We visited Acadia during a rainy weekend, what did we do to stay busy? A lot!
While our first day involved a little rain, our second day began with a downpour. I always come with a back up plan and we had our raincoats packed for just this reason. We had to stick to safer hikes and activities, no ladder climbing in this rain! So our first stop of the day would be Jordan Pond.
A relatively flat and safe hike circles the entire pond, but we weren't the only ones with this area in mind. The parking lots were packed very early with people looking for something to do safely. We found a spot and began hiking in a clock wise direction. The western half of the Pond has a huge "boardwalk" structure that made for an interesting trek.
Eventually the board walk ends and you begin hiking across rocks. This rougher terrain is a very limited portion of the overall hike but can be slippery. You'll know you've come to the northern tip of the pond when you reach this bridge. The low hanging clouds drifting over the mountains made this a haunting scene.
The eastern side of the pond is a well graveled and flat hiking trail with numerous footbridges. There are several tripping hazards though that I suspect are remnants of no longer existing bridges. At the south end is a type of small dam you cross over before bringing you back to the parking lot. The hike is quick and easy, albeit cold in the rain.
We finished our time at Jordan Pond by heading to the Pond House, the famous restaurant known for their pop over breads. We had an hour and a half wait on our reservations so we opted to spend the 30 minutes to get into the gift shop. It is not unusual for multiple hour reservation waits and for the restaurant to get booked up for the day, so make sure to get your reservations as soon as they open.
The gift shop wasn't barren but it was missing many of the most popular sizes for it's shirts. This late in the season they are done restocking and many things were on sale.
The restaurant itself had limited seating due to the ongoing situation at the time and an equally small menu. What it did have was incredibly fast service. Our meals arrived in minutes. Neither of us were impressed by the popovers but the popover sundae was incredible!
After leaving Jordan pond we headed back to our motel to drop off our purchases and discovered a small break in the rain. This timing actually lined up perfectly with low tide. This matters because there is a special hike in Bar Harbor that can only be done when the tide goes out and a sand bar appears. Bar Island is accessible by this sand bar and a small hike to the "ruins" of a building is available.
We found ourselves joined by multiple large crowds along this hike. Many only came out to explore the sandbar but with the limited nature of this experience everyone was rushing down while they could. The sandbar itself was the biggest I've ever seen and had many tide pools, with the seagulls actively hunting feet away.
This hike included another fun trail marker
There's nothing particularly incredible about the trail itself and it's only about 1.5 miles long so you can expect a quick trip. The end of the trail was supposed to include the ruins of an old house or something and... well, I guess the house is a pile of rubble without a basement? Don't let the picture fool you, this pile was quite large and stood nearly 5' tall.... but it's still not exactly what I was picturing!
The real highlight for most people here was the photo opportunity that lay right after the "ruins". In fact, there was an actual queued up line waiting for this spot. I believe if it was a clear day than this is one of the best shots looking into Bar Harbor... but alas we had clouds. It's still a fun little shot but it would be spectacular otherwise.
By the time we hiked back the tide was starting to come in. It takes a long time for the bar to be unpassable so it's not a big rush but you should plan accordingly. This is officially national park land, and you're supposed to have your park pass to come here, but there's no one checking passes. Additionally if the tide does come in and leaves you stranded, it'll be an expensive ride back. Prices are posted at the beginning of the island portion of the trail that stated water taxes run $160+ to rescue you. I'm not sure if that's per person but I would highly suggest that you not find out for yourselves.
In addition to the Island trail, the town of Bar Harbor also has another shore path trail on the eastern end. This passes from a park [with a good parking downtown] all the way to the green near all the restaurants harbor side. We would take this trail just before dinner.
One thing Acadia is not known for is it's waterfalls. With no major rivers and relatively low terrain, there isn't a good set up for water to continuously fall. It does have one though, and with all the rain over the last couple days we thought it might be flowing pretty well. Please keep in mind that this waterfall does peak in the spring and when we went there were some trails being repaired.
We parked just north of Upper Hadlock Pond and followed several trails up to the falls. The falls are actually listed on google maps and we found our cell phone service to actually be robust here, in case you get lost. You could also head to the top of sergeant mountain or take numerous paths back down, but with sunlight fading, the rain and our[my] weary knees, we did not.
Labeled by many as the "Bridge waterfall", Hadlock falls was purposely framed by the bridge for aesthetic reasons. Unfortunately when we arrived we found the falls to be a mere whimper. I've seen photos online that show how powerful this one can get so it was certainly a disappointment albeit not an unexpected one. Some stairs and a small bridge take you right to the base for a photo although you can approach from the other side.
What we did find was a large number of people trying to take photos. I lacked a tripod so I knew I was not going to get a super nice photo of this trickle but I wanted to wait anyways. About 15 minutes later I snapped my photo and took a more enjoyable video to remember Acadia's one waterfall. Also, this area is very slippery, beware.
As a side note, we found this entire trail system to be VERY well appointed with signage. At every intersection was a stump marker or 5-6 signs towards every trail and point of interest. This is really important because I'm not sure I've seen any other mountain with quite as many intersecting trails as this. This is in fact a common feature I noticed in Acadia, tons and tons of intersecting trails. I hate to imagine what it would be like without the budget of a national park to place 1,000 signs everywhere ; )
Hopefully I've given you some ideas of what you can do on a rainy day in Acadia. Many trails are unsafe in the rain but there's still plenty if you're willing to wear a raincoat. Our last day in Acadia was also full of rain for the early morning so look forward to some more possible suggestions next week!
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