Reader, I love Acadia National Park. What is there not to love? It is a simply fabulous place. There are beautiful vistas. There are hiking trails. There are carriage roads where you can ride a bike, walk, or pull a little red wagon with your tiny little dog in it. (I am not making this up. It happens.) And if you go there, you will probably love it too. Four million people loved it in 2021–or at least, four million visits were recorded last year. Because of their fabulosity, national parks became insanely popular during and following the pandemic. And do you know what? Ninety to ninety-eight percent of them brought a car. At the wrong time of year, in the wrong place, this results in what we call
PARKING THUNDERDOME!
Two cars enter! One car leaves! It’s the Jordan Pond/Sand Beach/Bubble Rock/almost any parking lot at Acadia after 9:00 a.m. any time between May 31 and mid-September!
Now, I cannot rightfully take credit for equating parking at Acadia with a post-apocalyptic cage fight match. My Darling Spouse utilized this phrase the day I ran into a construction delay between Bangor and Tremont and arrived at the park post 9 a.m. in early September last year hoping to hike Champlain Mountain and park somewhere near one of the trailheads for this hike. Really, any parking spot at any of the trailheads, which are numerous. Do not try this at home.
I encountered Parking Thunderdome: a bloodsport wherein cars circle endlessly in and out of the parking area, often stopping hopefully and suddenly when someone seems to be approaching a vehicle. What happens next? All the other competitors stop, except for the ones who try to pass to get to the putative spot, or to go further down the lot to beat everyone else to the spot where they see someone else looking as though they may be approaching a car. Pedestrians leap out of the way, cars race their engines, drivers demand to know, “Are you leaving?” and may even make rude gestures. This can happen at tiny lots, such as the one for Bubble Rock, which leads to cars backing up into the Park Loop Road, or at big, multi-part lots, like Jordan Pond.
If you encounter Parking Thunderdome, my suggestion is: Flee. Flee as if the hounds of hell are after you. Come back after 4:00 if you must, or arrive before 8 a.m. the next day (or before seven from late June through August) but do not engage! It will only lead to forty minutes of the fruitless drive to nowhere, enlivened by parking rage. Many bad words will be said.
But It’s Vacation!
If you are like me, and are not an early riser, the Island Explorer bus system runs throughout the park and to various parts on and off the island, including Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor and Tremont. There are a series of stops running multiple buses from the Visitor Center parking lot and various places throughout the park and on the island. There are a number of different routes on different schedules, all of which ran from June 23 this year until August 30; many other routes continue until October 10.
Here is the link to the Island Explorer: https://www.exploreacadia.com/If you are anti-bus ride, get a later start, and want to do something somewhere, there are other choices than risking a beating in the Thunderdome. On the day I mentioned above, I wound up at Ike’s Point. It’s a boat launch for small boats/human-powered craft. It’s one of the few places in Acadia where you can launch a paddleboard so I did just that.
The Visitor’s Center is also a good place for a later start if you are planning a ride on the carriage trails and are flexible about where you go. There’s a route to the carriage trails from the back of the parking lot, which makes it easy to park at the Visitor Center lot, unload your bike, and start riding. (After locking your car, of course.)
If you have your own SUP or kayak, and a tide table, you can also consider Thompson Island for a later start. It’s across from the Thompson Island Information Center and has facilities, picnic tables, and mud flats, so be prepared for that: very sticky mud that can be smelly. But it has a fair amount of parking, never seems to be crowded, and if you launch there, you are in a fairly calm area of the Mt. Desert Narrows. Check winds speeds and directions first; although this is one of the calmer areas to paddle in, weather and wind can be deceptive and treacherous in Maine, and the water is always cold.
And Afterwards?
Get a lobster roll.
That’s a whole different blog entry. But, dear Reader, if you read this whole post, you deserve a snack at one of our favorite places. So if you just want lobster, and lots of it, packed into a roll with a beer and chips to go with it and don’t care about the view, go to C-Ray’s at 882 State Highway 3. This year it’s open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 7:30 pm.
If you want the view, a glass of wine, french fries, the whole shebang, go to Abel’s Lobster Pound, 13 Abel’s Lane, Mount Desert, Tuesday-Sunday, 12:00-2:30 pm for lunch, 4:30-8:30 for dinner until October 15. If you drive into what looks like a boatyard you’re in the right place.
