Acadia National Park

With hurricane Irene having recently gone through Maine, our end of summer camping trip was disrupted.  While I was away on a business trip (see previous posts about Atlanta and Branson), he had to pack up the camp site and head home to CT to prepare our home there.

We sustained no damage to our home and after my husband picked me up at the airport, we were very excited about returning to camping.  However, the storm had other plans.  Sebago Lake state park where we stay, suffered severe damage in the storm.  They had over 60 trees down as well as live wires and broken telephone poles.  We first thought about heading home.  However, never one to give up a vacation we started using the internet and realized that Acadia National Park was only three hours away.  We'd always wanted to go so the timing was perfect.


We found another state campground to honor our reservation and we drove there right away.  It was beautiful.  Instead of a lake, we had an ocean within sight.  Our campsite didn't have any power, but it was comfy and a short walk to some very nice bathrooms.

Here is a view of our campsite

We quickly started planning our day ahead.  During the fall and winter months the sun rises in the United States first at Cadillac Mountain.  So although it wasn't during that time we wanted to see the sun rise there.  We got up at about 4:30 and headed over.  I was SHOCKED when the parking lot was filled with over 100 other cars!

The sunrise was amazing!  (We actually went back the next day, even earlier to catch the "before glow" of the sunrise.)  The second day I was prepared with blankets, a hat and gloves and MANY layers of clothing.  It wasn't that cold, but the wind was wild up there.

We did some hiking.  Because we were going to a different campground and thought we were kayaking and sitting on a beach, we didn't have a lot of climbing gear with us.  So we did some moderate hikes and left the more challenging ones for when we go back.

We did get some amazing views of the ocean, the park and wildlife.  Acadia National Park is really Maine and nature at its best.

It was great to get out and get on the trail. I haven't had a lot of time to take big hikes this summer and until I was scrambling up rocks, I didn't realize how much I missed it.

We ate some amazing food.  You work up an appetite getting up at three am and hiking all day!
Here is one of our breakfasts and some blueberry pie I had.  Its claimed to be "the best in Maine"

The last thing we did was sun set at Bass Harbor Lighthouse.  It was amazing!