Acadia NP Ship Harbor Trail & Bass Harbor Lighthouse

One of the super popular activities here are the multitude of beautiful hikes within the Acadia National Park.  We have been here almost a week and no hikes yet.  I guess we have been busy doing the normally living stuff: laundry, grocery shopping, and hanging out.  It’s time to kick it up a notch.

So I researched about six hikes and selected the Ship Harbor hike as our first.

Since the Acadia parks gets crowded by 9 or 10 am, we left base camp at 8 and arrived at the Acadia NP Ship Harbor Trailhead by 8:30 and thankfully there was plenty of parking for the big red truck.

This trail is located on the “quiet side” of the Mt Desert Island (MDI) and the route is south ME 102.  We selected this trail as our first as it is rated as moderate and has some great views.

It was a fairly short hike at 1.4 miles and begins with a well maintained trail through some deep woods, then it becomes rocky as it nears the coast.  The footing was a little tricky, but the views at the end were certainly worth it.

The trail runs right along a very rugged and rocky inlet and then ends at the ocean.  You can walk along the coast on some huge boulders if you are quite careful.  Some folks were trying to climb out further beyond the danger signs.  Boy oh boy…

Since the hike was through some heavy woods, we did see a few mosquitos.  I brought my backpack to be prepare for stuff, but neglected to put the bug spray in.  Doh!  The next hike will need to include this necessity.

After this trail loop, we stopped at the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  This light is owned and operated by the US Coast Guard and has a family living in the house attached.  We could only walk up to the lighthouse, but no tours of this still operational light.

This light was built in 1858 and is 32 feet tall with a 4th order Fresnel lens and as its characteristic it has an alternating red light.  I wonder if it was ever misinterpreted by sailors.

On the way home, we stopped at another quaint village, Southwest Harbor.  We walked around and looked at the shops.  Then stopped at the Milagro Coffee shop for a latte.  Very popular place at about 11 am.  Coffee and some baked goods.  People just waking up.

Then it was back to base camp for some lunch and enjoy the beautiful day under the awning.  While eating lunch we watched a couple of big rigs come in and try to back in to the waterfront spots.  Always enjoyable to watch others try to park a big rig!

After some reading, we walked up to the pool to cool off since it was nearly 80 degrees today.  Kind of unusual since we have been here, but looking ahead, we have several more 80 degree days.

Week #1 is over now and 3 more to go before we start south.

Take care and God Bless.