Trip Summary
Total time from park entrance to exit: 8 hours
Sites Visited: Cadillac Mountain, Sand Beach, Beehive, Gorham Mountain, Thunder Hole, and Jordan Pond
Wish List: Carriage Roads, Echo Lake, Precipice Trail
Acadia National Park is located along the Maine coast and reserves most of Mount Desert Island. It is near Bar Harbor and many tourists spend time visiting both Acadia and Bar Harbor within the same trip. It’s located about five hours from Boston, MA, four from Portsmouth, NH, and 3 from Portland, ME.
Columbus Day weekend is perhaps my favorite holiday weekend of the year. It’s starting to feel like fall outside without the brisk air of winter and the leafs are either at mid peak, or close to peak. I have family who lives in central and northern Maine, so my sister and brother-in-law made the drive up from Massachusetts and we packed in the Subaru for the long drive north to see family and knock out some good hiking. We reached Acadia around 9:30 AM on a Saturday, and for the most part, we had the place to ourselves. I was hoping to see the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain, but after a long drive on Friday, sleeping in was well worth it.
We took the main entrance into the park, and started our drive up Cadillac Mountain. I would recommend this be the first stop to make, just because the area does get crowded by mid afternoon. Some avid hikers will say to hike the mountain instead of drive it, but we felt that for only having a day our hiking efforts were best used somewhere else.
Cadillac Mountain sets the tone for the rest of the day. Beautiful scenic views that go for miles. From the mountain, we took a right onto park loop road where it turns into a one way and headed down to Sand Beach. By 10:30, we were sitting in some pretty heavy fall foliage traffic. It took us a total of 40 minutes (usually 25) to drive from the top of Cadillac Mountain to the parking lot at Sand Beach. I’m not sure if it was just pure luck, but we were able to find a parking spot immediately as someone was leaving.
We had beautiful weather on this day and an above average October temperature wise. By the time we got to Sand Beach it was almost 70 degrees. We were wearing T-Shirts. Kids were still swimming. We watched seals play off the shore and enjoyed some snacks before heading to the Beehive. The Beehive can be seen from Sand Beach and I remember my brother-in-law laughing at me when I said it was rated as a more difficult hike. It seemed too small from a distance to be such a hard hike.
From the Sand Beach parking lot, we made the short walk over to the entrance of the Beehive. The Beehive is not for dogs or anyone who may have difficulty climbing. My wife is terrified of heights, and at one point I thought she was going to have a panic attack. It’s not a long climb up as it is only a 520 foot elevation gain to the summit (less than a mile) but you are forced to go the speed of the people in front of you. Altogether it took us about 1.5 hours with lots of hurry up and waiting as we climbed to the top due to congestion. It would probably take about an hour without congestion. I don’t want to downplay this hike, as it does take a lot of skill, coordination, and bravery. You are standing on ledges of rock for 70% of it, and only a small portion for it is spent on a woodland trail. There are iron rods and steps that are strategically placed to ensure that no one falls or injures themselves, and if you spend more time looking down instead of looking up, it can get a little scary. It’s rated as difficult due to the complexity of climbing. Overall it is not too strenuous and the views at the summit are incredible and can’t be beat.
After reaching the summit of the Beehive, we continued to make our way to the Bowl, about half a mile down from the summit. While there are some steep areas before reaching the Bowl, it’s nothing in comparison to the Beehive. The majority of the trail is pretty easy to hike. There isn’t anything spectacular about the views at the Bowl, but it was nice to dip our feet into the water. It was a hot day. Moose can be spotted here on occasion, but we didn’t see any on our trip.
After going to the Bowl and eating some snacks, we decided to hike another half mile to Gorham Mountain. Gorham Mountain is rated as moderate, but I would put it on the easy side. The trails are well groomed but there is some maneuvering around rocks and steeper inclines. Gorham Mountain provided more wonderful views much like the Beehive.
Upon getting to the top of Gorham Mountain, we made our way back down to the Gorham Mountain trail-head, about a 1.8 mile trek back. Easy decent down. This concluded our hiking. Once we got back to the trail-head and crossed the street, there was a wide walking path that led to the parking lot at Sand Beach, about a twenty minute walk. The route we took, with starting at the Beehive and working toward the Bowl and Gorham Mountain, was about 4 miles, plus another mile to get back to the Sand Beach parking lot. We chose Gorham trail-head as our exit due to the fact that we wanted to see Thunder Hole and we would pass it on our way back to the parking lot. I did not get as many photos as I would have liked at Thunder Hole. The park was packed by 3 PM and Thunder Hole had turned into a zoo.
Once we finished at Thunder Hole, we walked back to our car and started our drive to Jordan’s Pond. Due to fall traffic it ended up being another forty minute drive, but realistically it should only take about twenty minutes. On a busy fall day there is very limited parking at Jordan’s Pond House, where most people stop for a quick bite to eat. This day was no exception. Jordan’s Pond is a site to be seen in the fall even if you end up not getting food at the Pond House. It’s worth the wait to find parking and take some photos of the ever changing fall foliage. There are some walking trails around the lake near the restaurant. We opted to grab a bite to eat in the nearby Bar Harbor instead of inside the park for a better selection of food.
Park Notes:
- There are two water fountains where you can fill up your water bottles at Sand Beach, making this a perfect hub to leave your car parked for the day. Upon leaving and coming back we were able to fill two water bottles each. There’s also well maintained restrooms.
- Acadia doesn’t have enough parking spots for the amount of tourists that it gets in the fall. Many people park on the side of the road and traffic can be pretty awful once the tour buses reach Cadillac Mountain. Plan for this in the warmer months.
- There’s no cell phone coverage in the park. I downloaded a trail map onto my phone before going up Cadillac Mountain and also carried a paper one.
- Since Jordan Pond House is the only restaurant inside the park, bring snacks and ample food for hiking. Jordan Pond is headed toward the exit of the park and it would be a pain just to stop there for food only to have to go back around the loop to the trails.
- Don’t cut the Beehive out just because the reviews are scary. The views from the summit are well worth it.
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