I just got back from my semi-annual trip to Acadia National Park with one of my best friends + our boyfriends and I’d love to share our experience with you. It was as beautiful as always, and so much fun!
4 out of the past 5 years on the 3rd week in August I’ve made a trip up to Maine to visit the beautiful park. {Pure coincidence that it happens to be the same week every year! Strange I know.} I’ve gone up on a road trip with my youngest brother, once with just my boyfriend to visit my college friend’s lake house and now this is our second time going up with our group of four.
I booked us two camp sites at Hadley’s Point Camp Ground, 15 minutes from Bar Harbor, Maine and the Acadia National Park entrance. It was our first time at this campground and we really liked it there! The first thing we did was rearrange the sites so that we were sleeping in one side by side and hanging out in the other one which didn’t have any neighbors to bother us and had more trees to hammock on.
Both my best friend, Alex, and I LOVE Big Agnes tents and have been using them for years. The orange one is mine and the purple one is hers. They look pretty darn cute setup next to each other!
Once the tents were up, the next most important thing was hammocks! (Those that know me won’t be surprised by this!)
Once camp was set, we headed out for our first hike!
Great Head Trail
It was about 3pm when we finished setting up, so at this point we knew we could only do a short hike. Jay found a great loop called Great Head Trail that starts at Sand Beach, leads you through the woods and along the shore line back to the beach again. For those of you who are unfamiliar, these pine trees are actually ON THE BEACH! Maine is gorgeous like that. Rocks, Pine Trees and Ocean Waves all intertwined. Here you can see the start of Great Head Trail that leads from the sand into the woods….
At the first clearing from the wooded path we had a great open view of the water with a B17 flying overhead. (WWII bomber)
As you can see the beaches here are nothing like the ones in NJ. They’re absolutely stunning and other-worldly when compared to the beaches we have back home. I can’t recommend enough that you come and visit Maine’s shoreline!
As you hiked along through the mostly flat terrain, you’d come upon clearings in the woods here and there that offered spectacular views!
The last view we saw was probably my favorite: A nice panoramic view of Sand Beach dotted with tourists and Beehive Mountain in the distance.
At this point in the trail, thankfully at the end of the hike, it started to lightly drizzle. We hiked down the mountain and across the beach back to the car and drove south to Thunder Hole. Luckily, the tide was perfect and it was making some awesome guttural noises which distracted us from the drizzle.
From there we drove around the Park Loop and out of the park towards Bar Harbor. We window shopped around town, grabbed some coffee and headed back to camp. Thankfully by the time we got there is stopped raining! Jay set up a fire and I made some drinks. Alex and I had to start vacation off right ~ Titos + Club with Lemon!
Jay made an awesome “one match fire” and we enjoyed that until it got dark. Afterwards we drove down to Hadley’s Point with our camp chairs, sat along the ocean shore and watched the stars where you could see the milky way!
North Bubble and Connors Nubble
The next morning we woke up, ate a huge breakfast, packed our day-packs with lunches, snacks and water and headed back out to Acadia. Alex and I picked the hiking trail this time and we chose to do North Bubble to Connors Nubble to Eagle Lake. We parked at the Jordan Pond Parking Area and headed into the woods.
On our way to the summit of North Bubble Mountain there were a few breathtaking views looking south at Jordan Pond. I hung my camera from a tree branch to get the shot of the four of us! haha Can’t believe it actually worked!
The view of Jordan Pond from 2/3 the way up North Bubble Mountain.
Once we summited this first mountain we had part of our lunch and took some photos on this cliff overlooking the pond.
We continued along the ridge and down the mountain to the carriage road and then up our second peek – Connors Nubble. Getting up there was quick, steep and really fun. You practically had to climb up a mountain of boulders using your hands and knees to do so. Super fun!
Here’s a panorama I shot at the top on my phone: The summit of Connors Nubble. Mountains for days!
When you peeked around the corner from where this panorama was taken you get a clear view of Eagle Lake!
The rest of the trail brings you slowly down the mountain to the shore of the lake. It was so gorgeous down there! Besides biking the carriage road, this is the only way you can see and enjoy the base of the lake.
We chose a large rock and ate the rest of our lunch along the shore.
The rest of the trail back to the car was pretty interesting to say the least! I don’t have photos of the large boulders we had to navigate, walk on top of and jump around for a large portion of the trail, but I did photograph these two areas…
I love the look of the roots on the trail in the photo on the left. It reminded us of the Pacific North West! On the right here, the boardwalk through the ferns – this was my favorite section of the trail! <3
Here’s one more shot of the base of Eagle Lake. We all really enjoyed these trails and mountain tops! I highly recommend them!
When we got back to camp this evening it rained again. We had one last fire and went to sleep early, hoping it would clear up to see the sun rise on Cadillac Mountain. We woke up at 4:30am to complete cloud coverage and decided to go back to bed. One day we’ll see the sun rise here!
It was a short but awesome weekend trip. Thanks for reading about it! <3
If you’re planning your own trip to Acadia and need advice or have any questions… ask away in the comments below!
{All photos taken with Fuji X100T or LG G6 Smartphone}
