Acadia Vacation Pg 3

November 2012

All Pages of This Report

continued from page 2 of our November 2012 trip to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park:

The majority of our time was spent in the Sand Beach / Great Head area. The entrance to Sand Beach is fairly near the off-season entrance to the park. This photo, taken further down the park loop road, gives a nice view of both the beach and Great Head. Great Head Point has a nice loop trail that goes around it. Directly below that is a picture taken from Great Head, looking back to where the 1st picture was taken. If you look above the sand beach, you can see the park loop road cutting through the trees.

Wide view from Great Head across Sand Beach and the deep blue cove below

View from Great Head back across Sand Beach toward the Beehive Mountain

Weathered wooden post carved with the words Sand Beach

The beach itself is very sandy, in contrast to most beaches in the park which are rocky. There certainly weren't any bathers at this time of the year, but we did have some company on the beach.

Red squirrel perched on a fallen log eating among pale branches

There were occasional people as well. But it was a chilly time, so the people were scarce.

Sets of footprints crossing the smooth sand at Sand Beach

Foamy surf washing up on the pale sand beneath the granite cliffs at Sand Beach

Wave cresting and breaking along Sand Beach beneath a bright silvery sea

This next picture provides a wonderful view of the beach and surrounding area. The mountain seen behind the beach is called The Beehive.

View from Great Head across the saltwater pond, Sand Beach, and the Beehive Mountain beyond

At the far side of the beach is a set of stairs leading to the Great Head hike. (The hike is also available, during the season, from a separate parking lot.)

Stone staircase climbing from the beach area into the evergreens toward the Great Head trail

Man smiling beside a camera on a tripod with the gray sea and rocky islands behind him

Woman standing with a tripod among wind-shaped pines and pink granite on Great Head

This is a very nice, varied hike and provides some marvelous views (some of which are shown in the pictures above). The next picture is taken from the tip of Great Head, looking back towards the park look road. Around the tip, to the right, is where Sand Beach is.

Rocky shoreline below Great Head with dark blue water and low mountains across the bay

Close view of a pine cone and green needles against a bright blue sky

The picture below is also taken from the tip of Great Head, looking back up the inlet at Sand Beach and The Beehive Mountain.

Rocky point and surf below Great Head with Sand Beach and the Beehive in the distance

This is Paul taking the above picture (or a similar one).

Man crouched on a rocky ledge using a camera on a tripod above the water

The end of the Head has some gorgeously colored rocks. There is a large but accessible cliff there; at least it is accessible at low tide when the weather is not bad. I'm not certain it would be so friendly in other conditions.

Colorful cliff face on Great Head with layered pink, rust, and gray rock above tide pools

Go back and look at that picture above again. About 1/3 of the way from the left, on the top of the cliff, you can see Anne, providing you some scale reference. I'm the little gray & black speck. Also look at the lovely colors in the rocks.

Woman with a tripod standing on the colorful cliff ledges near the tip of Great Head

Close view of richly colored rust-red and ochre rock on the cliff face

Long-exposure view of white water swirling among barnacled rocks beneath the colorful cliff

One of the views from Great Head is of Otter Cliffs, which you see across the water here. That will be featured on a different page of this trip report. This vantage point is just after rounding the tip, starting to work our way back.

View across the water toward Otter Cliffs and small rocky islets framed by evergreens

After going around the point, the path goes through a nice birch tree stand, before going back over the point and back to Shore Beach.

Birch-lined section of the Great Head trail with fallen leaves covering the ground

Woman and man standing together on a narrow boardwalk through marshy ground

Particularly this time of year, the beach area provided some wonderful opportunities for photographs. Most people did not walk to the far end of the beach, and thereby missed the wonderful view across the salt water pond and to the Beehive Mountain. Notice in the second picture the ice; it was rather chilly on some mornings.

View from the far end of Sand Beach across the saltwater pond toward the Beehive Mountain