Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park in Maine is amazingly beautiful. You’'ll find rugged coastlines that meets the ocean and forest of trees coming hillsides. A little bit of everything. Acadia is one of the top visited national parks in the states, and for a good reason! We hit the major trails while we were there, some I loved and some I had full blow panic attacks on (not kidding!)
The beehive trail is one of the most thrilling hikes in Acadia, thrilling = panic attack to me. This trail has cliff walks and metal rungs that you have to climb up, the pathway isn’t super wide and well its a straight drop down. The first part of the trail is mostly flat, its and easy pretty walk through the forest. At this point you’re thinking, this isn’t so bad, then you come to a fork in the trail and turn right at the sign and up you go. This is where the climbing and “fun” begins. Its pretty short and steep to get to the top of the beehive. You climb short staircases, cross a few narrow ledges, and climb the iron rungs. The higher you go, the better view you get. Sadly we were there on a pretty cloudy day so we didnt get to enjoy the view at the top. You usually get great views of sand beach and great head. We didnt get to enjoy the views but we ate lunch at the top, took some photos and fed a seagull who flew all the way up there. Now, going down the mountain is much easier, so if you’re not about the cliff walks and iron rungs like me you can take the way most people go down. That is what I will be doing the next time. Most of the hike is in the forest, so you no longer get the sweeping views but its still nice.
It was probably at this moment when the panic attack set in.
Jordan Pond was probably my favorite hike. Its an easy hike and much of the path is a tradition hiking trail but other parts of it are wooden planks, The planks are there to protect the marsh. The shoreline of the pong has amazing views of the Bubbles, two mountains that sit of the Northern end of the pond. Make sure you stop and get popovers when you’re done hiking, just choose to sit inside so you don’t get attacked by bees!
Cadillac Mountain is the first place in the US to view the sunrise and the highest peak on Mount Desert Island. The sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean was a bucket list item for myself but even if you are only able to catch the sunset, the view is breathtaking. This was definitely worth the 4:30am wake up call.
Frenchman’s bay is perfect for a relaxing day, but make sure you get there at low tide! You can walk over to the island and explore but the warning signs posted all around the entrance is to be taken seriously. The tide comes in so fast that you can get stuck out on the island, you can call to get a water taxi to come pick you up but that could take up to 4 hours and cost you about $400.00! We had fun hanging out on the shoreline just paddle boarding, and attempting to look like Ariel on a rock, lol.
