Acadia National Park: Mountains meet the sea in Maine

Acadia National Park is the ninth-most-visited national park despite the fact that it is dwarfed in size by other top parks.

Acadia covers about 47,000 acres where the mountains meet the sea on the rocky Maine coast. By comparison, the top-drawing park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, stretches over more than 521,000 acres in Tennessee and North Carolina. The largest of the top 10 parks, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, covers 1.2 million acres.

Acadia is best-known for its coastline, where waves crash into giant boulders and towering cliffs and nearby peaks boast expansive views of the Atlantic Ocean. Inland, Acadia offers tranquil freshwater lakes and ponds, woods and meadows, plus a 45-mile network of carriage roads that are ideal for bicyclists, hikers, horseback riders and cross-country skiers.

"Acadia is unique because it's where the mountains meet the sea," says Wanda Moran, an interpretive ranger at the park. "It is also unique because it was created entirely of donated land."

John D. Rockefeller Jr., the most prominent of the park's many patrons, donated about 11,000 acres and built the carriage roads — wide gravel paths connecting many of the park's scenic lakes and ponds — under an agreement with the park service.

Acadia also has about 130 miles of hiking trails, ranging from very easy to strenuous.

Bar Harbor, Maine, a tourist attraction in itself, is minutes away from Acadia's entrance. Tens of millions of people live within relatively easy driving distance of the park. Moran says the biggest challenge for Acadia is finding ways to accommodate its millions of guests "without threatening the visitor experience."

"The park roads weren't designed for so many people," Moran says. "One thing that has helped tremendously is the Island Explorer Shuttle Bus system. The buses help cut down on traffic on the roads."

Bryon Saunders, owner of Great Maine Breakfast in Bar Harbor, said Acadia means "everything" to the town.

"If you ever came up here in the wintertime, you'd know that," Saunders says. "In the wintertime, it's a ghost town. Tourism to Bar Harbor is its lifeline."

Saunders says locals don't really visit the park because there are so many people there. Having those same people in town, however, is good for business.

"It's wall-to-wall people here in July and August," he says. "Everybody looks forward to them. Once everything gets filled up, you put your head down and work until you see daylight."

About the park

Size: 47,389 acres

Visitors: 2,563,129 in 2014

Established: 1919, as Lafayette National Park. Name changed to Acadia National Park in 1929.

History: Acadia is unique in that it was created from donated land, most notably 11,000 acres from John D. Rockefeller Jr., who also built about 45 miles of carriage roads in the park.

When visiting: The main visitor center is at 25 Visitor Center Road, Bar Harbor, Maine. The main phone number is 207-288-3338.

Of note: The rising sun touches the slopes of Cadillac Mountain in the park before anyplace else in the USA. At 1,530 feet, Cadillac is also the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard.

Here's where to find the best foliage this fall if you plan a trip to Acadia National Park: