Acardia National Park- Have you ever visited?

[funhouse8]

Hi, Well it's official we rented an RV for a week this August and are heading the opposite way from Florida. (Can't afford WDW at this time.) Has anyone ever camped here. We were looking at the KOA in Bar harbor but concerned because there is no pool. We will be trying to get a site on the water. It seems like there is enough to do that we probably won't be in the campground for that long anyway. Do you thank we would be needing it. My kids usually only go in once the whole time we vacation, but they do enjoy that one time. Share your thoughts with me on the area, please. Thanks,
Gina

 

[emeraldlover]

A few summers ago, we camped up in the Acadia area. We tow a 33' travel trailer. I don't believe the campground we used had a swimming pool. I am at work right now so I'm going on memory, but I can post later after I get home with more information.

Acadia National park is a must see. We had a great time exploring there. We did the sunset horse drawn carriage ride up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. The driver was awesome. You stop at the top and can pick wild blueberries (we were there in mid-July). Our driver took his time going down the mountain, and we ended up having to stop for Momma Deer and her fawn in the road. The kids enjoyed that as we were so close. The sunset was amazing.

I enjoyed walking around Bar Harbor and going through the shops. You can take the CAT over to Nova Scotia.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions I may be able to answer.

I forgot to mention that the ocean up that way is always very cold. Even here in northeastern Massachusetts, we don't swim in the ocean very often. Brrrrrrrrrr.

 

[pammypooh]

We camped at the Mt. Desert Narrows Campground for a week in August of 2003. What an excellent place to stay. Someday we will absolutely go back. Our highlights: bike ride on the carriage roads of Acadia, walking around Bar Harbor, dining in Bar Harbor - great place that has best clam chowder and blueberry pie with a 2nd floor dining room that overlooks harbor...forgetting name, but it is on a corner, we did paint pottery thing one day, my DH rode his bike down from the top of Acadia, hiking around Acadia, we also did the horse drawn wagon ride of the carriage trails, very enjoyable.

Oh, another thing that was very cool...at low tide, you can cross over the "harbor" on a land bridge to an island. We really enjoyed doing this. We also walked the residential neighbors of Bar Harbor too. We really loved visiting there.

Another evening we took a shuttle to a very small harbor town...forgettin the name, and had our best meal at a small but very upscale/gourmet restaurant/bar. Loved it.

We didn't use a pool while we were there. Way too chilly and rainy, but we still had a blast...we also now own raingear emblazed with Bar Harbor all over it.

One thing that I really thought was great - you do not need a car. They have a shuttle/bus system that has something like 6/7 different routes. Our campground was one of the pick up points. The main hub for the shuttles was Bar Harbor. It was sponsored by LL Bean.

Happy planning. Have some blueberries for me.

Pam

 

[THE RAT]

We have stayed at the Bar harbor Koa The last two summers and loved it very relaxing at Bar harbor. alot of walking, hiking and biking this year we are heading to Disney. The campground is cheaper at disney than Bar harbor koa. Koa does not have a pool but it was never hot there its right on the coast so it usally cool and foggy it all depends when you go

 

[emeraldlover]

That's the campground we stayed in - Mount Dessert Narrows. I had forgotten about the shuttle bus. That was a great feature. It was chilly and rainy when we were there also. Go figure.

 

[RocklandRVers]

We camped at the Mt. Desert Narrows Campground... What an excellent place to stay... We didn't use a pool while we were there. Way too chilly and rainy, but we still had a blast...we also now own raingear emblazed with Bar Harbor all over it.

One thing that I really thought was great - you do not need a car. They have a shuttle/bus system that has something like 6/7 different routes. Our campground was one of the pick up points. The main hub for the shuttles was Bar Harbor. It was sponsored by LL Bean.

Happy planning. Have some blueberries for me.

Pam

We have been to Mt Desert Narrows Campground twice for a total of 14 nights and loved it each time. Acadia is beautiful! I also agree about the convenience of the bus system, but if I recall correctly the last time I looked the sponsorship had ended and so did the bus. Check it out though.

This campground has great night time activities for guests. A great Elvis impersonator who is a regular appears once a week, along with live music, magicians, photography lessons, etc. on other nights.

Consider trying to take a ride on the "CAT". This huge jet engine catamaran ferry zips across the Bay at 50-60 mph from Bar Harbor to Nova Scotia in just a couple of hours. It holds trucks busses RV cars etc or you can go on as a foot passenger. We went over on a day trip and rented a car in NS and drove up the lighthouse route along the coast nearly to Halifax (we ran out of time) and back. GORGEOUS!! Like you stepped back in time to a simpler life! Lobster boats all over the place and of course lots of places to eat seafood.

If you really want "wilderness" consider going to northern Maine sometime. We spent a week at a campground near Moosehead Lake. This is a huge lake and the water is unbelievably clear and surrounded by unspoiled wilderness. We took a drive around the lake and literally reached the end of the road. First the black top ended then it got more and more desolate. Finally a big sign warned that from that point on this was a rarely used logging road and to proceed at your own risk. We took a look ahead and decided to turn around

Maine is right up in the top 3 destinations for us.

 

[wildernessfamily]

We also stayed at Narrows. We stayed for 5 days, they had a pool but only one afternoon it was warm enough to go swimming for my daughter. You will love the walk over to the island at low tide...it is alot of fun for the kids to explore the shoreline/urnchins and all. We went to the NP and spent 3 days doing it justice. Eating scones at Jordan Pond resturauant was a wonderful experience. The NP also has a junior ranger program and they had fun activities for the kids. It certainly is different. But I do remember doing laundry was VERY expensive at the campground. Not sure out in the city.