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Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ?
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Looking to bike as a family ("good" roads) - maybe Rockport, ME to Bar Harbour v.s. staying on Mount Desert Island for the week and biking from Bass Harbour to Northeast Harbour to Bar Harbour and around the island.
Any locals or folks with experience? We are trying to plan out where to stay along routes or as a start / end point. Debating on bring road bikes or if we will need to rent more of some type hybrid bikes?
Any suggestions / insight appreciated.
Thanks in advance all!
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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I'm lucky that my in-laws have a little house in Southwest Harbor, which is on Mount Desert Island (MDI) kind of near the Bass Harbor light. I always bring my road or tri bike when we head up there from the Boston area. Over the years a lot of the roads in and around the park have been repaved, so the road quality is pretty good. After not having mountain bikes for many years, we just got new ones for myself, my wife and my 1st grade son. We plan to take both road and mountain bikes when we head up some time this summer. There are also the carriage roads that are awesome for riding - they are gravel, so would be ok for a hybrid, gravel, or mountain bike. My personal favorite is the park loop road, including going up Mt. Cadillac. I've done several 5-6 hour rides up there with 10k plus of climbing on the day, including a couple times up Cadillac.

So, I guess if I was in your position I'd stay in the Acadia area - that is what I'm familiar with. There is a lot that the area has to offer for biking. I'm going to be looking into more mountain biking options for when we are up there some time in July or August.

In terms of where to stay, if I didn't have a place to stay I'd look into renting a house rather than staying in a hotel. You can bring a lot of your own food along, which I think is currently the mandate in Maine. Most places on MDI would work fine for a location, as you can drive from one side of the island to the other in 30-40 minutes if you'd want to. We often go up in the winter, and we usually park near Eagle Lake for xc skiing, running, or biking, depending on the season. We love the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor for popovers, but I'm not sure if they'd be serving. The Jordan Pond House is also a favorite spot, but I don't know how they'd be handling the current situation.

One thing that is a bit harder currently is filling water bottles on rides or runs. This can be solved by doing loops to a vehicle or where you stay. I'd often fill up at the Jordan Pond House or the top of Cadillac, but I'm assuming water fountains are not on.

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks very much.
I'll check those places out.
Looks like a beautiful area!
We are hoping some things (COVID restrictions) get relaxed prior to when we head up there end of July so it doesn't end up being a big deal.
We shall see. For now ........................ moving forward with the planning process.
I'm going to try to "ridewithgps" some routes from the Seawall Motel (we may end up staying there for a good portion).
Swimming at that beach right near the Seawall Motel (if it's safe and "warm" enough by later July).
Again- know nothing of the area.
Thanks!
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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We were planning on vacationing on MDI this summer but canceled due to the pandemic. I would second all of Nate's comments. The park loop road is great. I would also say I don't think you need a gravel or MT bike to do the carriage roads. The last time I was there, 2012, I rode a fair amount on them with 23 mm road tires. All of them I've been on have been crushed limestone or similar. Really like a rail trail. I enjoyed riding them as a lot of them are wooded and provide shade and nice scenery, although almost everywhere you ride on MDI provides good scenery. Have fun. I love MDI, wish we could've gone this year.
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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We had a rustic cabin on the island growing up. There’s not a lot of ocean swimming going on. It’s cold! My cousins camped at seawall every summer and I don’t remember any swimming there.

The places we swam were Echo Lake, Long Pond and Seal Harbor Beach. Both of the ponds I’ve done long swims in next to a kayak or canoe. But it has been a long time. Both lakes have public access beaches. Long pond you can park at the far end and hike a trail along it with tons of spots to stop for a picnic and swim.
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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Park loops road is tied for my favorite place to ride ever (with the central park road loop). I worked at a summer camp on the island for 3 and a half summers and just absolutely love that area. In 2017, well before I was racing pro, I took my tri bike out late one evening with a couple of the locals and absolutely hammered the loop. I've got a number of the KOM's along the loop road including the entire one way, but didn't take the whole loop as a guy on a road bike stayed with me for most of it and then dropped me on the climb up past eagle lake. It was a blast. Riding the loop in the evening or other low traffic times is just absolutely amazing.

I also had the opportunity to snowmobile the loop a few times when I lived there one winter. Equally as amazing.

For the OP, here are a few of my rides from the island if you need some ideas of what roads work and not. Keep in mind I haven't been up in a few years but most of my friends on the island are doing the same rides.

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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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Y-Tri wrote:
Thanks very much.
I'll check those places out.
Looks like a beautiful area!
We are hoping some things (COVID restrictions) get relaxed prior to when we head up there end of July so it doesn't end up being a big deal.
We shall see. For now ........................ moving forward with the planning process.
I'm going to try to "ridewithgps" some routes from the Seawall Motel (we may end up staying there for a good portion).
Swimming at that beach right near the Seawall Motel (if it's safe and "warm" enough by later July).
Again- know nothing of the area.
Thanks!

Seawall Motel is a great option. That’s pretty much my favorite view on MDI first thing as the sun comes up! Echo Lake is great for swimming and around 7 miles from the Seawall Motel - ride it both ways for a little extra workout. All of the other ideas posted have been great!

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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park loop is the most amazing ~25 miles you can do. I would just loop those with a cadillac thrown in there every other loop. What a ride!
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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I have to concur with the park loop plus mountain climb. I live near Boston and went to Acadia for the first time last summer and really enjoyed doing an early morning loop, the mountain segment took me 19.5mins on my CX bike (humble brag lol). I would definitely enjoy going back
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [triczyk] [ In reply to ]
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triczyk wrote:
park loop is the most amazing ~25 miles you can do. I would just loop those with a cadillac thrown in there every other loop. What a ride!


This 3x plus pretty much looping around most of Mount Desert Island has been my go to long ride up there.

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023
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Re: Acadia National Park- Rockport to Bar Harbour v.s. .......... ? [Y-Tri] [ In reply to ]
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Yo! Back from Maine and just wanted to give a huge shout out to everyone who posted ideas here! Ended up being a great week combining many of your suggestions so thanks very much for taking the time!!!!!
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