A few things we did to maximize our enjoyment of Acadia: To reduce driving time, we flew to Bangor, ME instead of Boston, MA. Bangor is only an hour drive from Acadia. We adjusted our trip plan according to weather - Acadia is at its most awesome beauty when it is under clear blue sky. We stayed at Acadia for 5 full days! The 5 day stay made it possible for us to enjoy every aspect of Acadia.
Our main activities include - hiking, sea kayaking, biking, sightseeing, tidal pooling and listening to sound of nature (wave, wind). We did not do bird watching - could not get up early enough for bird watching at dawn; we were not into Earth Cache (geocaching).
Day 0
Fly to Bangor, ME via New York City. Arrived late at Bangor due to weather delay at NYC
Day 1
visited Camden Hills State Park in the morning - broad view of the mouth of Penobscot River and the beautiful Penobscot Bay
drove to Acadia after a lobster lunch at Lincolnville, ME. Stay at a hotel at Bar Harbor
visited Cadillac Mountain, the highest mountain on east coast of USA, for spectacular Sunset
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| Sunset at Cadillac Mountain |
Hiking on Precipice trail - the most challenging hiking trail in Acadia. Some portion of it is fearsome, thrilling. Alternately one may hike on Gorham Mountain Trial, which was in our original plan.
Drive along park loop road - sand beach, thunder hole and otter point
Dinner at Bar Harbor and tour of the harbor and sand bar
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| Rocky Shoreline at Acadia |
Day 3
Due to possible rainy/cloudy day on Day 4, we changed our plan from biking this day to sea kayaking.
We had a guided 2 and half hour kayak tour of porcupine island with coastal sea kayaking in the morning.
Visited Echo Lake and hiked on Beech Mountain trail in the afternoon. We also visited sea wall and bass harbor light house.
Lobster dinner at Beal Lobster Pier
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| Sea Kayaking at Frenchman Bay |
Day 4
It was a cloudy day as expected. The cloud was low, and the sky was grey - one could not see the beauty of Acadia at all. We rent bikes at Bar Harbor Bicycles and biked along Eagle lake, Jordan pound - total of 20 miles hilly bike trails in total of 6 hours including breaks, and lunch at Jordan House - the best restaurant in national park service system.
The cloudy and sometimes misty weather made it a perfect day for strenuous biking.
Returned to hotel early, ~ 4:30pm. After showering, Lily and I watched two episodes of "Get out alive with Bear Grylls", the boys played games on computer
Day 5
Another cloudy day and clouds broke in late afternoon. We visited visitor center, wild garden of Acadia, otter point tidal pool. left park for lunch at Bar Harbor.
Hiked to South Bubble and Balanced Rock
Drove along sea shores and shoreline of Somes Sound, stopped at seal harbor.
Day 6
visited beautiful Schoodic peninsula and Schoodic point - long rocky shorelines, deep coves, high waves, bald eagles
This location is far away from the main park but it is a must-visit location!
Day 7
go home from Bangor, ME
Note:
1. Some good Acadia trip itineraries at road trips for families and at our Acadia
2. Additional posts about the trip to follow
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