Our journey to Isle au Haut began in Bar Harbor, where we had just gone kayaking and checked out of Blackwoods Campground.  We headed to Stonington, a small town on Deer Isle off the Maine coast.  Stonington is the “gateway” to Isle au Haut, since a mail boat travels between the two.  It’s an easy 1.5 hour drive to Stonington from Bar Harbor.  There aren’t many grocery store options in or close to Stonington, so we grabbed everything we needed along the way at a Walmart.

Stonington

We planned to stay in Stonington for one night, before catching the mail boat to Duck Harbor the next morning.  Our lodging for the night was at Boyce’s Motel, a quaint spot on the coast, that we would heartily recommend.   The room was small, but it was clean and well-maintained.  The price was right, and our room even had a fridge to store some goodies for our trip.

Since we desperately needed to do laundry, the proprietor of Boyce’s pointed us toward Island Laundromat on Deer Isle, about 10 minutes from Stonington.  Bring quarters!  We also brought detergent in single-use boxes, but there is a machine that will dispense some as well.  Check the hours – it isn’t open very late.  If you go, set aside extra time, and be aware that the machines are pretty old.  Some of our clothes were sopping wet after the wash cycle, and needed additional dryer time.  It was a bit annoying, but in the end the laundromat served its purpose.  We stopped by the laundromat again after returning from Isle au Haut.

Next stop: dinner.  There aren’t many restaurant choices in Stonington (surprise!), but we had researched options beforehand using Yelp and other sources.  We didn’t know quite what to expect, but we decided to check out Fisherman’s Friend, a restaurant located on the pier and walkable from Boyce’s.  K got the fish tacos, which were amazing. She really liked the remoulade sauce, and she ordered extra (naturally). I got the fish and chips, which were good too.  They have outdoor seating, but we ate inside since it was a bit chilly that evening. We had a partial view of the pier from our table.  Also, they had hard cider and a decent selection of craft beers, which was a nice treat.  Overall, good food and service, and decent prices. K says, GET THE FISH TACOS!!! (Note: Fisherman’s Friend is now closed, and will be re-opening as Stonecutter’s Kitchen).

A few days later, we wanted to eat here again after returning from Isle Au Haut, but found out that they were closed on Wednesdays.  Instead, we went down the street to Harbor Cafe.  The food was simple but surprisingly good.  K got the fried haddock sandwich, and I had the turkey club.  Both meals came with fries.  The hostess and server was both very friendly.  The beer selection was limited, but overall, this was what we needed after 3 days of camping.  A piece of blueberry pie didn’t hurt either.

After our dinner at Fisherman’s Friend, we wandered around town, taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere of a quintessential Maine fishing town.  We also wanted to locate the mail boat dock, since we planned to arrive there early the next day.  We eventually found it, only 0.2 miles from Boyce’s.  Stonington was a highlight of our trip; it is a relaxing, quaint town that we’ll remember for a long time.

The Mail Boat to Isle au Haut

We woke up early the next morning to catch the mail boat at 8:00 am.  We made some oatmeal, packed up our gear, and headed to the dock to get there at least 30 minutes ahead of time.  Originally, our boat was supposed to leave at 10:30 am, but the company switched the times due to problems with one of their boats.  Thankfully, the National Park Service had emailed us a few weeks ahead of time to notify us of the change.  The earlier departure time was actually a boon in the end since we had fewer people on our boat (more groups arrived on the afternoon boat).

After getting out the door, we drove to the nearest convenience store (next to Fisherman’s Friend) to get ice for our cooler.  Our fresh food properly refrigerated, we drove to the Isle au Haut Mail Boat dock.  There, we bought two roundtrip boat tickets for $40 each – you can’t reserve them in advance.  We were then directed to park our car on the dock, where we could leave it for three nights.  The dock had a cart that we used to load our luggage onto the boat.  And we were ready to hit the waves and head to Isle au Haut!

At this point, we were the only ones at the dock.  By the time the boat left, one other couple had arrived to make the journey with us.  But that was it, so it was a quiet ride.  The boat set off from the dock, and we were on our way.  Our boat passed enumerable little rocky islands, many with trees, some with houses, all surrounded by lobster traps.  We took endless photos, but at some point we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.

