Bar Harbor, ME - Acadia NP (8/19 - 8/26/25)

Now at our furthest north and eastern point of our tour of New England, we stop in Bar Harbor to visit the area and Acadia National Park. We stayed at the nearby Bar Harbor Campground that was close to all the attractions. We also discovered that Acadia is an awesome place to ride your bike.

This is the view of Bar Harbor from the top of Cadillac Mountain. You need to make a reservation to enter the road to the mountaintop by car. You can also hike to the top from various trails. There are great 360 degree views from the top.

The park has what they call Carriage Roads that were originally built for horse drawn carriage rides throughout the park that are still in use today. No cars allowed. These were great since we could visit much of the park without driving on the sometimes crowded roads and packed parking lots.

There are 45 miles of trails and they loop through the park and take you to amazing views of the bays and ocean.

In many locations, granite was used to build bridges and roads along the lakes and mountains.

The gravel-packed roads are not as flat as rail trails, but they are close. Going uphill to get this view was done over a few miles and made the ride not too difficult.

Much of the trail also circles or follows many of the inland lakes and bays.

The surface is very hard packed limestone and is easy to ride on most tire sizes.

You also feel safe with the rock road-side walls to keep you from riding off the cliffs.

Another view from the mountain carriage loop.

In several places, the carriage roads are gated by carriage houses that are no longer used, but should be around for a long time.

Although we did not do a carriage ride, we did see a few on our rides.

One of my favorite things to do on the east coast is to enjoy the local seafood they have to offer. In addition to the abundant lobster options and oysters, I enjoyed the Maine whole-bellied clams. I also had my first lobster rolls here as well. The hot version with melted butter was my favorite. I have also enjoyed many plates of oysters on the half-shell.

In addition to Bar Harbor, there are several other (less touristy) harbor towns not too far away you can visit.

One day we took a cruise out of Bar Harbor to experience a little different point of view of the area.

Only accessible by boat, on Egg Rock Island there is a lighthouse and an abundance of protected wildlife.

There are several species of seals resting on the shores. There were hundreds all around the island.

We also had a chance to see a pair of eagles from a distance (picture taken with an 800mm lens). From our boat we could see the Schoodic peninsula where these eagles were roosting. We did a day trip and picnic over there and drove the one-way loop that had some nice views. We were told it was a less visited area, but the day we were there, parking was hard to find.

Since this was a sunset cruise, they did not disappoint with the amazing views.

Another view as we head back to the docks.

One final view of the ride sky at night (sailors delight) as the cruise came to an end.

So to sum up, we hit a trifecta on the visit with great biking, delicious seafood and awesome water and mountain views at a big-time National Park.

From here we move a little south to Boston/Salem to ride another HoF Rail Trail and of course continue our quest for seafood and see more interesting attractions. Stay tuned for my next post...