Cadillac Summit Road and Vehicle Reservations

Along the entire Atlantic coast of the United States, no other point rises higher. From the top, you look out over a coastline and islands shaped by glaciers, in the homeland of the Wabanaki people.

To drive the road, you need a vehicle reservation as well as a park entrance pass. Reservations are sold online in advance through Recreation.gov and cannot be bought at the park. Each one covers a single vehicle, not each person. Walking, biking or arriving by taxi requires no reservation, and no other part of the park needs one. The Island Explorer bus does not go to Cadillac.

You can book one of two types. Sunrise reservations let you arrive and park before sunrise, and they are the hardest to get. Daytime reservations let you choose an entry time during the day. Sunrise reservations give you a ninety-minute window to enter, and daytime reservations give you thirty minutes. About 30 percent of reservations open ninety days ahead, and the other 70 percent are released two days before the date.

Save a screenshot or printout of your confirmation code to show at the check station. A reservation sets your entry time but does not hold a parking spot, and parking outside marked spaces is not allowed. Once you drive back down, the same reservation will not let you return.

At the summit, the Cadillac Summit Loop Trail, a short paved path, circles the top with views in every direction, near interpretive signs, restrooms and a gift shop. The reservation system is one part of the park's Transportation Plan, completed in 2019 to cut down on jammed roads and full parking lots after visitation climbed by nearly 60 percent over ten years.