Trip to Acadia National Park

Brief Overview:

Campground: Blackwoods Campground

​Coffee: Choco-Lattè

​Souvenirs: Island Trading Company

​Fire Wood: Otter Creek Market

Lobster Dinner: The Chart Room

Family Hikes: Bubble Rock & Cadillac Mtn. Drive

Strenuous Hikes: Bald Mtn, Pemetic, Cadillac Mtn

Sunrise Hike: Cadillac Mtn. from Blackwoods

Thrilling Hikes: Beehive Summit

Planning- Reservation/Drive​

My boyfriend (Ben) and I spent our third-annual hiking trip at Acadia National Park in August 2019. We booked our five night stay (Monday - Friday) for late August at Blackwoods Campground located in Otter Creek, Maine. We knew since we lived in Michigan and had a 19 hour drive we wanted to make a road trip out of it and make some scenic spots. We also knew we would have to drive through New York instead of Canada due to the hiking/camping materials we were packing. From there we used https://roadtrippers.com/ to find the perfect spots to stop along the way. We ended up choosing two spots, Niagara Falls, NY and Portsmouth, NH.

The Road Trip- Niagara Falls and Portsmouth

Ben and I began our trip at about 8:00 AM on Saturday, August 17, 2019. We drove straight on through with only stops for gas and food until we arrived at Niagara Falls State Park in New York. We spent in total maybe an hour at Niagara Falls. It was crowded and one of those things where you walk up, see it, take a picture, and say you went. We've been told the view is much better from the Canada side, but we decided we will probably never return to the New York side.​

After we left Niagara Falls, we found an Olive Garden and decided to have dinner with a gift card we had. We ordered the tour to share knowing it came with a little bit of everything and we could take leftovers with us for breakfast the next day. Following dinner, we continued to drive until about 11:30 PM and decided to sleep in the car at a rest stop in New York. We had hoped to make it out of New York before stopping, however, New York is a huge state to drive through and we were both getting dangerously tired. Little did we know, when we left in the morning we were only a few miles away from the next state.​

On Sunday, we left the rest stop pretty early, about 7:00 AM and drove straight on through to Portsmouth, NH. We spent a couple hours in Portsmouth going in and out of shops, looking into the history of the town, and eating ice cream. If you are not familiar with the history of Portsmouth, it is the city where Paul Revere rode into on Dec. 13, 1774 and announce the British were coming. I would highly recommend stopping in Portsmouth, NH. It was a very beautiful structured town and a great place to stretch out our legs.

We headed back onto the rode at about 5:00 PM and drove to Acadia National Park. We knew we could check into our campground until noon on Monday morning so we decided to sleep in our car at the trailhead of Bald Mtn. with the intent of hiking it the next morning. Unfortunately,

Monday morning came and it was raining so we drive to downtown Bar Harbor instead for coffee and to look at some shops. We stayed downtown until roughly 10:00 AM when the rain had stopped and then drove to Blackwoods Campground where we were able to check in early and finally set up camp!

Hiking- Our Schedule

When it comes to planning hikes for our trip that is all on me. I like to make a schedule for our hikes so we don't find ourselves sitting around trying to decide on what to do. I also try to group shorter hikes that are close in proximity together on the same day. Here is what I came up with for our Acadia trip.

Monday- Bald Mtn. Hike

Tuesday- Sunrise Cadillac Mtn. Hike from Blackwoods

Wednesday- Pemetic Mtn. Hike

Thursday- Beehive Summit Trail Hike

Friday- Bubble Rock Hike

There are plenty more hikes you could do, however, we decided to spend most of our time outside of hiking at the beach or in Bar Harbor since we were so close!

Overall, this trip was absolutely breathtaking. You have the best of both worlds with the ocean and mountains at your fingertips!

xoxo,

M