When we arrived at the bus stop today, we found a National Park entrance sign. This simple task is complex at some parks because they have multiple locations and no particular main entrance.
Acadia National Park is a small park with lots of visitors so they provide free bus transportation to many parts of the park. We used the bus system today to travel around the park.
The system is efficient and well documented. At some locations it can be tricky to find the actual bus stop because some are off of the main road. The trick is to ask others. Somebody can point you in the right direction.
Our first hike today was along the eastern coast of Mount Desert Island. The nominal length of the hike is about three miles. We may have walked between four and five miles because there are so many overviews and side trails.
Every side trail and overlook had great views. We began to think we would not finish all our hikes today because there was so much to see.
Our first planned side trip was to Thunder Hole. When the tide is right, the water crashing into the small inlet can sound like thunder. This morning there was no thunder. A ranger said that the best time is about one to two hours before high tide. We were several hours early.
Perhaps because the path is so close to the ocean, we saw a lot of plants and colorful flowers.
We also saw lots of birds and a very rocky shoreline. The trail is actually a paved path for much of its length. You can choose to walk the rocky shoreline in many places.
Here is a virtual view of the rocky coast.
102940 S Pixl
The end of this hike was Otter Point. We did not see any otters. It did take us some time to find the bus stop for our ride to Jordan Lake.
While there were no otters, we did see this unusual caterpillar.
The bus ride to Jordan Pond was quick and comfortable. Our hike around the lake was very nice. Many of the lakes in Acadia are used for local drinking water, so being in the lake is a no-no.
The hike on the west side of the lake is mostly a boardwalk hike. There is one section on that side that is very rocky. You can see the picture we took of that section in the photo collage below.
We stopped at the north end of the lake for a selfie. We also took a picture of the lake from the south end to show the different views of the lake.
Even with all our side trips in the morning, we finished our hikes on schedule. We decided to ride the bus directly to Thunder Hole to see if the high tide would make any difference.
We enjoyed the bus ride and the chance to see Thunder Hole again. However, today the high tide made no difference. The water was higher in the inlet, but there was no thunder at Thunder Hole today.
We hopped back on the next bus and arrived back at the parking lot just as the last bus for the day departed. The parking lot was empty when we arrived in the morning, so we had a good parking spot. It was only a short walk to the car. The parking lot was also empty when we left. We had a full day. So we got in the car and drove to a restaurant for dinner. Important note for scallop lovers: it is hard to find a restaurant that serves scallops around Acadia National Park.