Acadia was the first national park created entirely by private land donations. The park was established in 1919, first created by President Wilson on July 8, 1916 as Sieur de Monts National Monument. In 1919 the name was changed to Lafayette National Park, and finally in 1929 to Acadia National Park in honor of the former French colony of Acadia which once included Maine. It was the first national park east of the Mississippi. It is the fifth smallest national park relative to land area (~49,000 acres) but is among the top ten most visited, hosting about 3.3 million people in 2016. Within Acadia is Cadillac Mountain the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast. John D Rockefeller Jr. was a philanthropist extraordinaire - donating over 10,000 acres of Acadia's land and funded construction of many of its beautiful roads, carriage roads and paths. Thank you Mr Rockefeller!
We camped in Blackwoods campground for three nights. As our "luck" continues to hold, it rained heavily the first night. (We seem to be developing a pattern on this.) We did quite a few hikes in the park; the highlight was Jordan Pond! We started our hike with the traditional tea and popovers in the restaurant overlooking the lake. We enjoyed walking along the Ocean Path Trail and hiking on Sand Beach. Thunder Hole, a famous site in the park, was more of a whimper when we visited but still quite scenic (check out this youtube video to see it in full force). Watching the sunset from the top of Cadillac Mountain was beautiful as were all the scenic vistas. Bar Harbor is a no longer a quaint little town; in 2017 it will host over 100 cruise ship visits (http://barharbormaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/922).
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| Our token National Park sign |
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| The roadways were beautiful - thank you Mr Rockefeller. |
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| This guy was a photo hog! Multiple pictures - didn't budge! |
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| The Maine coast - so rugged and beautiful. |
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| Playing along the side of sand beach during low tide. |
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| Tradition - Tea and popovers at Jordan Pond restaurant. |
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| Literally - The "boardwalk" around Jordan Pond. |
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| Gnarly trunks on Jordan Pond. |
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| This tree grew on the rock - like its sitting on it |
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| The tree sitting on a rock - its a big tree! |
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| Beautiful bridge over Jordan Pond - hand built years ago. |
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| So many burls on trees around the park. |
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| OMG! They still exist! They don't get txt msgs though... |
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| Sunset on Cadillac Mountain |
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David Paine - owner of Jordans Restaurant in Bar Harbor
He joked - "I work for my daughter now, she runs the place".
Reminded me of my our buddy, Lasko, back in Midland. |
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Great little place - Beal's Lobster Pier. The guy at the register actually knew about
Laura's home town of Titusville, FL. |
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| Scrumptious lobster rolls from Beal's - so much easier than picking at a lobster. |
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The first tour of the season! A tour around the island with Sea Princess
Cruises hosted by a National Park Ranger. So informative! |
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| Seals sunning themselves on East Bunker Ledge! |
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| An osprey nest on a harbor whatchamacallit. |
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| Bear Island Lighthouse |
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Bar Harbor, ME Library - great place to catch up on blogging!
Free WiFi to boot! |
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