Tag Archives: cadillac mountain

Sign of times? Acadia signs on climate change removed, hidden

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Once posted on popular trails on Cadillac Mountain and along Great Meadow, large Acadia signs on climate change are now stored out of sight, crowded behind a corrugated metal building, next to a roll of chain link fencing, a beat up canoe and a couple of portable toilets.

The National Park Service stored away 10 signs, including nine on climate change and one on the Wabanaki tribe, behind a building after the Trump administration ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and the Great Meadow.

The National Park Service hid away 10 tripod signs, each with 3 informational panels, including nine signs totally on climate change and one sign with one panel on the Wabanaki tribe and two panels on climate change. The signs were found behind a corrugated metal building near old toilets, canoes and a spare roll of chain link fencing. The signs were put here after the Interior Secretary ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and Great Meadow. Oct. 5 photo

Once part of Acadia’s public policy effort to educate visitors about the impact of climate change on the park’s summits and shoreline, the signs are a casualty of the Trump administration’s view that the climate crisis is “the greatest con job.”

Under order by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service at Acadia National Park in mid-September removed 10 cedar-framed tripod signs, each typically with three separate informational panels on it.  Most of the panels on the signs focused on the effects of climate change, but one panel on a tripod sign that had been on Cadillac celebrated Wabanaki history.

The removals came just before President Donald Trump called the climate emergency “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world ” during a speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.

Todd Martin, northeast senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the Department of Interior sent a letter to Acadia staff, indicating the Acadia signs on climate change were not in compliance with an executive order by Trump on March 27, called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Interior ordered the park to remove the Acadia signs on climate change, Martin told us.

Burgum issued his own executive order on May 20 with rules to implement the provisions of Trump’s order on federal lands managed by the Department of Interior.

A couple of reporters in early October found the climate change signs stacked behind a little-known building at Acadia, along with portable toilets, canoes and old equipment. The reporters visited the site on a hunch with no knowledge or tip that the signs were actually behind the building.

The history of the Wabanaki tribe took a hit when the Trump administration ordered this sign removed from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Photo taken on Oct. 5.

A sign that recalls the special ground of the Wabanaki tribe on Cadillac Mountain is now squirreled away in a dark place behind a building at Acadia National Park, along with signs on climate change. Under an order in May by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the signs were taken down by the NPS as part of a nationwide sweep, partly to rid national parks of displays that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.” Oct. 5 photo

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Shutdown at Acadia causes confusion and frustration

UPDATE: The summit road for Cadillac Mountain reopened to motorists on Friday, Oct. 3 and is scheduled to remain open through at least the end of the motor vehicle reservation system on Oct. 26. Also, the bathrooms and the Park Store at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center have opened for the first time during the shutdown.

UPDATE: The Friends of Acadia has a list of what is open and what is closed in Acadia National Park during the federal government shutdown. The list is updated when needed.

UPDATE: This story was updated on Thursday, Oct. 2 with the closure of Cadillac Mountain to motor vehicles, the closure of the Wild Gardens of Acadia and interviews and photos of several more visitors affected by the shutdown.

The government shutdown at Acadia National Park closed the park’s main visitor center, the Nature Center and a major fee station outside Sand Beach, on the first day of a federal government shutdown that left some visitors confused and frustrated.

shutdown at acadia

No special sign about the government shutdown at Acadia, just a “Closed” sign that was easy to miss, as many visitors who climbed the 52 steps to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center found out on Oct. 1.

Acadia’s major campgrounds – Blackwoods and Seawall on Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Woods on the Schoodic peninsula – are open and are planned to remain open during the shutdown, according to rangers we interviewed and a federal Department of Interior (DOI) directive for managing National Park Service (NPS) campgrounds. The Park Loop Road, viewpoints, hiking trails, parking lots and the carriage roads are open during the shutdown at Acadia. The Island Explorer was operating as usual.

In a chaotic situation, the summit road to Cadillac Mountain was open on Wednesday, then barricaded on Thursday and then was scheduled to reopen on Friday to people with motor vehicle reservations. Although the summit road was barricaded on Thursday, hikers and bikers were using the road during another blue sky day. About two dozen vehicles were parked illegally along the Park Loop Road in between “no parking” signs near the summit road.

