After a short drive to Acadia National Park, we stopped at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center for information on the park. There is a main road running through the park called the Loop Road, so we drove on it and pulled off at some of the many scenic overlook areas. The views of the water and the landscapes were extraordinary. We continued driving towards Sand Beach where we ate a quick lunch in the shade of the beach parking lot. Sand Beach is a nice white-sand beach but was overly crowded with families and children.
From Sand Beach, we walked the easy Ocean Path trail towards Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs. Some of the trail was along the road but overall, the views were again spectacular. There are many areas where you can go off the trail and climb on the granite rocks along the coast. We continued on the trail to Thunder Hole which wasn’t that thunderous because it wasn’t yet high tide. Further along the trail, we reached Otter Cliffs which were fantastic. On the way back we stopped back at Thunder Hole but it still wasn’t thunderous, although the water did make some interesting gurgling sounds.
After that I bribed Theresa with ice cream to go on the Beehive Trail, which is labeled as strenuous, involving sheer cliff faces and iron rungs. It was supposed to be less than a mile so we decided to give it a try. We both agree that it was one of the coolest trails, if not one of the coolest things, we have ever done. It was definitely strenuous, but different than your usual long strenuous hike. We climbed on lots of boulders and rocks in the beginning. The trail proceeded to get more difficult when we had to use the iron rungs as footholds and also to pull ourselves up. The trail was basically like mountain climbing, but without needing the equipment. At some points along the trail, there was nothing to stand on but an iron ladder, and some of the cliff faces were definitely sheer. That fact, and the awesome views, produced an exhilarating feeling. We both agree that our mothers would have been nervous if they knew we were on this trail. We continued onto the summit of the mountain known as Beehive and were rewarded with panoramic views of the entire area from Sand Beach to Otter Cliffs. Impressed with ourselves and looking forward to an ice cream treat, we headed down Bowl Trail towards our car at Sand Beach.
We then took the Loop Road up to the Cadillac Mountain Summit and were once again greeted with sweeping views of the ocean, including the Porcupine Islands. We walked around the short loop at the top taking in the views. As promised, we decided to get ice cream but we did it at the summit instead of in town due to time constraints. The ice cream bars we got were somewhat disappointing and we vowed to get better ice cream in Bar Harbor the next day.
The Mount Desert Narrows Campground was very nice. We planned on staying for 3 nights while we checked out Acadia. The bathrooms were very clean, modern and well maintained. Our campsite was quite large, and near enough to the water to have a nice view while we typed this log.
