what to do in 2 days?

Kind of a last minute trip, a couple friends and I will be visiting acadia this weekend. Drive up friday, enjoy sat-sun, and drive back monday.

What should we do in 2 days? I assume driving the carriage roads on cadillac mountain is a good thin (or are we not allowed to drive on them?)

Whats are a couple of good hikes to do?

I know about thunder hole (i think i went with my parents when i was young) but what other cool natural attractions are there like that?

thanks in advance!

what to do in 2 days?

No vehicles are allowed on the carriage roads---only pedestrians, bicycles (on most), wheel chairs, and (on most) horses. The carriage road system comprises about 45 miles of interconnected roads.

Cadillac summit is reached by the summit road which is accessed from the main Loop Road of the park.

With warming temperatures this weekend, the probability of more active black fly emergence increases; the better hikes would be those that keep you away from wetlands and (especially) streams.

Penobscot Mountain is a good one. Beachcroft Path up Hugenot Head and Champlain mountain, coming down Champlain North Ridge would form a rough loop. Gorham Mountain and Great Head also are good hikes.

what to do in 2 days?

So do you have four days or only two days? What time do you get in on Friday and what time do you leave Monday? The time of year you are going you should have only a few other hikers on the trails.

Carriage Roads: The park has carriage roads all over it. You can mix and match roads to make a walk (or bike ride) as long or short as you want. You can rent bikes for a long day bike ride or you can pick and choose carriage roads to get short yet rewarding hikes. You cannot take cars on the carriage roads though. Cars can use the park loop road which do go to the top of Cadillac Mtn.

Hikes: Like the carriage roads, there are loads of hiking trails in the park. You can really find hikes as short or long as you want and you can easily add more to hikes. Just make sure you know where you parked ;). Some of my personal favorites:

Gorham Mtn - Beautiful panoramic views. Its more popular of a trail. We park at sand beach, climb up Beehive, go down to the Bowl, then to Gorham Mtn, and back down towards Otter Cliff trail which we take back towards Sand Beach. On the way we pass Thunderhole. ***careful on Beehive, there are several ways to the top, one is strenuous and involves open cliffs, one involves sharp inclines (no cliffs) and the last is more palatable via the Bowl.

Great Head Trail - A short walk/hike around the head near Sand Beach. Great Views.

The Bubbles -- North and South Bubbles trail offer awesome views of Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake. Plus Bubble rock from the top.

Dorr Mtn via Homans Path -- this trail is a tough little cardio workout as it has granite stairs. The view from Dorr is great and its not that popular a trail. ***double check that Homans is open, they had damage recently. There are other ways up Dorr though.

Bear Brook Trail up Champlain -- There are several ways up Champlain but this is the only one I%26#39;ve done. Champlain has spectacular views of Cadillac, Gorham, and Dorr.

Acadia Mtn -- Its on the way to Southwest Harbor. Great views of Sommes Sound.

Natural Attractions: Besides Thunderhole, Sand Beach is nice (you can hike the %26#39;Great Head Trail%26#39; while you are there), Bubble Rock is a cool site (the trail up is short and sweet), and picturesque Jordan Pond.

Check out the %26#39;Go Lists%26#39; on Trip Advisor. There are ratings of other trails.

Go to the visitor center in Acadia..

Buy a good map.

Bring rain gear and layers. You just never know...

Be sure and fart around town. Bar Harbor is very charming and there are some excellent places to eat.

Have fun!

Acadiafan (or anyone): What are your favorite restaurants in Bar Harbor? thanks!

';Dorr Mtn via Homans Path -- this trail is a tough little cardio workout as it has granite stairs. The view from Dorr is great and its not that popular a trail. ***double check that Homans is open, they had damage recently. There are other ways up Dorr though.';

As I have informed the Maine forums several times, Homans Path is closed owing to earthquake damage.

Favorite restaurants in Bar Harbor:

Mache Bistro (dinner)

McKay%26#39;s (dinner)

Cafe This Way (breakfast and dinner)

Maggie%26#39;s (dinner)

Outside of Bar Harbor for dinner:

Red Sky in Southwest Harbor

Town Hill Bistro in Town Hill

My favorite restaurants in BH:

** A caveat though. While I hear there are a good number of excellent fine dining restaurants, we don%26#39;t hit them. We generally prefer places that give us a good bang for our buck (and also gorge our faces after a day of hiking.)