“It’s a bummer for sure — the government shutdown,” said Nathan Keever, a network engineer from Traverse City, MI, who rode his bike to the base of the summit road and was planning to bike to the summit.

He had a motor vehicle reservation for sunrise on Cadillac on Friday that he expected he could not use, but he said he was not concerned about that so much. He said he was mainly concerned with the park’s loss of entrance fees because of the closure of fee stations outside Sand Beach. Fees help pay for improvements at the park.  “It could be bad for their future enhancements,” he said.

Bicyclist plans to ride on the Cadillac Mountain summit road during the government shutdown

Nathan Keever, a network engineer from Traverse City, MI, on Thursday, Oct. 2 was at the base of Cadillac Mountain and was looking forward to biking on the summit road to Cadillac Mountain, saying he could zig-zag on the road with no cars allowed during the government shutdown. On the other hand, he had a motor vehicle reservation for sunrise on Friday that he can no longer use. “It’s a bummer for sure,” he said of the shutdown

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Government shutdown at Acadia could close Cadillac access

UPDATE: Department of Interior on Wednesday released a plan for Acadia National Park and other national parks to operate during a government shutdown that started on Wednesday after Congress failed to approve a bill to fund the government at the start of the new fiscal year. In a release, the National Parks Conservation Association says the DOI plan calls for parks to be largely left open with minimal staff. The DOI plan does not urge parks to discourage visitors. Campgrounds, most of the Park Loop Road at Acadia, entrance stations, viewpoints and trails to remain open.

A federal government shutdown at Acadia National Park could hit on Wednesday, closing at least some parts of the national park during one of its busiest months of the year and hurting local businesses.

Hulls Cove Visitor Center

The Hulls Cove Visitor Center at Acadia National Park would likely be closed during a federal government shutdown. The flag, photographed flying at half-staff on Sept. 12, was lowered under a proclamation by President Donald Trump, to honor the memory of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10.

The shutdown of the federal government would come on Wednesday, Oct. 1, if Congress remains deadlocked on a bill that would extend federal appropriations beyond the end of the 2025 fiscal year on Tuesday. In past shutdowns, thousands of federal workers were put on furloughs, including employees at Acadia, but this year there could also be extensive firings of workers under a plan by President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.

President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet on Monday with leaders in Congress from both political parties in attempt to reach an agreement that would prevent a government shutdown at Acadia and much of the rest of the federal government.

How would Acadia be affected by a federal government shutdown?

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New book celebrates 25 years of hiking Acadia National Park

Hiking Acadia National Park

The fifth edition of “Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park,” published by Falcon Guides, just came out in May.

Almost 25 years after publication of our first Falcon guide to hiking Acadia National Park, we’re celebrating with our new book – the newly published fifth edition of “Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park.”

It’s gratifying to look back and realize that our 10 Falcon guides were written with a great deal of help from people who are authorities at hiking Acadia National Park, particularly Gary Stellpflug, retired longtime foreman of the Acadia National Park Trail Crew, and Charlie Jacobi, retired resource specialist with Acadia. Both took a lot of time providing interviews and reading the books before publication to assure they are accurate, comprehensive and meet park regulations, rules and policies.

We also are grateful to Friends of Acadia staff and volunteers, past and present, for their assistance on the books.

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Acadia car reservations sales delayed, fired workers rehired

Acadia National Park car reservations on Cadillac Mountain are off to a rocky start this year, hampered by two delays in the release of tickets during the chaos of the new administration in Washington.

Acadia car reservations are required starting May 21 for people who want to drive up Cadillac. Reservations were originally set to be released online on Feb. 20. The release was then delayed to March 22 and then last week, with little time to spare, it was postponed again to April 15.

When asked about the delays, the National Park Service Office of Public Affairs stated, “As part of the broader efforts led by the Department of Interior under President Trump’s leadership, we are implementing necessary reforms to ensure fiscal responsibility, operational efficiency and government accountability. While we do not comment on personnel matters, the National Park Service remains steadfast in its commitment to serving the American public and preserving the natural and cultural resources entrusted to our care.”

Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the US eastern coast, is rated the most popular attraction in the Maine national park. More than 200,000 vehicle reservations were sold in 2024, allowing people to visit the peak from sunrise to sunset.

