Schoodic Peninsula Acadia National Park
Schoodic Peninsula Acadia National Park
Because it was too windy to paddle, we decided to visit the Schoodic Peninsula section of Acadia National Park. The Schoodic Peninsula is the only part of Acadia that is part of mainland Maine. It is about 45 miles (1 hour) from Bar Harbor. As we drove we noted that there were whitecaps even in protected areas so we were content to leave Nessie on top of the minivan we made a side trip to The reversing falls at Hancock Maine and were impressed by it.
The Schoodic Peninsula part of Acadia features a rugged coastline and great views across the water. There is a scenic loop road on the perimeter of the peninsula. There are four short hiking trails in the area. No camping is permitted. So this is a day use area and an area mainly for car touring. Drive a little bit, stop explore the beach for awhile and drive to the next spot. If you stop and explore as much as we did, you can spend a full day and still run out of time.
Although similar in scenery to Mount Desert Island, the coast of the Schoodic Peninsula is more intimate and secluded. There were no crowds when we visited.
Lobster traps on beach.
The views across the water are beautiful. For example, you have a great view of the Winter Harbor Light from the beach. Everywhere you look there are colorful lobster trap markers in the water. We even noticed a couple of markers washed up on the shore. We didn't see any boats working the traps during our visit.
We found that we also needed to look at the beach as we walked along. There were lots of interesting things to find. Lost lobster traps, for example. They were hard to miss.
If you look closer, you can find other interesting things on the beach. Pieces of sea critters, interesting pebbles, etc. It's all a matter of keeping your eyes open. My wife is much better at seeing these things than I am.
If you're visiting Acadia and want to get away from most of the crowds, drive to the Schoodic Peninsula.