Category Archives: Hiking

Hiking in Acadia National Park.

Special ways to celebrate July 4 in Acadia National Park

Rather than fight the crowds in Bar Harbor for the fireworks, why not go to Sand Beach and tour the night sky with a ranger? How about having a cookout at one of the six picnic areas in Acadia National Park? Or, for a patriotic tour, why not retrace the historic visit by President Barack Obama and his family in July 2010? Or, play a round at the Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor, which drew President William Howard Taft in 1910 and forever left him notorious among local golfers.

President Barack Obama hikes Acadia National Park

President Barack Obama and family hiked the Cadillac Summit Loop on their July 2010 visit to Acadia National Park (White House photo)

There may be no better way to celebrate Independence Day than at one of America’s best ideas, the National Parks. For new and repeat visitors to Acadia, there are plenty of tried-and-true or off-the-beaten-path methods to mark the founding of our country.

Among the July 4 week activities, from the Acadia National Park calendar: Take a cruise to Baker Island or Islesford, enjoy the night sky with rangers at Sand Beach and learn about the park with a guided bike tour on the carriage  roads. Continue reading →

School spirit and the Orange and Black Path in Acadia National Park

First in a series of historic hiking trail highlights leading up to the Acadia Centennial

Update on Feb. 15, 2022 with biographical info on Rudolph Brunnow provided by his great-granddaughter. She also debunks a legend that Brunnow’s death from pneumonia came after he fell while hiking.

When Princeton professor Rudolph E. Brunnow designed this intricate path up the east face of Champlain in the early 1900s, he was apparently as passionate about the trail as his university, since he named it after his school’s colors.

Orange & Black Path in Acadia National Park

A hiker ascends the Orange and Black Path in Acadia National Park.

In honor of Brunnow and today’s trail crew, why not share a photo of yourself on the Orange and Black Path with a caption of your school colors on our Facebook page? Thanks to our friend Maureen, a Georgetown alum who took a picture of a couple of “blue and grays” on the Orange and Black, for inspiring this idea.

Our favorite part of the path is the recently reopened historic section leading from Schooner Head Road, up to a terraced area where you can sit on granite slabs to rest, take in the views or strike up a conversation. That’s about 0.5 mile one-way.

If the rest of the path to the Precipice Trail is closed for peregrine falcon nesting season (mid-May through mid-August), you can take a spur to the Champlain North Ridge Trail instead. Get spectacular views of Frenchman Bay from the 1,058-foot summit of Champlain. Continue reading →

Compass Harbor Trail leads to missing mansion at Acadia National Park

It’s easy to sense the spirit of park visonary George B. Dorr at the Compass Harbor Trail at Acadia National Park.

Visitors can climb the granite stairs to the ruins of Dorr’s old estate – called Old Farm – and wade into the same deep inlet where Dorr took his regular swims. Continue reading →

Acadia National Park boosted by trail workers

Acadia National Park is benefiting from the most trail workers this summer than at any time in the past 80 years at the Maine park.

Largely because of a federal grant, the park has hired 51 people to work on the trails, including 35 federal workers and 16 from the Youth Conservation Corps, according to Acadia Trails Foreman Gary Stellpflug, who did all the hiring.

Memorial path on Gorge Path in Acadia National Park

Gary Stellpflug, trails foreman at Acadia National Park, has refurbished this memorial plaque on Gorge Path for Lilian Endicott Francklyn. Separately, a federal grant will also help finance improvements to stone steps on the path.

Stellpflug said it’s the largest crew since the Civilian Conservation Corps established two camps on Mount Desert Island in 1933 as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression. Continue reading →

Lady’s slippers are blooming pink and white again in Acadia National Park

It is a little later than usual this year, but lady’s slippers are back in bloom at Acadia National Park.

Lady's slippers in Acadia National Park

Lady’s slippers are showing their pink and white colors in June in Acadia National Park.

Our friend Maureen took the above photo of the orchids on Monday during a hike in the park. The photo shows a large colony of pink and white lady’s slippers growing in the shade of a boulder and pine in a hidden spot in Acadia. Continue reading →

Hiking Acadia National Park a bestseller at local bookstores

BAR HARBOR – The bookstore at Acadia National Park’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center and Sherman’s Books & Stationery on Main Street both report that our Hiking Acadia National Park and Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park are selling fast.

Acadia hiking books

Signed by yours truly

We stopped by recently to chat with Ann Marie Cummings of Eastern National, which runs the visitor center bookstore, and to autograph some books at Sherman’s.

The big book, Hiking Acadia, was the fifth highest item in sales volume during 2013 at the visitor center bookstore. A total of 451 of the guides was sold last year.

“It’s a beautiful book,” said Cummings, Eastern National Unit Manager, Acadia National Park, Hulls Cove Visitor Center. The 285-page book includes color photos to go along with full descriptions of 77 hikes in the park in Mount Desert Island, Isle au Haut and Schoodic Peninsula. Continue reading →

Bar Island Trail one of a kind in Acadia National Park

One in a series of historic trail highlights leading up to the Acadia Centennial

The Bar Island Trail is one of a kind in Acadia National Park.

The wooded, rocky island can only be reached at low tide each day, starting at a sand bar that begins at the end of Bridge Street in Bar Harbor.

It’s great to walk along the ocean on the bar and then on the other side, ascend the trail through the woods on the island.

From a small hill on the island, people can get great views back to Bar Harbor and Acadia peaks. Along the way, a Porcupine Island rises from the ocean horizon.

The catch is that Bar Island can be reached just 1.5 hours on either side of low tide.

Strange enough, cars are allowed to drive on the bar, even though it’s less than a half mile long. Some people break a rule, park their car and leave it behind for a walk on the island.

cruise ship acadia national park

A view from Bar Island puts into perspective one of the many cruise ships visiting Bar Harbor.

A prominent sign on Bar Island’s shore warns people that the tide rises quickly, but inevitably an inexperienced few lose track of time and find themselves stranded on the island when the tide comes in and washes over the sand bar.

It seems like a summer never passes without stories about swamped cars or people needing to be rescued from Bar Island at high tide.

The mishaps are hard to understand but they are as sure as the tides themselves on Bar Island. Continue reading →

Acadia National Park also home to wild turkeys

Acadia National Park is noted for its peregrine falcons, migrating hawks and near-ubiquitous turkey vultures.

Wild turkeys are also gobbling up space in the park. Continue reading →