Acadia National Park

Trip Overview

Back in August (2025), I went on a 4-day camping trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. This was my first time visiting Maine, and I was absolutely shocked by the beauty of the state! Here are a few of the most memorable highlights from my trip.

Highlights

Bar Harbor

Before heading to our campground, we decided to stop and check out Bar Harbor - a small resort town on the same island as Acadia. The town had a ton of tourist shops, good places to eat, and scenic views. The Northeast corner of Bar Harbor overlooks Frenchman Bay (which continues out to the Atlantic Ocean), and had a very nice hiking trail. This was a very cool first taste to the trip!

After spending a few hours in Bar Harbor, we headed over to Blackwoods Campground to set up our site. The campgrounds had nicely-spaced sites, restrooms, and a water pump, which were all really nice factors.

Otter Cove

Once camp was in place, we went on an evening hike to Otter Point. I was suprised by the blend of forest and beach - I was expecting the forest part, but Acadia had so many coastal points with views over the ocean. We got to Otter Point right around dusk, and went out on the rocks to hang out by the ocean.

The hike back was also pretty cool. It got very dark very fast, and it’s always an interesting experience being out in the dark away from light pollution. We had a clear view of the stars, including many constellations and even the Milky Way. Unfortunately, my phone camera never does the stars any justice!

Thunderhole

The next morning, we hiked over to Thunderhole, which is a strange coastal rock formation where the waves splash up against the rocks, emulating the sound of thunder. It was a pretty cool + unique thing to see and hear.

Beehive Trail

We also went and hiked Beehive Trail, which was my first ever experience of a moderately intense hike. The trail had metal rungs (?!?) to climb up certain portions, since it led up to the peak of Beehive Mountain. The climbing portion wasn’t too crazy, but definitely something I wasn’t used to. At the top, we had a very scenic view over Sand Beach.

I used this trail as a test run for the much more intimidating Precipice Trail, which we did the following day.

Precipice Trail

This trail was crazy! I’ve had a fear of heights for my entire life - Beehive was slightly challenging for this reason, even though it didn’t have any super dangerous points. I was genuinely scared at a few points of Precipice. The trail starts off with some bouldering, and eventually progresses to a point where you climb up a series of metal rungs. There were WAY more metal rungs as compared to Beehive.

Eventually, we got to the point right before reaching the peak, which was the craziest part. You climb up about 15 feet of rungs, then proceed along the edge of a cliff about 3 feet wide which drops STRAIGHT DOWN. In addition to metal guide rails to hold onto as you go, there were metal rails on the edge of the cliff path to brace your foot against so you don’t fall. At the end of this section, you have to shimmy around a rock corder with questionably placed guide rails to the final climb up, where you eventually reach the peak. I wish I took better pictures, but I was more focused on not slipping + falling!

Nice picture of nothing, right? I wanted to take a picture of the guard rail cliff segment, but was also concerned with staying alive.

Overall, this hike was an awesome experience. It’s always satisfying to do something that feels scary and out of the normal comfort zone. For me, that’s anything to do with heights. I feel like I earned some skill points as a result of completing this hike, making me better prepared to do more intense hikes in the future.

Jordan Pond

We noticed Jordan Pond was on a bunch of merch at the tourist shops, so we decided to check it out on our last day. Our hike consisted of a big loop around the pond, which involved ascending South Bubble Mountain. The trail wasn’t too difficult, and was a nice change of pace from the coastal / climbing-based trails we had done so far. The South Bubble Mountain portion was very cool - it had a long bouldering stretch at the beginning, and the view of Jordan Pond from the top was very nice.

Cadillac Moutain

Our last stop of the trip was Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point in the area and first place in the continental US to see the sunrise. We didn’t do too much hiking on Cadillac, but spent a bunch of time looking out over Bar Harbor and the surrounding areas of the island.

Overall, this was a great trip and I definitely recommend going to Acadia to check it out for yourself!

Food

I’m not really a seafood type of person, but I had to give it a shot since the source (i.e., ocean) is right there. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures - will have to change that in the future!

I had a fried fish sandwich at the Thirsty Whale on the first night in Bar Harbor. It was awesome! Fried fish feels less like seafood and more like American pub food, which I’m always a fan of. We had a few drinks + good food at the Thirsty Whale, so I’d definitely recommend.

Given Maine has a great reputation for lobster, we wanted to try one of the better-reviewed places in the state. For this reason, we opted to stop at a lobster place on the road back to Pennsylvania called “Luke’s Lobster” in Portland. Portland was an interesting city - it definitely felt like a boating town, but wasn’t nearly as beachy as the other areas we had been to (and obviously much more industrial / urban). It was super cloudy and a bit rainy, which feels like home considering how much time I’ve spent in Pittsburgh.

Okay, back to the food. I had a lobster roll, which was a strange concept to me. You pay $40 for premium lobster served on a hotdog bun? The lobster roll came with lobster (of course), Luke’s Secret Seasoning, and lemon butter (I held off on the mayo, so not a true New England lobster roll experience). It was AMAZING. This was my first time having high-quality lobster, and I definitely get the hype.