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Acadia National Park with Kids
In August 2014, we took a ten night road trip through New England. The northernmost stop on our trip was Acadia National Park in Maine. We spent 3 nights in Bar Harbor as we visited the park. Bar Harbor was a very good location not very far from an entrance to the park, as you can see from the map below. We felt that 3 days was enough to do most of what we wanted to do, but there is so much to see and do, so we could have used more time if we had had it.
As you can see from the park map, Acadia has multiple ‘sections’ to visit
During our 3 days in the area, we visited the sections in Mount Desert Island, but did not have time to make it to the Schoodic Peninsula or Isle au Haut (cut off in map above). We loved Acadia National Park so much that I would not be at all surprised if we made a return trip someday. It is the only National Park in the Northeast, and although it is a 10 hour drive, it is within driving distance for us. If you are coming from somewhere farther away and flying to get there, you will need a car to get around. It is a relatively remote area that is best explored slowly and with a car.
Northeast Harbor side
We started at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, and drove Park Loop Road to various points of interest along the way. Our first stop was Sand Beach, where we parked in the lot and got out to explore. The weather was not warm or sunny enough for swimming, even in August. I’ve read that there are days when the weather is conducive to swimming here, however. The kids liked playing in the sand and exploring the rocky areas of the beach.
Sand Beach
From the parking lot of Sand Beach, we started walking and found that we could hike along the rocky cliffs. There are some spots that felt too dangerous, but for the most part there were many spots to leave the paved walkway (that runs along the road) and walk on the rocks. This was a highlight of the park for the kids. They loved the rocky hikes!
Tip: If you are exploring the park anytime near a mealtime, I suggest that you pack a picnic (or at least bring plenty of snacks). There are not places to buy food within the park, except at Jordan Pond House. The timing for eating there did not work out for us. We started the Park Loop Road (which is a one-way road for much of the way) at a point in time that would have gotten us to the restaurant way past the meltdown time for the kids. We had our 2 kids, plus were with friends who have 3 kids (including a toddler). So we picked up some food before we got to the park and had a picnic after our hike along the rocks. We saved money and avoided major tantrums.
Thunder Hole
We ended up hiking the rocks all the way to Thunder Hole (the dads went back and got the cars at the other parking lot). Thunder Hole is a very interesting rock formation that includes a small cave. The way that the waves crash against the rocks, causing the water to be pushed into the cave, makes a sound like thunder. It is very hypnotic to watch the waves crashing over and over again against the rocks. My photos don’t do it justice.
Jordan Pond
We drove to Jordan Pond and got out to walk around and to see Jordan Pond House. At this point one of my kids did something that earned a time out (and some crying, if I remember correctly). So I did not get to take any photos or see much of it myself. The parenting had to take precedence over the fun at that point (oh well, it happens).
Cadillac Mountain
We had to drive up to Cadillac Mountain twice because the first day we tried the weather did not cooperate. It was just too foggy to really see anything. The second time was a charm, and we were able to catch a beautiful sunset. It is chilly up there, so bring your warmest clothes, even if it is warm when you are there.
View from Cadillac Mountain
Southwest Harbor side
We also visited the Southwest Harbor side of Acadia National Park two times on our trip. People say that it is the calmer and quieter side (I guess because most visitors only go to the Northeast Harbor side). When we were there, although it was August and high-season, no parts of the park felt very crowded to us. Especially not compared to our visit to Grand Canyon in high-season (which also was totally fine).
Echo Lake
Beautiful, remote, serene. We were the only people at Echo Lake when we stopped there to check it out. It wasn’t warm enough to swim (although as we were leaving some other people came and got into the water). The views were very pretty there.
The drive in this area is just gorgeous. There is one beautiful scene after another, with the fishing boats dotting the water everywhere you turn. We really loved all of Maine because it is just.so.pretty. It really rivals any state that we have visited for natural beauty (even my favorite…Hawaii). Oh, and the lobster rolls.
Seawall
Another beautiful place to stop and get out to walk on the rocks is Seawall. The rocks are flat and easy to run around on, which the kids (and adults) loved.
Ship Harbor
Our next stop was Ship Harbor, where we got out to do a decent hike. Tip: BRING BUG SPRAY! This hike goes through the woods and comes out along the most beautifully rugged and rocky stretch of coastline. I could have sat there for hours. We tried, but the kids wouldn’t do it. We let them climb around on the rocks (some more) while we enjoyed the peace and amazing scenery. The trail is a loop that passes some more glorious sights as you make your way back toward the parking lot once again through the woods. This was probably my favorite part of Acadia National Park.
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse
So, this is one of those situations where I want you to learn from our mistake. We wanted to visit this lighthouse, but it was getting dark by the time we got there. The good news was that it was very cool to see a lighthouse in action. Doing its lighthouse thing. And by that I mean lighting up. However, this part of Maine after the sun goes down (and even before) is like party time for mosquitoes. Only once in my life have I seen such mosquito abundance (Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska…and we had DEET). This time we were under-prepared and the mosquitoes ate us alive. They even followed us to our cars and tried to join us for the ride. It’s so fun driving and trying to get a hundred enormous mosquitoes out of your car at the same time. You’ve been warned.
Overall
We all really loved Acadia National Park. It is a great place to bring the kids for a family trip. I feel like a broken record, because each time we leave a National Park I feel like it was my favorite. I think that honor still goes to Zion National Park for me, but the kids say Acadia was their favorite. They really loved hiking on the rocks. It also helped that they had friends who they really love and get along with amazingly well along for the trip. Luckily those same friends will be going on our summer 2015 trip with us to lots more National Parks!
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