After about an hour, the first stop was Isle au Haut Town on the northern end of the island.  We could have departed here, and backpacked the approximately 4.0 miles to the campground, but had chosen to go directly there.  We would visit the town later on a dayhike during our stay.  The other couple got off here, so we were now the lone passengers for the remainder of the ride to Duck Harbor.

It’s a quick 20 minute boat ride to Duck Harbor from the town.  Along the way, we saw Robinson Point Lighthouse – a beautiful sight on the rocky coast.  The captain of our boat informed us that you can actually stay there at Keeper’s House Inn… for $450 a night!  That’s a bit beyond what we’d be willing to pay personally, but would make for a neat stay.  Soon we rounded Eben’s Head, a rocky outcropping just before Duck Harbor.  And there, at last, was the Duck Harbor Landing pier!  Several people were waiting there, including a Park Ranger who would greet us, and other visitors waiting to take the boat back to Stonington.

Places:
Isle au Haut Mailboat | 37 Seabreeze Ave, Stonington, ME 04681
Boyce’s Motel | 44 Main St, Stonington, ME 04681
Fisherman’s Friend/Stonecutter’s Kitchen  | 5 Atlantic Ave, Stonington, ME 04681
Harbor Cafe | 36 Main St, Stonington, ME 04681 | Open 6 AM to 8:30 PM
Island Laundromat | 44.21609, -68.68925 (There’s no address that I could find) | Open 8 AM to 6 PM

References:
NPS Isle au Haut
Wikipedia Isle au Haut
Isle au Haut 2014 Visitor Use Management Plan

Maps:
Isle au Haut Map (KTNPBlog)
Isle au Haut Map (NPS)

The post Stonington to Isle au Haut appeared first on KTNPBlog.

Prior to our trip, we made a 2-night reservation at Blackwoods. You can’t specify which campsite you want though, you’re assigned one when you arrive. According to the map, the campground’s two loops, A and B, have very similar layouts. It costs $30 per night, from May through October. If you’re camping off-season, the campsites are cheaper and facilities are limited. Check out the NPS website for more info.  Advanced reservations are highly recommended during peak season, as the campgrounds are often full.

When we arrived at the campground, we checked in with the ranger on-site and got our campsite assignment. Site A137 would be our home for the next 2 days. We were hoping for some privacy, but weren’t really expecting it.

On the journey to our campsite, we passed a multitude of other campsites. Blackwoods is the most crowded campground in the park, and it’s huge with 290 sites. Makes sense, since it’s on the popular east side of MDI. It’s also a great starting point for a variety of hikes and other attractions. The campground was relatively clean and quiet. Our site was simple, with a picnic table and fire ring. Our neighbors were close, but not as close as we feared they might be.

A few sites down from us was the bathroom and potable water source. One odd thing was that the campground bathrooms were equipped with hand sanitizer instead of hand soap. Sanitizer is fine if you don’t have running water, but with it, sanitizer is kind of useless. Campgrounds in our home park, Shenandoah, have soap. Everywhere should have soap! Anyway, moving on…

After setting up our tent and checking our gear, we were ready to head out for a hike. But first we stopped at Otter Creek Market about 0.6 miles away, the closest camp store to get ice and snacks. Shower and laundry facilities are located north on Route 3, though we didn’t end up using them.

All in all, Blackwoods is a nice place to stay for a couple nights. And the location is so great that we were willing to sacrifice a bit of privacy for convenience. One additional benefit is that there are trails that connect to or go through the campground. Specifically the Quarry Trail on the east side, and the Cadillac Ridge on the west side of the campground. So you can just wake up and go without driving to a trailhead.

We thought we’d dislike Blackwoods because it’s so large, but we rather liked it. Mainly because of its proximity to hikes and attractions. I would definitely stay at Blackwoods again, and even though we were close to our neighbors, we were still farther away than we were at Seawall (see our post about that).

