Acadia was our first National Park visit. We wanted to stay in the park, but made reservations too late. Apparently August is a happenin' time in Maine. We did find a place to stay outside of the park at Hadley Point campground. All our campsites up to this point have been amazing, wooded sites with quite a bit of privacy, but this one was more like Bonnaroo camping. If you've never been to Bonnaroo it's an overcrowded musical festival in middle tennessee where you are packed in like smelly sardines.
In the campgrounds defense they did have wooded sites, but they were full. The staff was friendly, we got to do laundry and take the first shower we'd had in days. There was also a small beach ¼ mile away, which was a perfect place to watch the sunset.
We woke at 6:30 to go to the park and bought our annual NP pass here and were ecstatic about it. It will get us, our car and up to 4 people into all the national parks without having to pay any more entrance fees.
The park has a system of carriage roads that were built in the early 1920's primarily at the direction of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to allow people to experience the park in an automobile free environment. The roads were graded so horses could easily make their way across the mountains. The roads are still open only to pedestrians, bikes and horses. It was an awesome way to see a national park.
Pete was a little obsessed with the road system and bridge structure . He is actually a 65 year old stuck in a 30 year old's body.
Day 2: We decided we were going to hike in the park. We hadn't been hiking yet at all and were aching to hit the trails. We also needed to warm up a bit for our Katahdin hike. We decided to hike up to Dorr Mtn. and then across to Cadillac Mtn. It was about a 6 mile hike. The trails, if you can even call them that, are basically nearly vertical dried out river beds with some metal rungs and ladders attached to rock beds here and there. They will certainly make you miss the trails of the Smokey Mtns.
The views from the top a Cadillac mountain were stunning, but it was a bit disheartening because, like Clingman's Dome and Mt. Washington, they just had to build a road that goes up to the peak and there were at least 100 people there. We will just call these people cheaters.
Natasha