Another sold-out crowd for sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in August 2022 (Photo by Kate Sheehan)

Chaos in Washington means you’ll have to wait longer to make Acadia car reservations for sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain, like this spectacular one over Frenchman Bay in August 2022. (Photo by Kate Sheehan)

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8 fired, adding to staff shortages at Acadia National Park

Update 2/28/2025: Statement from National Park Service was added to this story.

Eight full-time employees at Acadia National Park have been suddenly fired, sparking a local backlash and raising concerns about further cuts to services for the public because of staff shortages at Acadia.

Help wanted in Acadia

Ironically, Acadia and partners recently hosted in-person and virtual resume workshops to boost hiring for the upcoming busy season. (NPS image)

The terminations at Acadia are among 1,000 probationary employees who were terminated at the National Park Service across the country as part of President Donald J. Trump’s widespread cuts in the federal government. The 1,000 employees had worked for the NPS for less than a year.

Many people are upset about the staff shortages at Acadia in the wake of the terminations. The terminations constitute almost 10 percent of  the approximately 90 permanent employees at the park.

“The whole thing is a complete tragedy…not just for the national parks but for the individuals who staff the parks,” said Maureen Robbins Fournier, a former longtime seasonal ranger at Acadia National Park. “Real people, not numbers.”

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Lupine wildflowers of Acadia and monarchs in coming clash?

Cross over to Bar Island at low tide in June and July, and soon you’ll discover fields of majestic purple, blue and pink lupine wildflowers of Acadia, beckoning to be admired and photographed.

Lupine blooming on Bar Island in Acadia National Park.

Western lupine blooms in early June on Bar Island. The flower is popular with tourists who sometimes stop to pose for photos next to the purple, blue or pink flowers.

Squeezed along the edge of the fields stands a less showy plant – common milkweed – which could be missed if not for a sign calling this place a “Milkweed Habitat.”

These fields may be the site of a coming showdown between lupine and milkweed that could affect the fate of monarch butterflies in Acadia National Park.

As photogenic as the spiky tall flowers of the western lupine are, they are invasive non-native plants, threatening to crowd out the homelier milkweed critical to the lifecycle of the monarch, which recently became candidate for listing under the US Endangered Species Act. The faceoff between lupine and milkweed and the monarch could eventually come to a head on the island, just off the coast of Bar Harbor.

Acadia National Park seeks to protect milkweed habitat

An effort by the National Park Service to protect the soon-to-be-endangered Monarch butterfly includes spreading seeds for milkweed on Bar Island and staking signs to inform the public.

“If the western lupine is encroaching on critical habitats in the park…it would be a very high priority to remove it,” said Amanda S. Pollock, Acadia public affairs officer, in an email. In years past, the park’s Invasive Plant Monitoring Team “removed lupines encroaching on a significant area of milkweed to protect habitat for the soon to be listed as endangered monarch butterfly.”

Pollock said the team has managed lupine encroaching on milkweed on Bar Island, Fernald Point, and a small area near Great Meadow Drive. She said the team has removed lupine on Bar Island “but only a section of the field, near the milkweed and the path.”

The park has not planted any mature milkweed, but resource managers have spread seed in areas where milkweed would likely grow well, including Bar Island, Pollock added.

Western lupine competes for space with milkweed, which is vital for survival of monarch butterflies.

Which plant’s tendency to spread will win out: Invasive western lupine, on the left, or the later-to-bloom milkweed on the right? Monarch butterflies exclusively lay their eggs on milkweed, as the developing caterpillars need the milkweed sap for chemical defense against predators. This scene played out on Bar Island in Acadia National Park in early July.

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Best spot for sunrise in Acadia is sold-out show atop Cadillac

Cadillac Mountain may be the best spot for sunrise in Acadia National Park, or maybe even the entire US. Just try to get a ticket to the show – it can be as hard as scoring an entry to a Taylor Swift concert.

Summer sunrise on Cadillac Mountain

Another sold-out crowd for sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in August 2022 (Photo by Kate Sheehan)

A $6 reservation is required to drive a car up Cadillac summit from late May to late October and virtually 100 percent of the tickets were sold out over the online reservation system for sunrise during 2021 and 2022. The demand for a parking spot on Cadillac during sunrise is so intense that tickets can “literally sell out in seconds,” the superintendent of the park told the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission last year.

