Mt. Desert Island Scenic Drive, On Top of Mt. Cadillac, and a Sunset Cruise

On Wednesday, 9/21, the long awaited sunshine arrived and it came with a vengeance - hitting 81˚, which the locals said is far more typical of July or August. I am not complaining! We decided to head over to the main part of the park on Mt. Desert Island. First on our agenda was to drive the 27-mile scenic loop.

Since the forecast for sun on Tuesday had been, ahem, a total lie, we waited for the fog to burn off before venturing out and didn’t arrive at Mt. Desert Island (MDI) until around 11AM. The 10-minute wait at the Welcome Center just to talk to a ranger about the trails and the lines for the bathroom should have been a tipoff that this is a popular park. In fact, Acadia is within a day’s drive of 25% of the population of North America. And they all picked this Wednesday to visit. Lol.

The scenic drive has beautiful views along the coast, but many of the parking areas were completely full. I have to admit we’ve been spoiled by the last couple of National Parks we’ve visited – where we often saw more wildlife than people. The Schoodic Peninsula is also pretty deserted, so we weren’t expecting the crush of people on MDI, especially in the Bar Harbor area. Another tip-off should have been the huge Norwegian Cruise Line ship in the harbor. Luckily the hordes from the tour buses do not venture far past the parking lot and scenic overlooks, so it got quieter the further we walked.   No avoiding the cruise ships either, there is at least one and up to three scheduled each day we’re here. Lol.

The town of Bar Harbor and the invading Norwegian Cruise Line vessel. 

Beautiful blue skies - you can see for miles.

Rog above the hordes at Thunder Hole.

Got a little wave action going.

Pink granite along the coast - so pretty!

Anyhow, although the scenic drive took far longer than we anticipated the views were well worth it. We stopped briefly at several overlooks, but couldn’t get into the parking lot at Cadillac Mountain – the highest point on the Atlantic coast – so we parked further away and hiked one of the trails to the top. Don’t get too excited, the “summit” is a whopping 1528 feet.   Lol.

Trail to Cadillac Mountain summit.

So there was some climbing involved!

Made it! Elevation 1530 feet.

Lovely view from the top of Cadillac Mountain toward the Atlantic.

Equally lovely view inland toward Eagle Lake.

By then it was 3PM and I was starving and getting downright cranky. We headed into Bar Harbor for dinner and a walk about. After Roger’s first (of many, I am sure) lobster roll and some lobster mac & cheese for me, we decided to check out some of the shops and the waterfront. 

Bar Harbor waterfront.

Rock & Art shop had some awesome stuff. Thought these were cool and my birthday is coming. :)
I like the second one on the left, what do you think?

Actual taxidermy bats (Randi!), they were cool, but a little creepy too.

A large 4-masted schooner caught our eye so we strolled over for a closer look. The Margaret Todd is the only 4-masted schooner working in New England and they offered a sunset cruise leaving in 45 minutes. Rog asked if I’d like to do that. Hmmmmm, it’s not on the agenda – but, Hell Yeah! So we scored last minute tickets and hauled our butts aboard. The boat was awesome. They even asked for volunteers to help raise the huge red sails, so Rog was put to work. The cruise lasted about 2 hours and we sailed into Frenchman’s Bay just outside Bar Harbor. The sunset was lovely and it was great fun.

The Margaret Todd at the dock in Bar Harbor.

Happy Sailors!

Love the rigging.

Raising the sails.

Rog helping to hoist the sails.

Mission accomplished!

Deviating from the plan - it's working out just fine. ;)

Enjoying the view.

Beautiful sunset.

Love how the colors reflect on the water.

Light is fading to pinks and purples.

Last shot before we walk the plank.

Afterwards we walked around town just long enough to find the Mt. Desert Ice Cream shop –  delicious homemade ice cream in unique flavors using local, fresh ingredients. Anyplace that offers tasting flights of ice cream is a solid 10 in my book. Lol. (Sorry, no picture – it didn’t last long enough!) We decided to head home before it got too late and plan for an earlier arrival tomorrow so we could beat the crowds and get parking at one of the popular trailheads.