Acadia National Park
Ocean Path Trail
Ocean Path Trail is approximately 2.2 miles long (one way) and travels between the coast and Park Loop Road. It offers a walking path to popular attractions like Thunder Hole and Otter Cliff. We chose to drive along Park Loop Road rather than walk the path because we had intermittent rain. Even with the rain, we had a great time hopping out of the car and taking short walks along the path. We were glad we decided to come right before the busy season, parking along the road and in parking lots is scarce. When traveling with the dogs we're not fans of large crowds and I could see the Ocean Path Trail being a nightmare during the busy season.
Jordan Pond Path
Jordan Pond Path is a 3.1 mile loop trail which travels around Jordan Pond and features a wooden plank boardwalk. We arrived at the Jordan Pond parking lots around 12 and it was a hassle waiting for someone to leave to snag a parking spot. The area was extremely busy with hikers, bikers, and people visiting the Jordon Pond House. The trail was an easy loop but was fairly crowded so we had to pull off the trail quite often to let people pass. If you have a dog reactive or dog selective dog, this may not be the best trail for you.
Boardwalk portion of Jordon Pond Path.
The Bubbles
Ship Harbor Trail
Ship Harbor Trail is a 1.4 mile loop near Bass Harbor. This trail far exceeded our expectations. There was a wide variety of scenery and we only passed by a few people. It was a great trail for the dogs.
Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land
Coastal Trail
Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land is located on the Bold Coast. There is one loop trail approximately 10.4 miles long which takes you through all coastal and inland trails. We chose to do the Coastal to Ocean Trail which was approximately 2.7 miles out and back. We rarely passed anyone on the trail and the dogs enjoyed the shade. If visiting Bar Harbor, this trail is around 2 hours north. We thought it was worth the drive since we visited the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse afterwards.
Quoddy Head State Park
Quoddy Head is located in Lubec, on the easternmost piece of land in the United States. The park has 4.5 miles of hiking trails and features a red-and-white striped lighthouse. The tower is closed but you can explore the visitor center and museum.
Coastal Trail
While we only hiked part of the Coastal Trail, the views were outstanding. We had the majority of the trail to ourselves and were able to spend time at the overlooks.
Lobster Shacks of Maine
McLoons Lobster Shack
Our first day in Maine was a travel day where we stopped in Portland for a lunch break and took the scenic route along the coast to our AirBnB in Ellsworth. For dinner we decided we wanted a lobster roll and stumbled upon McLoons Lobster Shack in South Thomaston. McLoons is a family owned lobster shack with with fantastic views of the harbor where you can watch local lobstermen unload their day's catch. We tried a few lobster rolls in Maine and McLoons was definitely #1.
The Travelin Lobster
The Travelin Lobster had a wide variety of lobster and seafood dishes. The food we had here was phenomenal and we would highly recommend stopping if you're near Bar Harbor. The Travelin Lobster is located about 9 miles NW from downtown Bar Harbor. We enjoyed the food here so much we ate here for lunch and dinner one day (it was a convenient stop on our way to and from Acadia). our favorite items from the menu were the lobster BLT and lobster bisque. The various styles of lobster rolls were a close second and we couldn't pass up a slice of blueberry pie. Overall, this was easily our favorite restaurant in Bar Harbor.
Thurston's Lobster Pound
Thurston's Lobster Pound is located in Bernard. We decided to stop here for dinner after visiting the Bass Harbor Lighthouse and hiking the Ship Harbor Trail. The lobster roll was really good and the prices of their live lobster were reasonable. We would recommend it if you're in the area.
Overall, we had an amazing time in Maine and will definitely be back. We went the second week of June and while the weather was iffy, we missed the black flies and the crowds (not sure which would be worse). Acadia National Park took us around 2 days to see everything we had planned which gave us an extra 3 days to stumble upon other parks. We would have never visited Cutler Coast Preserved Public Land and Quoddy Head State Park if we didn't happen to have extra time. I'll be dreaming about the lobster rolls from McLoons until we can make the trip back to Maine.
