops as we completed the loop. So many beautiful sites from this cliff/ocean drive.
Bar Harbor
We had a few hours to go until our reservation for Cadillac Mountain, so we checked out this fun bustling town just outside Acadia. Then we drove back towards the park.
Wild gardens of Acadia
We stopped here for a quick look before going through the entrance of Acadia again. It’s a little path that takes you through…a wild garden…
We stopped by thunder hole for a second time, to take in the ocean. There were so many people there this time but it was so beautiful.
We completed the whole Park Loop Road…again…to make it back to Cadillac Mountain in time (You have to have a reservation. They will let you enter up to half an hour before or up to half an hour after your time slot).
Cadillac Mountain
The drive up this mountain is very nice and the view from the top is unbelievable.
Just Barb’s
This is a hole in the wall type place where the servers knew most of the customers names. We loved it. This is the first time I’ve ever liked lobster, I’ve only tried it once before, but still. Amazing. The clam chowder was also heavenly and my husband really liked his fish and chips.
Fort Port Lighthouse
We passed signs for this lighthouse and it was only 8 minutes away from the restaurant, so we swung by after dinner. It’s in Stockton Springs, Maine and has been operating since 1857! The sky was also phenomenal!
We stayed in Brunswick Maine tonight. Not a bad day, I must say!