Located on Mount Desert Island in Maine, Acadia National Park protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline. Bar Harbor is perhaps the largest town; and there are numerous other harbors located around the island and the thousands of islands in the upper Atlantic coast.
Mount Desert Island gets its name from its rocky seaside terrain. When French explorer Samuel de Champlain first landed in 1604, he called it “ile des Monts Deserts” — the “island of the Bare Mountains.” As we were driving around, we wondered “Why Mount Deserts”? I had to find out, so now you know, too.
We drove the park loop road and to the top of the highest headland, Cadillac Mountain – it was rather cloudy on drive up. The clouds cleared out in the afternoon and we had nice blue skies. In the photo gallery below, the long distance shot is of Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain. The coastline reminded me of the upper California and Oregon coast, just with smaller rocky cliffs.
Our camp site was right on the waterfront with a westward view, great sunsets. It was neat to watch the shore disappear with the tides. In the photos, the shoreline was completely underwater at high tide. The stacked cairn in the second set was all that was visible. Those dark clouds did bring a really strong thunderstorm through several hours later.
Journey to New England 