Blackwoods Campground | 290 campsites
Location: Mt. Desert Island, 5 miles south of Bar Harbor (Google Maps Directions)
Amenities: Potable Water | Fire ring | Picnic Table | Flushable Toilet
Dates Open: May 15 to October 15
Prices: $30 / night (May – October) | $15 / night (April & November) | Free (December – March)
Highlights: Campground right in the middle of a lot of hikes and things to see/do in Acadia
Notes:  Check-out: 10am | Advance reservations recommended

References:
NPS Website – Acadia Camping
Recreation.gov – Blackwoods Reservations
Blackwoods Campground Map

The post Blackwoods Campground appeared first on KTNPBlog.

We don’t like lobster. Normally, we would jump at the chance to try any local or regional delicacy. During our trip to Maine, we did have plenty of blueberries, fish, maple candy, and other tasty local treats. But we didn’t go to Maine solely for the food; our trip was centered around Acadia National Park. This post discusses how we planned for our trip to Acadia. This wasn’t just a random vacation either, this was our honeymoon! Because of competing life events, we only had 10 days in Acadia and were determined to make the most of it. We’ll go over our planning process, what we did and how we did it, and our recommendations. There’s much more to do, this is just what interested us. And even if you only have a day or two, checking out a national park is an experience you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Maine’s Only National Park

Acadia (nps, wikipedia) is located off the coast of Maine, and preserves parts of Mt. Desert Island (MDI), as well as other smaller islands and areas. It was initially established in 1916 as Sieur De Monts National Monument, before being renamed to Acadia in 1929 (with another renaming in between). We were drawn to Acadia’s breathtaking rocky coastline, abundance of hiking, wildlife, and adventures. There’s a lot to do in the park. Many visitors just drive the main Park Loop Road, which is on the eastern side of MDI, but there’s so much more to see. We like to take our time, and see everything we can. Even with 10 days in Acadia, we wish we had more time to explore. The following quote, posted at Hulls Cove visitor center, captures the spirit of the park:

“Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in…where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul.”

–  John Muir

Acadia Districts and Regions

K had been to Acadia before, but hadn’t explored the park much, so we started from scratch when we did our research. All we knew about Acadia was that it was located on an island, and was near the town of Bar Harbor. We started with some basic online research at Wikipedia and The National Park Service’s Acadia site. In our research, we found that there are three main geographic districts of the park. And we wanted to visit them all (spoiler alert: we did).

• Mt. Desert Island – This is the main island that most people visit in Acadia. It’s separated into two “sections” – the more populated east side and the quieter west side. Contains the majority of sights, hikes, and campgrounds. Bar Harbor, the most well-known town near Acadia, is on the east coast of MDI. There are also historic carriage roads, with a series of impressive bridges that you can hike or bike on. You can also hike trails to view some of the bridges.
• Isle au Haut – A small island to the southwest of MDI. You have to take a mail boat to get here. Gorgeous views, amazing campsites, and great hikes. And all without a ton of crowds! This was one of our highlights. Pronounced Isle au Ho (Not Isle au Hot as we said for the longest time…).
• Schoodic Peninsula – To the east of MDI, this small peninsula houses the Schoodic Education and Research Center. In addition, there are hiking trails, a newly-built campground, and the photogenic Schoodic Point, where waves crash into the rocky shoreline.

Activities and Wildlife

There’s a lot of outdoorsy fun in Acadia, but we focused on hiking, camping, and kayaking. Biking is also a popular activity on the park’s historic carriage roads. There is no backcountry camping in Acadia, sadly. The NPS FAQ for Acadia states that it’s due to Acadia’s small size and fragile environment. Joe’s Guide to Acadia was a great help for the hiking portion of our research. From his site and other sources, we developed a list of hikes that we were interested in, and planned to do as many as possible. One thing to remember is that some areas are closed during the year because of Peregrine Falcon nesting. This typically happens from March through August, but the exact dates vary. This prevented us from doing a couple trails that we wanted to hike (Precipice, Jordan Cliffs, and Valley Cove). That calls for another visit in the future.

