Suggestions?

I am planning on spending a week in bar harbor in august. I just want some suggestions on what to do. I am into hiking and the outdoors and plan on spending most of my time hiking/sightseeing at Acadia NP on Mount Desert Island with a day-trip to Schoodic Pennisula, which is part of Acadia, and maybe a day- trip to Baxter SP.How far are these places? I don%26#39;t know if I would have time to drive all the way there, climb mt. kathahin, and drive back to bar harbor. I don%26#39;t know if I am going to do any hiking at baxter. Mainly, I just want to see Mt. Kathahin from the bottom. Are all the roads dirt in Baxter Park? Can you see the scenry without going into baxter? Or can you see Mt Kathahin from one of the mountains in Acadia NP, as they say. Also, I want to see some moose. I don%26#39;t know if Acadia National Park is a good place to see them. Any suggestions on that? I have already been to the Rockland-Darmiscotta-Wiscaset area. Haven%26#39;t been to the Lubec area. But, my question is Bar Harbor a good base? I plan on doing most of my activities around Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks-

Suggestions?

Hi there,

I am sure some of the locals will give you more details but for starters a week in Bar Harbor/Acadia is great. You could easily spend the entire week and never leave the island. We do and we will be back for another week again next September.

First let me address Schoodic. Schoodic is a beautiful part of the coast and is indeed part of Acadia. If you drive, it is probably about 90 minutes although it looks like you could reach out and touch it from Bar Harbor. This is because you have drive back to Ellsworth and then up Route 1 to the next peninsula. A nice alternative would be to take the ferry from Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor. In August, the Island Explorer buses run on Schoodic and they could get you around to various locations on Schoodic. There are some hiking trails there but not many and they are generally very short. But the scenery is spectacular.

Next Mt. Katahdin. You can drive it in a day but there would not be enough time to drive up, hike the mountain and return. I can%26#39;t add a whole lot more because while we have driven past on our way to New Brunswick, we have never actually stopped.

Moose. You best bet for moose would be inland. The Millenocket area around Katahdin would be a great area as would the Moosehead Lake area. Again, you could do either as a day trip from Bar Harbor and try to book a ';moose safari'; or some other moose spotting tour but I have found the best moose spotting to be around the ';edges'; so to speak - either earlier in morning around sunrise or early in the evening around sunset.

While I would never discourage someone from spending a full week in Bar Harbor/Acadia, you might want to consider spending maybe 5 or 6 nights in Bar Harbor and a night or two in Millenocket or the Greenville/Moosehead region in order to meet all your vacation objectives. (Personally, I would opt for Moosehead.) I would hasten to add that there is also good hiking in both the Baxter State Park (obviously) area as well as the Moosehead area. Just a suggestion.

Either way, enjoy!

Suggestions?

Acadia:

Being that you like hiking and the outdoors you may very well find that no matter how much you do, you will leave Acadia with a sense of not doing as much as you wanted. And thats a good thing. We%26#39;ve visted Acadia for 7 years running now and we STILL find new things to do each trip. There are so many great hikes of all difficulty. I suggest making a list of all the hikes you want to do before you get up there. Renting bikes is a great idea too. The Carriage Roads in the park are excellent. Plus there are day trips you can enjoy while on the Island too. Bar Harbor is a fun town too.

To answer your questions: I have never seen a moose on the island. Yes, you can technically see Katahdin from the island but at its distance its virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the mountains in the distance.

Schoodic:

I%26#39;ll echo what paflyfisher said about Schoodic. It is very beautiful and quiet. We usually visit Schoodic on a rest day between some long hikes. It is a good drive away and depending on the time of year you go, getting on and off MDI you might see some traffic.

Baxter:

Last year we finally got up to Baxter SP. It was so worth it. We hiked up to Chimney Pond and the views of Katahdin were breathtaking. Most of our visit was during a cloudy day (although it cleared up when we got to Chimney Pond) but there were only a few spots in the park where we saw Katahdin - none as remarkable as the base of Chimney Pond. For our trip, we really didnt get a solid view of Katahdin until about 4/5 of the way up. The trail was mostly under the trees. I do have a few tips about the area:

- If you really want to try and hike Katahdin you should try and make reservations and/or spend the night before in Millinocket. While a bit remote, Baxter is quite popular.

- Make sure and visit the Ranger Station in Millinocket. They can give you excellent advice about hikes.

- Baxter is not like Acadia. Acadia is built for visitors. Baxter is meant to be enjoyed in its natural state.

