Acadia National Park

 
  Mount Desert Island is a solid hunk of granite that’s been gouged and carved by glaciers leaving ragged, rocky shorelines; steep, tree covered mountains; and long, narrow lakes. About half of the island is national park. Fishing villages, summer homes, and small towns catering to tourists dot the island outside the park. Activities include hiking, kayaking, scenic drives and swimming if you can brave the cold water.

 The mountains and rocky beaches limit accessibly but there are a few wonderful places to experience.  Beautiful views of the coast and the forest can be seen along the 27 mile scenic loop road. Take the side trip to the top of Cadillac Mountain and follow a short, paved, accessible trail for a spectacular view of Frenchman Bay with Bar Harbor in the foreground.

 Over 40 miles of carriage roads, built by John D. Rockefeller from 1913 – 1940, are open for hiking and bicycling. Some are mostly flat and the hard packed gravel surfaces make pushing a wheelchair fairly easy. The park accessibility guide recommends the sections of trail at Eagle Lake, Bubble Pond and Jordan Pond. We walked/rolled along a section of Eagle Lake. It starts out a little rough but soon becomes smoother – a very nice trail. We also tried a section at Jordon Pond which was a bit hillier and we couldn’t find an easy access point from the walking paths.  Sieur de Monts Spring area has a small garden that is fairly accessible plus a boardwalk/hard parked dirt trail which is accessible but so narrow that two wheelchairs would not have room to pass each other. There are pullouts but they’re pretty far apart. A short trail from Ship Harbor parking lot leading to the mudflats is supposedly hard packed and accessible. It isn’t. It’s steep and rocky with logs to prevent erosion placed across the trail.

 We stayed at Seawall Campground which has four loops-two RV and two tent. They fill daily so reservations are a must. Somehow we managed to get three days in a row even though we reserved just a couple weeks in advance. Loop A is the nicer RV loop. We were in loop C which is all pull-through but the sites are fairly close together. Sites 1- 12 actually share parking pads so neighbors are extremely close to each other. The accessible sites are closer to the restrooms and have tables with long overhangs but no other improvements.
      
 RVs longer than 35’ will not fit in the park campgrounds but there are private parks nearby. Most of the parking lots do not have spaces for RVs. The park loop road has two low underpasses – 12’9” and 11’8”. The Stanley Road entrance to the loop road has a 10’4” underpass. There aren’t any warnings (at least not that we noticed) about these underpasses before the turns onto the road but they  are marked on the park map. We couldn’t fit under the Stanley Road underpass but didn’t have a problem driving the loop road or driving up Cadillac Mountain. Early afternoon seems to be a good time to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain but the parking lot is most likely filled at more popular times such as sunrise and sunset. The parking lots for the carriage roads have available parking spaces starting around 6:00PM. Since the park is so busy and parking is difficult, taking the free, accessible shuttle bus is a good option. The bus travels along all of the main roads in the park with many stops and half hour waiting times between buses.  Park
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