Acadia National Park guides
12 in-depth guides to Acadia National Park, in reading order: what to see, how to get around, and what to know before you go. Back to the Acadia National Park overview.
Island Explorer Shuttle and Beating the Parking Crunch
Parking in Acadia is extremely limited. With roughly four million visits a year, drivers often face long waits and crowded lots.
Acadia Seasons: July Crowds to October Foliage
July and August are Acadia's busiest months, drawing about one-third of the park's yearly visitors.
Driving the 27-Mile Park Loop Road
Park Loop Road runs 27 miles, or 43 kilometers, around the east side of Mount Desert Island, tying together Acadia's lakes, mountains and shoreline.
Iron Rungs: Precipice, Beehive and Jordan Cliffs
Acadia has an unusual number of trails where iron rungs and ladders are bolted straight into the granite.
Rockefeller's Carriage Roads and Stone Bridges
Forty-five miles of car-free, broken-stone roads curve through the interior of Mount Desert Island.
Darkest Skies on the Eastern Seaboard
Acadia's night skies stay remarkably dark for a place so close to Portland, Boston and New York.
Glacier-Carved Peaks and Pink Granite Summits
Spread out a topographic map of Mount Desert Island and the work of the last ice age jumps off the page.
Summit to Tide Pool: Acadia's Ecological Zones
On Acadia's bare granite summits, life holds on in the cracks. Tiny subalpine plants root in the joints of the rock and shelter on the downwind side of boulders.
Wabanaki Homeland: 10,000 Years on Acadia
The Wabanaki, whose name means People of the Dawnland, are a confederacy of five related Algonquian nations: the Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki and Penobscot.
Cadillac Summit Road and Vehicle Reservations
Cadillac Summit Road climbs to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which at 1,503 feet is the highest point in Acadia you can reach by car.
Booking Blackwoods, Seawall and Schoodic Woods Campsites
Every campsite at Blackwoods, Seawall and Schoodic Woods has to be reserved ahead of time on Recreation.gov.
Isle au Haut: Ferry, Fishing Village, Lean-tos
Isle au Haut, a name that translates to High Island, rises from Penobscot Bay off the coast of Stonington, Maine.