In 2022, for example, NPS statistics show that there were 21,895 tickets available for sunrise on Cadillac and 21,882 were sold.

Leah Bullard was one of the lucky ones to land a ticket for the best spot for sunrise in Acadia. The Alexandria, Va., woman said she set an alarm for the 10 am start of availability for advance purchase of tickets at recreation.gov for a May 31 sunrise on Cadillac, and then kept refreshing the page once the tickets became available. In about two minutes, she got one.

“Everyone told me, ‘The one thing you need to do in Acadia is see the sunrise from Cadillac’,” Bullard said in an interview. “It was beautiful.”

The rising sun shines on Leah Bullard atop Cadillac Mountain on May 31, 2023.

The rising sun shines on Leah Bullard atop Cadillac Mountain on May 31, 2023. Bullard said friends told her that sunrise on Cadillac was the “one thing” she needed to do in Acadia National Park. (Photo provided by Leah Bullard)

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Acadia staff shortage spurs plan to expand seasonal housing

UPDATE 6/15: Retired Acadia National Park trail crew foreman cites byzantine hiring practices as reason for Acadia staff shortage.

Acadia National Park is planning to build 50 to 60 units of new housing in Bar Harbor for seasonal workers off Kebo Street, in a bid to reduce a severe Acadia staff shortage in the half-year workers.

Acadia National Park seasonal housing at Harden Farm

These existing 1960s-style apartment units for Acadia National Park seasonal employees would be built out to 50 to 60 units under a park plan for the property off Kebo Street in Bar Harbor.

Brandon Bies, deputy superintendent of Acadia National Park, said the park hired 114 seasonal workers so far this year, when it advertised for hiring 174 to work typically from April to October. Bies said the staff shortfall is coming when the park is “going to be right up there” around 4 million visits for the third year in a row, straining resources.

Bies said the Acadia staff shortage will affect rehabilitation of hiking trails and repair of carriage roads.

“Those projects are going to take longer and we are going to be able to complete fewer of those,” he told the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission on Monday.

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Transit and visitor center aimed at cutting traffic at Acadia

TRENTON – US Sen. Angus King and the state transportation chief helped celebrate the start of construction of a new $32 million welcome center and transit hub, saying it could dramatically reduce traffic at Acadia National Park and transform the way people visit.

Maine US Sen. Angus King at celebration for Acadia Gateway Center.

US Sen. Angus King, independent from Maine and chair of the Senate subcommittee on National Parks, speaks at an event to celebrate the start of construction of the Acadia Gateway Center. On King’s right is Paul Murphy, executive director of Downeast Transportation Inc., and on his left, Fred Ehrlenbach, first selectman for the town of Trenton.

The Acadia Gateway Center, located off Route 3 in Trenton, is planned as a new regional tourism hub with 250 parking spaces and likely an express bus service into the national park. The center is aimed at getting more day trippers and commuters into the park’s fare-free Island Explorer bus service, thereby reducing congestion on  Route 3 near Mount Desert Island and cutting traffic at Acadia National Park, the No. 5 most visited US national park in 2022.

The Acadia Gateway Center, scheduled to open in May 2025, overcame many hurdles during 20 years of planning and debate and it remains unclear how many tourists and commuters will choose to leave behind their cars and hop on a bus at the center. The project’s ultimate success could hinge on efforts to hire more scarce bus drivers to provide the express service  and to boost affordable housing for drivers and other seasonal workers, people at the event said. Affordable housing is currently in such sort supply that 10 Island Explorer drivers lived out of their cars last year, according to the president of the Friends of Acadia.

The total project estimate of $31.66 million for the Gateway Center — as opposed to construction only — includes pre-construction work, according to a report in the Mount Desert Islander. Work before construction typically includes costs such as design, engineering and construction administration.

King, chair of the Senate subcommittee on National Parks, said the Acadia Gateway Center is a landmark project that can serve as a model for other national parks. People can park at the Gateway Center, get on a bus and enjoy Acadia without worrying about fighting traffic, pollution or the time it takes to find parking, said King, a Maine independent.

“The problem isn’t so much people in national parks,” said King at the event, attended by local, state and federal leaders. “It’s vehicles.”