There are 4 campgrounds in Acadia. We visited 3 out of the 4. Next time, Schoodic…

• Blackwoods –  Located on the east side of MDI.  290 Sites. $30/night (May – Oct), $15/night (April,November), Free (Dec – Mar).  Reservations available.
• Seawall – Located on the west side of MDI.  About 200 sites.  $22/night for walk-in tent site, $30/night for drive-up sites.  Open Late May – Sept 6th.  Reservations available.
• Schoodic Woods – Schoodic Peninsula.  94 sites.  $22/night for walk-in tent site, $30/night for drive-up sites. Open Late May – Columbus Day.  Reservations available.
• Duck Harbor – On Isle au Haut.  5 camping shelter sites.  $25/stay, maximum 3 nights.  Open May 15 – Oct 15. Advanced reservations required.

For kayaking, there are a number of outfitters on MDI that lead trips around the island. Likewise, there are boat tours for whale watching or bird watching (like puffins). Technically, those aren’t part of Acadia since the park doesn’t extend into any waters. This becomes evident if you’re in parts of Acadia where lobster traps are placed close to shore. And puffins, while featured in Acadia memorabilia, are not actually in the park (though they are found on surrounding islands). Similarly, moose and bears within the park are rare. If you go on a kayaking trip (like we did), you’re much more likely to see plenty of harbor seals.

Weather & Seasons

Before we decided to go to Acadia, we evaluated various factors like weather and insects. We went to Acadia in late June, and weather was forecasted to be in the high 60s / low 70s. The weather during our stay ended up being perfect, with highs in the mid to upper 70s.

You do have to watch out for insects depending on what time of year you visit. Black flies are a problem in the spring (especially when it’s particularly rainy), most common between mid-May and mid-June. When it gets warmer, they generally disappear…and are replaced by mosquitoes. Our trip fell at the end of black fly season, though we only ran into them on Isle au Haut. Likewise, we really only saw mosquitoes on Isle au Haut.

Park Loop Road (the main road) is closed every year from December 1 – April 14 due to snow. There’s always a threat of snow if you visit during winter.

Visitors

It’s no secret that National Parks are very popular, and becoming even more crowded. That’s a good and bad thing – it allows more income for the NPS to maintain the park, and hopefully visitors will respect the parks. On the flip side, it’s harder to find peace and quiet with hordes of people everywhere.

The NPS publishes monthly visitation statistics back to 1979, so if you’re flexible, you may want to plan your visit during a time with fewer visitors. We went in June, which isn’t the worst month to go. Check out the chart below for monthly visitation averages to help you plan your trip.

[visualizer id=”98″]

Transportation

There are a few airports around, including Hancock County Airport (15 minute drive), Bangor International Airport (1 hour drive), and Portland International Jetport (3 hour drive). Based on availability and price of flights, we decided to fly into Bangor and rent our car there. Driving into the park is an option as well; there are bridges connecting MDI and Schoodic to the mainland. However, to travel to Isle au Haut, you’ll need to go by boat.

In MDI, there are a variety of roads to get around the park. The main park road is the Park Loop Road, which is on the east side of MDI. Annoyingly, this road is one-way at specific points. Make sure you have a map, so you know where and how to get it around it – you may not have a cell signal. Go slowly, especially on the one-way section, since people will randomly stop (either legally or illegally) on the right side of the two-lane road.

During peak season, I would recommend using the Island Explorer shuttles. They travel to a variety of locations throughout the east side of MDI, parts of the west side of MDI, and Schoodic Peninsula. We didn’t end up using the shuttle, but probably would have had it been more crowded.

Maps

If you don’t plan to do much hiking, the official park map (free at the visitor center) will work just fine. If you plan to hike, I recommend that you get the Map Adventures Acadia National Park waterproof trail map. It was really wonderful for finding our way on MDI and seemed to be very accurate with a lot of information. The only the problem is that it doesn’t include Schoodic or Isle au Haut.  We created our own maps that show details pertinent to hiking, available on each respective blog post.  Additionally, we created a detailed map of Isle au Haut that showcases the hiking trails, which is available here.

