Exploring Mount Desert Island, Maine

Mount Desert Island (pronounced as dessert but known locally as just “the island” or MDI) Maine which contains most of Acadia National Park and bustling little Bar Harbor is home to 10,000 annual residents. In summertime, that population swells with visitors, vacationers and the rich and famous (including Martha Stewart and several Rockefellers). It was named by French explorer Samuel de Champlain who named it “Ile de Monts Deserts” or island of bare mountains. Mount Desert Island is the sixth largest island in the contiguous USA and covers more than 108 square miles. Acadia Park was designated a national monument by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 after the efforts of Charles Eliot, George Dorr and John D. Rockefeller who donated land and advocated for it to be declared a national park. It became a park in 1929 when it was designated as such by Congress and was named Acadia. Click on the following links for more on the Park’s history or things to know before you visit.

A little over a year after our last visit to Maine, which included a stop in the Acadia/Bar Harbor area, we returned (as promised last time) and spent more time exploring Acadia Park and Bar Harbor. Last time, I hiked Cadillac Mountain’s South Rim trail, and we took in the Ocean Trail together. Lest we repeat ourselves we struck out to explore different areas this time.

Dorr Mountain. Returning to the Visitor’s Center to procure a park pass (this time, with several National Parks on the horizon, I chose the America the Beautiful pass. (You can read more about park pass options here.) I asked the helpful attendant for some tips for a hike of moderate to moderately difficult rating that were not Cadillac Mountain. Several hikes were closed due to nesting peregrine falcons, but she recommended Dorr Mountain. It turns out that my assumption that the trails were closed to protect the falcons is false. We learned several days later that they close the trails to protect us from the falcons which are the fastest animal on earth and can move at speeds of up to 240 miles per hour and attack anything that gets near their nest.

The Acadia National Park service supplied map isn’t super helpful without trailheads marked so I looked up a trail on AllTrails and found the south ridge loop. (Note: cell phone coverage inside the park is pretty spotty so you’ll want to plan ahead and download trail maps you want in advance, or you’ll find yourself driving into small villages or all the way back to Bar Harbor to get a better signal).

I arrived at the parking lot to find it moderately full on a cool, cloudy, breezy mid-June day, which felt more like late April or early May, and set off. I hadn’t taken the time to read about the loop trail and this loop started with a trail called the Dorr Mountain ladder. That should have tipped me off, but I seem to get dumber every year. Ladder and stairs, I guess. It goes straight up. I mean straight up. It gave me a sense of how ominous the task was to lug and position the stones which make up the stairway and a sense of awe for those who did so.

After climbing up to the .6 miles from the top sign (which I think is a little more than halfway) across steep stone steps and several wrought iron ladders banged into the rocks, the trail becomes much mellower and easier while you climb the north ridge line to the 1,200 foot summit. The down along the south ridge would be challenging going up, but only moderately so.

As you wind down across lichen covered boulders following blue trail markers and rock cairns you eventually wind your way into woods and then turn on to the Canon Brook trail which is mostly flat to complete the loop.

The trail, as mapped on AllTrails, provides a good cardio workout and is about 3 miles in total. About a third of it is straight up hill. For an easier climb, you could follow the Canon Brook trail, in the opposite direction as the app maps it, to the South Ridge trail and return down that same way. That would be about 4 miles round trip but is more attainable for most moderately fit skill levels going that direction.

As it was pretty windy at the top, I enjoyed my late lunch sitting by the lake near the trailhead called The Tarn with only a chorus of bull frogs accompanying my sweaty rest.

Jordan Pond. A much easier hike is the loop around Jordan Pond. This hike and area is VERY popular. We arrived around 10:15am on a Tuesday (albeit in mid-June) and there was not a parking space to be found and a lot of aggressive position jockeying taking place in the relatively small public lots which provide access. Not to be deterred, we reversed our planned sequence of events headed to Bar Harbor for an early lunch and came back after 3pm.

The loop surrounds the pond/lake. It is about 3 miles around. We headed on the eastern side first, to the right from the parking lot, which is the more direct route to the easiest ascent of popular South Bubble. That side of the path is a gentle winding, but somewhat narrow dirt path. We were treated to a set of loons floating and diving for fish.

On the other side of the pond, the trail is mostly a slightly elevated boardwalk to protect the ecosystem and a few areas of scrambling across rocks and stones. Even at the end-ish of the day, the trail was still quite busy, so we’d recommend hitting it super early or even later in the day to have most of it to yourselves.

Bar Harbor. We spent half a day wandering around Bar Harbor, into shops, having lunch and visiting its sandbar bridge to Bar Island and several of its parks. It is very busy in summertime being the largest town on the island.

In search of Puffins. From Bar Harbor, on our final day, we set off with Acadian Boat Cruises to see some puffins. Regular readers may remember that we had a failed attempt at puffin viewing while in St. Andrews Scotland last year. It turns out that we missed them by about a week as they had already departed the Isle of May on the day of our visit.

As we pulled out of the driveway of our Airbnb in Hancock, Melissa said to me: “I’m sure something will go wrong and we won’t get to see them again”. It’s not like our puffin quest is years in the making or is some kind of search for the holy grail, but we have been looking forward to seeing the little buggers as we planned our world travel. Fortunately, the puffins were on our side that day.

We set out from Bar Harbor on the Islander. It was one of Acadia Cruises’ smaller boats. We toured around Frenchman’s Bay past the porcupine islands, out past Schoodic peninsula and past the Winter Harbor lighthouse. Our guide informed us that the lighthouse is haunted and author Bernice Richmond who lived in the lighthouse in the 1940s reported seeing several ghosts in earlier period attire floating to her door in order to rap on it. Turns out most lighthouses are alleged to be haunted as the spirits are drawn to their safe harbor. For more on Maine’s haunted lighthouses click here (where Winter Harbor is not referenced).

From Winter Harbor we set out across the Bay of Maine to Petit Manan lighthouse. This was the second of three and, unlike Winter Harbor is still functional being converted to fully automated in 1973. It’s at Petit Manan that the puffins nest. We were not to be disappointed today. We saw lots of them. A whole circus, which we learned a group of these “clowns of the sea” are called.

After our fill of puffin viewing we set off for our last destination: Down East magazine’s “ugliest lighthouse”: Egg Rock. The ride between Petit Manan both out and especially back was very choppy and rather long (about 30 minutes each way). The boat being small got bounced around quite a bit so this tour is NOT recommended for those who get seasick. It was also very cold. The day on shore was hot, especially for Maine, but it was at least 30 degrees Fahrenheit colder on board.

Arriving at Egg Rock, we watched seals napping in the sun between hunting expeditions. Fun fact: seals are “conscious breathers” so unlike us, they need to pay attention to their breathing even while sleeping. To accomplish this, they shut off only half their brains while asleep.

As we cruised back into Frenchman’s Bay, we could feel the 90 degree heat pouring off of the land, warming our sea air chilled bodies. And as we disembarked we were thankful for Acadian’s crew of oceanographers, marine biologists, geologists and locally born and bred Mainers who led our tour.