Acadia Gateway Center

An aerial view of the planned Acadia Gateway Center, now under construction and set to open in May 2025. (Rendering provided by Maine Department of Transportation)

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Vandalism in Acadia taints popular mountains and trails

 Update 2/24/23: The National Parks Traveler picked up this story and put a national spotlight on the “paint-can-carrying hiker” who has been putting bright red blazes on rock cairns and trees in the park.

Update 2/24/23: Spring Trail added to list of damaged trails.

Winter is not even off-season for vandalism in Acadia.

Bright red paint defacing about two miles along the Spring Trail, the Penobscot Mountain Trail on the south ridge of the mountain and the Deer Brook Trail has been reported to the National Park Service, which is now investigating.

Historic-style cairn defaced with red paint on the south ridge of Penobscot Mountain.

An illegal red blaze was painted on the mantle stone of this historic-style cairn on the Penobscot Mountain Trail. (Photo by Kevin Young)

The illegal red rectangular blazes frequently were painted right next to the park’s official sky-blue blazes on the historic hiking trails, according to photos posted on Facebook by a hiker and provided to Friends of Acadia and the park in early February. At least three dozen historic-style cairns, trees and bedrock locations were painted with the red blazes, according to interviews with two hikers who took photos.

This is the latest example of a growing problem in Acadia and other national parks, with vandals defacing the landscape with paint, rock stacking and even human and pet waste. Now, the vandalism in Acadia has happened in the dead of winter, when the hiking trails are often little used and icy.

The illegal painting off Penobscot, the fifth highest mountain in Acadia, follows a rise in the number of citations issued by the National Park Service for vandalism in Acadia over the past two years, compared to the three prior years, according to park statistics.

Acadia National Park cairn marred by red paint.

This red paint damage on a cairn on the Penobscot Mountain Trail is especially galling because it occurred right next to a National Park Service sign that asks people to leave cairns as they find them. Rangers are investigating the illegal activity. (Photo by Kevin Young)

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Staff deficits hit Acadia visitor services, shut Cadillac at 10pm

Citing a shortage of seasonal staff this year, the park has closed Cadillac Mountain overnight to vehicles and stopped staffing the popular Village Green Information Center in Bar Harbor, among other moves to deal with a lack of workers for Acadia visitor services.

milky way from cadillac

It’s going to be harder to see the stars from Cadillac with the closing of the summit road after 10pm through late October, while the vehicle reservation system is in effect. (NPS photo by Sardius S. Stalker)

Even the Star Party at Cadillac, one of the more in-demand events of the Acadia Night Sky Festival in September, has been cancelled “due to limited capacity and staffing constraints,” according to the festival website.

But perhaps the biggest impact to Acadia visitor services is the elimination of park staff at the Village Green Information Center, ending a longtime presence of rangers in downtown Bar Harbor during the busy season. According to former ranger Maureen Robbins Fournier, rangers sold park entrance and commercial passes, swore in hundreds of Junior Rangers every year, and helped people plan visits and Acadia hiking, among other services, with lines sometimes out the doors during cruise ship season.

“We are not staffing it this year due to limited staff availability,” Sean Bonnage, public affairs assistant for Acadia, told us in an email.  “We don’t have plans to staff it in the future, although ideally we would like to.”

The Village Green Information Center is owned by the town of Bar Harbor and is leased as an operations center to Downeast Transportation, the nonprofit that operates the Island Explorer on Mount Desert Island. It is still being used as an operations center this year, with the Island Explorer operating a full schedule for the first time since 2019, and is open to the public, only with no rangers present for Acadia visitor services. It was first staffed by rangers 20 years ago.

Village Green Information Center in Bar Harbor

Limited staff at Acadia prompted the National Park Service to decide against staffing the Village Green Information Center this summer. Hundreds of Junior Rangers used to be sworn in by park rangers at this location every year.

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Best place for sunset on Cadillac is now…the West Lot?

Acadia National Park visitors in search of sunset on Cadillac Mountain know from social media and the Internet that the best place to watch sunset is from the Blue Hill Overlook. But late last year, workers removed the sign for the overlook and put up one that says “West Lot” instead.

cadillac mountain sunset

Crowds start to gather for the best place to see the sunset on Cadillac Mountain, whether it’s called the West Lot, Blue Hill Overlook or Sunset Point.