We also purchased the National Geographic Acadia map, since it did have maps for Isle au Haut and Schoodic. In hindsight though, I don’t think we really needed it. We recommend that you print the National Park’s map of IaH or ours. You can buy a detailed map of Schoodic for $0.50 at the information centers in that region of the park, or you can grab a trail map from npmaps.com.

Visitor Centers & Entrance Payment

Acadia’s only “true” visitor center, Hulls Cove, is on the east side of MDI. You can pay your entrance fee, get maps, and get trip planning tips from the park rangers. There are other locations where you can purchase entrance passes too, but this was the easiest for us. Passes are also available online. For $25, you get a 7-day park pass and a hang tag. Most other parks we’ve been to have a booth at the entrance where you pay, but Acadia is different.

The park has many entrances, so they can’t have an attendant at every one; the hang tag system shows that visitors have paid they entry fee. If you enter the park outside of the main operating months (November – April), you don’t have to pay. We used our “America the Beautiful” pass, which gets you into most national park sites for 13 months. It can easily pay for itself, and it supports our national parks!

Besides Hulls Cove, there are a couple of ranger stations and pseudo visitor centers too. The notable ones are Sand Beach Entrance Station, Park Headquarters on Route 223, Isle au Haut Ranger Station, and Schoodic Woods Information Center (near the campground).

Our Itinerary

Now that we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we could properly plan our trip. We decided to split our trip into 4 sections: East side of MDI, West side of MDI, Isle Au Haut, and Schoodic Peninsula. Below is our overall itinerary and lodging. Our other blog posts further detail our adventures in Acadia.

Our Packing List

There weren’t a ton of packing considerations for this trip. Just your standard hiking and camping gear. We brought duffels for our stay in Duck Harbor, though you could also bring a backpacking backpack. For camp cooking, we brought a backpacking canister stove so we could easily boil water for oatmeal in the morning. You can’t bring canister stove fuel on a plane, so we stopped at Walmart on the way to Bar Harbor from Bangor… which did not have canister fuel in stock. So when we got to Bar Harbor we went to Cadillac Mountain Sports (which also has a location in Ellsworth, on the way to Bar Harbor). We’d recommend going there, since they had every outdoor item that you’d need. Here’s a quick overview of gear we brought with us:

Backpacking tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pads, headlamps, mallet, Swiss army knife, backpacking canister stove, backpacking pot set with bowls and sporks, tongs, small flexible cutting board, small container of 4 spices, 2 dehydrated meals (for Duck Harbor, just in case), water filter (for Duck Harbor, just in case, but we didn’t need it), ziploc bags, dry bags, daypacks, foldable duffels, water bottles, hammock, cameras & tripod, clothes & toiletries, deck of cards, books, rain & fleece jackets, hiking boots, sandals, & flipflops

Here’s what we bought in Maine at Walmart or Cadillac Mountain Sports:

Food, small hard-side cooler, ice, canister fuel, lighter, aluminum foil (for foil packets on campfire), paper towels, water jug

Our Experiences

There’s more info about planning in specific posts about various attractions and areas of the park. Below is a list of our blog posts about Acadia. I hope they help you plan your trip, inspire you to travel, or at least provide interesting reading material.

•  Mt. Desert Island (East Side)
  • Bar Harbor & Bar Island Trail
  • Blackwoods Campground
  • Carriage Roads, Bridges, and Jordan Pond House
  • Ocean Path & Beehive Trails
  • Pemetic Mountain Northwest Trail
  • Kayaking West Side MDI
• Isle au Haut
  • Stonington & Mail Boat to Isle Au Haut
  • Duck Harbor Campground
  • Duck Harbor Mountain Trail
  • Isle au Haut Town Adventure
  • Thunder Gulch Trail
•  Mt. Desert Island (West Side)
  • Seawall Campground
  • Beech Cliffs Trail & Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse
  • Southwest Harbor
• Schoodic Peninsula
  • Schoodic Institute & Sundew Trail
  • Schoodic Point & Schoodic Head Trail
• Reflections on Acadia: Our Favorite Spots and Visiting Tips

The post Overview & Trip Planning Summer 2016 appeared first on KTNPBlog.