- I am 98% sure that after the main gate, all roads in Baxter are dirt.

- Like paflyfisher said, you are more likely to see Moose here than in Acadia.

Our next trip up to Maine will likely include another stop at Baxter - weather permitting. We want to explore more of the park.

paflyfisher and acadiafan have weighed in on Schoodic, and I agree. To get over there, poke around, and come back will pretty much use up a day. To complete your day ';off-island,'; there is a good restaurant (Fisherman%26#39;s Inn) in Winter Harbor, on the peninsula and another (Cleonice) in Ellsworth.

I have no direct experience, but my impression from reading the various Maine forums is that hiking Katahdin definitely %26lt;is not%26gt; a day-trip activity from a Bar Harbor base. Another local expert with condsiderable hiking experience has charactyerized hiking Katahdin as one of those that one does to say that they have done it, not because it necessarily is a great hike or offers great scenery.

I would agree that if you want to explore the Millinocket/Katahdin area (and see moose), your best bet is plan a one or two-day stay in that area.

As to Acadia, you might check the Overview link at the top of this page and look at the hikes and walks that are described there, as well the past discussions on this forum and the Acadia National Park forum. Acadia offers a wealth of trails, paths, and carriage roads and opportunities to take walks and hikes ranging from the easy to the challenging. As the two previous posters can attest, there are enough to fill several ';weeks in Acadia.';

In terms of hiking and exploring Maine, I recommend three publications:

The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, published by DeLorme (www.delorme.com and proabaly available through your local bookstore).

A Walk in the Park, by Tom St. Germain. Available at outdoors shops and bookstores in this area and at www.bhmaine.com. Probably the best guide to selecting and hinking trails in ANP.

Map Adventures LLC map to Acadia National Park. Again, available many places locally and at www.mapadventures.com. In my opinion, an invaluable companion to the St. Germain guide (we read the guide and then carry the map). It typically is updated each year.

I would like to spend the full week staying in Bar Harbor. I guess my main goal is to see what maine is like inland and to see some moose. So, if there is a place inland that is a good place to see moose and is closer to bar harbor, that would be great. I have seen some in Wyoming, but I want to see some in Maine. I like the idea of Baxter being outdoors and without paved roads, but the consequence of that is time. Reading more about it, I don%26#39;t think it would be worth it for a day-trip, but to make it worth while, I would probably have to spend another week there, which I don%26#39;t have.

Thanks for the help-

Also, how much of Acadia is free? Does Baxter have a visitor center?

thanks-

http://www.nps.gov/acad/

Acadia is $20 for 1 car, 7 days. At first you may think it a bit much but once you appreciate how much work/upkeep the park requires its not that much at all.

www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/general.html

Baxter SP has multiple visitor centers. One is in Millinocket (near the McDonalds) and the other is on the road right before the park entrance. There might be another up at the north entrance.

Baxter%26#39;s entrance fee is $12 for a non-resident vehicle.

To answer your first question, Bar Harbor isnt inland. If your main goal is to see inland Maine and to spot a Moose (which I admittedly know very little about) I would think your best bet is to go more west and north. I have read that in Millinocket and Greenville you can spot a Moose.

Maybe you can split up your trip? Half your time inland, half your time in Bar Harbor? While there is a lot to see at both places I bet you can see enough in several days to whet your appetite for Maine.

acadiafan provided the link to the ANP website. Other fees as well as free programs are described there.

There are several places to purchase the entrance passes---the Hulls Cove visitor center (which is a good place to start familiarizing yourself with the park): the entrance station on the Loop Road near Schooner Head overlook; the Island Explorer staging center at the Village Green in Bar Harbor; and ANP headquarters on Eagle Lake Road.

Another source for actvities and amenities in this area is

www.acadiamagic.com

Hello. Park passes can also be purchased at the Thompson Island Information Center on the right side of Route 3 once you cross the bridge to the Island - you *must* drive by there to get here so the location is convenient. They are open from May through October and offer local Chambers of Commerce and official Park information. As mentioned, acadiamagic is a good site - so are vrbo, cyberrentals and vrconnection. Have a great trip.

Isn%26#39;t the loop road the only part of the park that costs? I have decided I want to spend the full week at bar harbor even if I don%26#39;t see moose. The mount kathahin hike is a long hike and I read you can%26#39;t see much from the road at baxter state park. Is this true? Plus, I don%26#39;t have time for driving the dirt roads. The area that does interest me is moosehead lake. What is that like?

Thanks-