And before the spot was named for its view west to Blue Hill in the late 1980s, visitors knew to flock to what was then called Sunset Point, as the official park map labeled it. But the crowds got so bad, “to alleviate evening traffic congestion, the National Park Service changed the name in 1988 from Sunset Point to Blue Hill Overlook,” according to the new and definitive book, Place Names of Mount Desert Island and the Cranberry Islands, Maine, by Henry A. Raup.

As Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet, “What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Whether it’s called the West Lot, Blue Hill Overlook or Sunset Point, the view of the sunset on Cadillac from this very spot is, indeed, just as sweet. And visitors will eventually find it.

The renaming of Blue Hill Overlook to the West Lot is just the latest chapter in the long history of changing place names in Acadia and surrounding areas.  Even the park itself went through several name changes, from the Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, to Lafayette National Park in 1919 and finally Acadia National Park in 1929.

sunset on cadillac

No matter what you call it, this is the sweetest place to watch the sunset on Cadillac, even if it will get crowded during the peak season with visitors setting up lawn chairs, picnic blankets and cameras on tripods.

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More access for physically disabled persons urged at Acadia

Michael Kelley has been visiting Acadia National Park for more than 25 years, but he’s never seen Thunder Hole up close or been on Sand Beach. That’s because he uses a wheelchair, and an accessible ramp is either too far away or non-existent for these major attractions.

Michael Kelley at Thunder Hole

Michael Kelley, shown in his wheelchair, used an accessible ramp to reach an upper platform over Thunder Hole, but the view was limited. There is no ramp for the disabled to reach the main platform next to Thunder Hole. (Photo courtesy of Carol Kelley)

On a recent visit to Thunder Hole, he went down the ramp to a top platform, but he couldn’t see the waves crashing inside the sea crevice, like people who can walk to the lower viewing platform can. And the lack of a ramp down a long stretch of cement stairs to Sand Beach means he has only experienced it via videos taken by his mother.

“It is ironic that he has a lifetime park pass, yet can’t access the best of the park,” said Carol Kelley of Waldo, whose 31-year-old son has a rare chromosomal disorder, Triplication of Chromosome 17. People with permanent disabilities can get a free National Parks pass, but Michael felt like a second-class citizen at Thunder Hole, his mother said.

While Michael Kelley and others with disabilities can use wheelchairs on carriage roads at Acadia and otherwise enjoy the park, a recent 280-page report on access at Acadia National Park says the park fails to provide equal opportunities for physically disabled persons to visit popular sites and much of the rest of the park.

The report, by the National Center on Accessibility (NCA) at Indiana University, recommends some dramatic improvements, including a ramp down to Sand Beach, new accessible platforms at a scenic lot just short of the summit of Cadillac Mountain, at Bass Harbor Head Light and at Thunder Hole, and a redesign and rebuilding of the two National Park Service campgrounds on Mount Desert Island.

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Work on historic hiking paths in Acadia steps up for high season

On Ocean Path in Acadia National Park, trails crew supervisor Christian Barter knelt on the ground on a sunny morning in April while he built a new retaining wall, aiming to protect the trail from climate and the relentless pounding of hikers.

Christian Barter of Acadia Trail Crew

Much of the work on Acadia hiking trails is still done by hand, as demonstrated by Christian Barter in building a new stone side wall along Ocean Path.

“You have to think about every bit of edge along that trail and how you can make it permanent, so that it will hold the surface in between the edges,” said Barter, who started on the Acadia trails crew in 1989 and has been a supervisor for about 23 years. “It is just a matter of going through every spot.”

Work on the historic hiking paths and trails in Acadia is stepping up as the numbers of people on Ocean Path and other trails is set to climb in the months ahead. With Acadia attracting more than 4 million visits in 2021, keeping the trails in shape is an on-going process.

The National Park Service opened the full 27-mile Park Loop Road at Acadia on Friday, including the summit road to Cadillac Mountain, which will require a vehicle reservation starting May 25. The park’s 45-mile carriage road system, which was closed for mud season, reopened to pedestrians on April 12, but not yet to bicyclists or horses.

The opening of the loop road and carriage road system increases access to trailheads and historic hiking paths in Acadia and heralds the start of another tourist season. It’s also the beginning of a busy time for the Acadia trails crew, charged with maintaining and rehabilitating the 155 miles of hiking trails in the first national park east of the Mississippi.

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