Day 10 - Acadia Day 2 (Bar Harbor) by Kristen

For our second day in Acadia we decided to explore the Bar Harbor section of the park. We were pretty excited for some coastal views and the opportunity to get in the water. We roughly followed the outline in the second section [here](https://thetrek.co/best-acadia-national-park/) for a 12 mile hike. As suggested we parked at the BeachCroft Path Trailhead to avoid the larger crowds over at Sand Beach. We started our hike on the Kurt Deidrich's Climb path which took us up to Dorr Mountain. It was a steep warm up to a long day, especially with sore legs from the day before. But the views up top were pretty great.  From the top of Dorr we took the Schiff Path over to the Gorge Trail which led us to the Cadillac Mountain Summit, the highest point in the park. We barely saw anyone until we got close to Cadillac Mountain which was flooded with other tourists. Likely because you can drive straight up the mountain and see the views. We walked through the parking lot and jumped on the Cadillac Mountain South Ridge trail that was behind the porter potty's/near the gift shop. This is a great spot to fill up on water. The next mile or two kept us pretty much on top of the rocky ridge and offered some great views and welcome winds on a hot day.  We continued to follow signs for the Blackwoods campground and took a small detour at Eagle Crag. This was about a .1 mile loop to a really nice over look. Once we got to Blackwoods campground the path got a little harder to follow. We basically ended up walking through the camp until we found the rangers station, hanging a left toward the main road, and then cutting through the woods to our right to join up with a path heading toward otter cove.  We popped out on the Park Loop Road and hopped on to the Beach Trail. This is where we diverted from the course linked to above. We decided to take the beach trail rather than summit Gorham Mountain. We were worried about some weather that looked to be blowing in and our legs were begging for some relief. While the route we chose was probably easier, we regretted our decision due to the congestion on the coastal trail. It was packed with people compared to what we had seen the rest of the day.  It took us by Thunder Hole, which was neat but it wasn't the right timing (which is 2 hours before high tide). Then we stopped by Sand Beach, which was beautiful but crowded. We got into the water about shin deep and it was freezing! It left our feet feeling rejuvenated after a long day.  We came out of Sand Beach and hung a right to head over to the Beehive trail. As expected, this part of the trail was short but steep. The signs warn you that the majority of the trail is on exposed cliff face and they're not kidding. I was able to scale everything relatively comfortably with the rails and ladders provided, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little nervous at a few points.  The view from the top was my favorite of the park so far though.  From the beehive we followed signs to the Bowl - a mountain lake in Acadia.  After the Bowl we took the 1.6 mile trek up to our final summit for the day - Mount Champlain. We were burnt out by this time and struggling, but it was a a pretty nice path. From the top of Mount Champlain we were able to jump on the BeachCroft trail which took about 1 mile of steep rocks and stairs to get back home to the van. After a long day of hiking we decided to treat ourselves to two things - 1.) a nice hot shower at a place 4 minutes from the BeachCroft Trailhead literally called "Hot Showers" on google maps. It was $2 in quarters for a 4 minute shower, but it was worth every cent. They have a change machine inside as well. And 2.) to a Maine lobster dinner. Which we proceeded to eat in camp chairs in a WalMart parking lot with a cooler for a table. All in all it was a great day in Acadia!

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