Living in Florida, neither my fiancee nor I realized there are parts of the North that close come October. Had we been one week later arriving at Acadia National Park, we would not have been able to camp there. As it was, the park rangers looked at us like we were nuts when we said we wanted to get a site.
I was dismayed to learn there are no hook-ups at the campground facilities in Acadia. This meant primitive camping and no electric heater. It turned out okay as we'd recently bought a heavy comforter and the gift shop had sweatshirts marked way down since they were getting ready to close for the season. There was a fire ring and picnic table at our site so we put the table right next to the campfire and snuggled up each night we stayed there.
There are two campgrounds in the park and each is within a 10-minute walk to the ocean, although it was too cold for us to make the walk.
We spent most of one day driving the 20-mile Park Loop Road. We made lots of stops to wander into the woods and up mountains. There were also various spots where we could see the Atlantic Ocean. At one point, my fiancee ventured down a steep embankment to get to a beach with water-worn black rocks. Although I couldn't make it down the embankment, he came back and described the scene with awe. To him, it was one of the most magnificent things he saw on our month-long journey.
We would have loved to take a horse-drawn carriage tour but this activity had already been closed for the season.
Although we enjoyed our stay at Acadia National Park, there were a lot of things we missed out on because we didn't go until late in the year. This is not a destination I would recommend going to in the fall.
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