Hiking ME

Acadia National Park is the second most visited park in the country with over two million visitors a year. There are a few areas where you will find most of the visitors. Anywhere around Sand beach, the Jordan Pond Tea House or Cadillac Mountain peak are usually packed with people. If you are planning to hike trails in these areas make sure you get there early or learn to use the bus system. The amazing thing is that the number of people drops quickly as you hike outside of these areas.

If you are planning to hike in the park we highly suggest using the free bus system. After driving around the park for several hours looking for a parking spot we learned how to use it. Using the buses means you don't have to worry about finding a parking space at the trail head. You also won't have to walk a long distance from where you parked to get to the trail head. Just make sure you learn the schedule. We were late for the last bus on our Bubbles hike and had to walk down the road towards Jordan Pond to catch a later bus at another bus stop.

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Directions

Acadia park is a large park that covers the majority of Mount Desert Island. The park is bisected by several main roads offering many different access points. Travel south on Route 3 from Ellsworth to get to Mount Desert Island. Once you cross the causeway to Mount Desert Island you can continue on route 3 to go to Bar Harbor and access the eastern section of the park, or continue straight on route 198 towards Southwest Harbour to access the western section of the park.