Acadia National Park Loop Road

Trenton, ME - Events of Thursday, August 15, 2013

On Thursday, we finally got to drive the main part of the loop road in Acadia National Park. We were on the western part of the loop on Monday when we returned from our ranger-led walk, but we were especially looking forward to driving the eastern part that runs down along the shore.

As we learned from our friends, Janice and Dave, the park gets crowded, so we headed into the park relatively early. Janice and Dave also gave us an audio CD with a narrated tour of the loop road. It was very well done with lots of interesting facts. It also had precise driving distances to the next point of interest, directions for where to park, and instructions for when to pause and restart the CD.

The first major stop was at Sieur de Monts. Sieur de Monts was named for the Lieutenant Governor of New France in the early 1800s.

George B. Dorr, who was one of the wealthy summer residents of Mount Desert Island back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, built a springhouse at Sieur de Monts.

Springhouse at Sieur de Monts

George Dorr helped establish a corporation in 1901 for the purpose of preserving land on Mount Desert Island for public use. He is generally considered to be the father of Acadia National Park. By 1913, the corporation had acquired 6,000 acres that it offered to the Federal Government. President Woodrow Wilson created Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916; and in 1919, Congress passed a bill to create the first national park east of the Mississippi changing the name to Lafayette National Park. Dorr was named the first superintendent. The name was later changed to Acadia National Park. Acadia was the original name of the area that encompassed eastern Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Also at Sieur de Monts is a nature center, the Abbe Museum of Native American culture and the Wild Gardens of Acadia. The garden has native plants including wildflowers, ferns and bog plants.

Margery in the Wild Gardens of Acadia

Bog plants

Our next stop was at Beaver Dam Pond. Beavers are fairly common in Acadia, and this pond is located near the road where visitors can see the dam and several beaver lodges. We didn't see any beavers because they are usually only active at dawn and dusk.

Beaver lodge at Beaver Dam Pond

At another overlook a little farther along, we could see one of the many lighthouses around Mount Desert Island. This one was located on Egg Rock. What a desolate place that must be in winter!

Egg Rock Lighthouse

Because the coast of Mount Desert Island is relatively young, there are few sandy beaches. Most beaches consist of gravel or larger cobbles. However, there is one location that is well protected where the current has deposited large quantities of sand. The sand is a combination of ground up rock and bits of shells. Sand Beach is a popular place for swimming, although most of the swimmers are quite young because the summertime water temperature averages only 50 to 55ºF.

Sand Beach

View of Sand Beach from above

This one of the most popular areas in the park because of the spectacular views of the coast. Consequently, it can be pretty crowded. People like to stop here and take folding chairs to the beach or out onto the rocks and just sit and watch the waves. Another popular activity at low tide is to scramble down over the rocks to look for sea life in the tidal pools.

This side of the loop road is one way, so in order to provide additional parking, parking is permitted in the right lane in some areas. Drivers in the right lane need to be aware they could round a bend and encounter a lane full of parked cars. Drivers in the left lane need to be careful, too, because everything can come to a screeching halt if someone in the left lane slows down to gawk or if someone stops to back into a parking place.

We found a parking space and walked along Shore Trail for a short distance.

View to the south toward Otter Point

Looking north toward Great Head Point

Sailboat rounding Great Head Point

Sailboats aren't the only boats in the waters around Mount Desert Island. We saw many lobster boats out checking their traps. Colorful buoys dot the water marking the location of traps. Each lobsterman has his own, unique combination of colors on his buoys to identify his traps, and each pattern is registered with the state.

Lobsterman checking traps

Our next stop was Thunder Hole. There is a narrow slot between the rocks, and the end of the slot is undercut to form a chamber that traps air. As waves rush in, the air gets compressed and sometimes escapes with a loud boom. Larger waves make for a bigger show because there tends to be more noise and because the water can sometimes spray quite high. The consensus seems to be the best time to see Thunder Hole is about two hours before high tide. We were there about two hours after low tide (four hours before high tide) with relatively calm seas, and we still got to hear a few muffled booms.

Thunder Hole - narrow slot between the rocks

Air chamber at the end of the slot

Compressed air escaping and blowing water back out of the chamber

Water draining from the chamber between waves

We continued our way around the loop with more beautiful ocean views. The road then begins to turn north to Jordan Pond where it also switches to two-way traffic.

Jordan Pond is named for the Jordan family who built a farmhouse nearby in 1847. In the 1870s, a restaurant called Jordan Pond House was built at the south end of Jordan Pond. The restaurant has a nice view of two, small, rounded mountains called The Bubbles that sit at the north end of Jordan Pond.

Jordan Pond and The Bubbles

Jordan Pond House is in the vicinity of the first carriage roads built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the restaurant became a favorite stop for afternoon tea.

In 1946, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. bought the restaurant and gave it to the Federal Government to preserve it. Following the destruction of the original restaurant by fire in 1979, a new restaurant was built by private donations. The new restaurant continues many of the traditions of the original Jordan Pond House.

One of those traditions is serving tea and popovers on the enclosed veranda or outside on the lawn overlooking Jordan Pond and The Bubbles. Margery likes to have tea, but it was around 1:00, so we decided to stop for lunch. The traditional popovers are also served with some of the lunches.

Parking is very difficult near Jordan Pond House, but we lucked out again and found a spot in the main lot even though cars were parked for a distance of half a mile down the side of the road. We gave our name at the desk and were told it would be a wait of about an hour for an outside table. We wandered around and checked out the gift shop and some of the flowers around the grounds.

Garden area at Jordan Pond House

Closeup of one of the flowers in the garden

Planter box near Jordan Pond House

After almost 1¼ hours, our pager went off, and we got our table with a nice view of the pond and The Bubbles in the distance. Janice and Dave had already gone to Jordan Pond House, and they recommended the lobster stew. It is made with big chunks of lobster, cream, butter and sherry. It was yummy as were the popovers with butter and strawberry preserves.

Outside seating area behind the restaurant

Margery at Jordan Pond House with The Bubbles off in the distance

Prices at Jordan Pond House aren't cheap. Lunches range from about $10 to $20. The price for lobster stew and popovers is $15.75 for a cup and $21.25 for a bowl. Margery had to keep reminding Paul, it's all about the experience.

From Jordan Pond House, we continued up the park loop road past The Bubbles. On the side of South Bubble is a large, balanced boulder called Bubble Rock that was deposited there when the glacier that once covered this area melted.

Balanced boulder deposited by the glacier on the side of South Bubble

The road passes several other ponds and lakes with numerous hiking trails as it travels north from Jordan Pond and The Bubbles. It also passes the side road to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, but since we drove up there on Monday, we passed on by and headed back to the motor home to rest up for out next outing. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

Comments

[Marsha Weaver]

Does someone live at the Egg Rock Lighthouse? It looks so cute.

Otter Point looks a bit like the Oregon coast...just a bit.

Thunder Hole is awesome. I love to just listen to the movement of the water.

Paul would NEVER wait that long for a table...view or no view. Glad you two had a wonderful lunch.

[Mike Evringham]

It just doesn't get any better than the lobster stew and popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

[Rick Isnor]

It is a beautiful area to travel in and the lobster meal pictures makes my mouth water. Living in Nova Scotia I have friends in a fishing village. Even had the opportunity to pull a lobster trap out of the water once. Can't get lobster any fresher then that. Safe travels.