Galyn%26#39;s -- Good food at middle-tier prices (~$20)

Poor Boy%26#39;s Gourmet -- Very tasty food. Inexpensive.

Rosalie%26#39;s Pizza -- LOVE their pizza.

Adelmann%26#39;s Deli -- (I think thats still the name of the deli on Atlantic Ave.) We got good sandwiches there for a picnic. If memory serves, it was a tad expensive for a sandwich but still very good.

We also hit Trenton Bridge Lobster a few times...

Sorry for never responding to your posts...just didnt have time, but we did read them! thanks as always!

We wound up leaving CT at like 10:30 or so on Friday morning. I dont know how long it took us to get there as we stopped in kittery for a while (Lo0ve me some bobs clam hut..mmmmmm!!) and then again in ellsworth for some shopping.

We wound up renting a cabin from annspointcottages.com. We stayed in Pine Bluff and it was incredible! I am usually one for roughing it rather than bringing all the comforts of home into the wilderness but this cottage, which could totally be someone%26#39;s year-round full time home, had every comfort of home (more than my home actually) and those comforts helped us make the most of our short stay. A whole house that sleeps 6 (or more) in a great secluded setting on a quintessential maine pond....and because it wasnt booked (they normally do weekly reservations only i tihnk) we were able to stay there for the 3 nights we needed and it was less than a room with 2 double beds at a middle of the road hotel in bar harbor. So pleased that we wound up there.

Went swimming, canoeing and fishing in the pond which feels like you have it all to yourself. Bugs were not a problem at all at any point in the trip.

We did a few short hikes (we are all really out of shape) like Acadia Mtn, Flying Mtn, Beech Cliffs, Wonderland, and Ocean Path. Acadia Mtn was tough for us...but that was mostly our own fault as we just randomly stopped at the trailhead and began walking it (with just 1 pint of water for the three of us to share). Views were great and the trail was really nice. Flying mountain we only went to the summit. Nice views, short hike but fun as well. I think Beech Cliffs was our favorite. Incredible bang for the buck. The trail was really short and the views from the edge of the cliffs were awesome looking out over echo lake. Wonderland was kind of neat....really easy walk out there and it was kind of nice looking in the tidal pools (havent done that since I was a kid) but I think we most enjoyed just laying on some big rocks and enjoying the sun. Ocean path was waay too boring for me since its just a gravel sidewalk essentially so I went out onto the rocks at the first little side path to a nice view, and basically went all the way to thunder hole by finding my way on the rocks and cliffs. I guess its pretty dangerous if you%26#39;re not careful but I had an absolute blast and that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip for me. we drove to the top of caddilac also and checked out the views. Planned on going back for sunrise on monday but it was rainy and cloudy so we didnt bother.

Food:

Only really went a few places. Went to some little general store looking restaurant in Southwest Harbor where theres a couple tables inside but most people say outside at the picnic tables. their fried clam strips were excellent...the breading they use for them is different than most places. I also had their clam chowder which was REALLY great...far better than the little corner place by the parking lot in bar harbor IMO. Also had some of their homemade blueberry pie which was great. Very pleasantly surprised with that spot...wish i could remember the name.

also went to Tan turtle Tavern in wherever it is..northeast harbor i think. Food there was great, their menu was huge and they had NESN HD (always a plus).

The last place we ate in the area was in orland, a little cafe called Duffy%26#39;s. If you are reading about the area on tripadvisor then you clearly are not a local and this clearly isnt the place for you :)

It was reccomended by the fine Orland Sherrifs Dept officer when we asked him for a good place for breakfast after he gave us our speeding ticket. There is a sign outside that reads something like ';Welcome to duffy%26#39;s. Intended for natives, we%26#39;re not fussy and we%26#39;re certainly not fancy....if you are, ellsworth is 12 miles east and bucksport is 7 miles west';. The place looks like a little house and gets even more plain and simple when you get inside....That being said, I usually love this kind of place, but the breakfast here left something to be desired.

anyway...it was a great weekend, thanks for your advice as always tripadvisor!

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