Granite peaks. Dense woodland. Crashing waves.
Welcome to Acadia National Park in Maine.
It's not the biggest of our national parks. Not even close. It's so far down the list.
It is, however, the very first national park created through the philanthropy of its citizenry who donated land to the US government to make what would eventually become Acadia National Park.
Wanting to experience several of the must see destinations here but not wanting to start our day at what would have been, for us, an insane hour of the morning, we skipped sunrise at the Cadillac Mountain Summit, a popular thing to do. Opting instead for reservations at the more reasonable hour of noon. Before you judge we were an hour drive away...we live on mountain time which is two hours behind eastern time...and...we're not always morning people.
It's early June and it had been raining for the better part of the week so we felt this was a safe choice. It was...mostly. While not packed yet, the place was starting to show signs of why it was named the fifth most visited national park of 2022.
The summit, like the rest of Acadia, has a small parking lot. Bigger than many of the other parking lots here but still, doesn't hold too many vehicles. Hence the reservation system. Personally, we liked this as it kept the flattened boulder like peak from being crowded.
It was technically a cloudy day but we were above the clouds for most of our trip. This did mean many areas that normally would have sensational views were substituting a grey abyss with hints of what lay below.
Looking for a fun challenge, we really wanted to hike the Beehive and Precipice trails. Precipice was closed for Peregrine Falcon nesting season so we headed for Beehive.
Several blog posts, the All Trails app, and Acadia National Park rate this trail as strenuous, challenging, and not for beginners. Oh, and if you have a fear of heights this trail is not for you.
The hike starts with a modest incline over rough terrain but isn't terrible. There's even a lovely sneak peak at Mount Doom...I mean where the trail becomes more vertical.
With approximately a 450 foot elevation gain in maybe a quarter of a mile, it's quite the cliffside climb to reach the summit. The narrow pathway up ascends via rungs and steep granite steps.
It was great!
Not everyone in front of us agreed with this assessment as we watched a couple of people struggle with the obstacles.
This is such a popular trail we were grateful we chose to do it on a Friday. Even then, it was fairly busy. Humans, it seems, when told something is dangerous, feel the need to accept the challenge. We did obviously.
The view once you finish facing any fear of heights you have left is spectacular.
Look at those smiles of success!
The rest of the trail, well trails, we took a couple as we meandered along, were easy. Dense trees lined boulder pathways...
...or sprouted up around the rocks. It's so cool to see.
We attempted to time seeing the Thunder Hole with its magnificent crashing waves but without a strong tide, it was no different than the other stops we made to play on the rocky shoreline as we skirted the Atlantic Ocean returning to our car.
Acadia is incredible to see. Ocean, mountains, lakes, forest. All in one small national park.
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