X

Acadia National Park's natural beauty (photos)

Road Trip 2010: It is one of the 10 most visited U.S. national parks, and a trip there shows why: stunning coastline, rugged mountains, and more.

Daniel Terdiman
Daniel Terdiman is a senior writer at CNET News covering Twitter, Net culture, and everything in between.
Daniel Terdiman
Panamera_high_over_water_below.jpg
1 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Panamera high above Acadia National Park

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine--It is said that during certain parts of the year, if you were to stand atop Cadillac Mountain here, you could be the first person in the United States to see the sun rise.

Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic seaboard, but it is just one of the many highlights at this fascinating national park, adjacent to Bar Harbor, Maine. Founded in 1919 as Lafayette National Park, and renamed in 1929, the park has 47,000 protected acres of stunning shoreline, gorgeous forests, gorgeous lakes and ponds, and hundreds of miles of carriage roads open only to pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages, and bicycles.

Here, though, is the Porsche Panamera 4S that CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman is road-testing as part of Road Trip 2010, and it is parked near the top of Cadillac Mountain, overlooking the park and the water below.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Coast_line_next_to_Thunder_Hole.jpg
2 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Rugged coast line

One of the most recognizable features of Acadia National Park is its rugged coast line. This is just south of Thunder Hole, on the park's southeastern side.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Fog_over_Cadillac_summit.jpg
3 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Fog layer

While there are many crystal-clear days at Acadia National Park, it is also frequently covered in fog. During CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman's Road Trip 2010 visit to the park, a thick layer of fog hovered overhead most of the day, only to partially lift toward the end of the afternoon. Still, the top of Cadillac Mountain never came out of the mist.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Panamera_by_bridge.jpg
4 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Stone bridge

Throughout the park, there are many stone bridges, some carrying carriage roads, some carrying the park's 27-mile-long loop road for cars. Here, the Porsche Panamera 4S that CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman is road-testing on Road Trip 2010 is parked in front of one of the bridges carrying a horses-, pedestrians-, and bicycles-only carriage path.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Thunder_hole_from_above.jpg
5 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Looking down on Thunder Hole

A view down into Thunder Hole, where incoming waves make a loud crashing sound as they roar into and splash out of a small hole carved out of the rock over millennia.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Thunder_Hole.jpg
6 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Thunder Hole

A wave crashes out of Thunder Hole after roaring in on the tide.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Peregrine_chicks.png
7 of 26 Dave Smith/National Park Service

Peregrine chicks

After being banded by Acadia National Park's biologist, four peregrine chicks are seen here in this archival photo huddling in the scrape at the park's Precipice nesting area.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Peregrine_Falcon.png
8 of 26 Matt Holly/National Park Service

Peregrine falcon

A peregrine falcon seen on Acadia National Park's Beech Cliff in this archival photograph.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Baby_birds.jpg
9 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Eastern Phoebes

Four Eastern Phoebe chicks rest in a nest--only three are visible in this photo--near the Wild Gardens of Acadia, at Acadia National Park. This is the mother's second set of chicks this year, and the birds are no more than two or three weeks old.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Heavy_seas.png
10 of 26 S. West/National Park Service

Rough seas

In this archival photograph, Acadia National Park's Ocean Drive is battered by storm-driven heavy seas, a popular image of the park.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Beautiful_carriage_house.jpg
11 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Carriage House

This is Jordan Pond Gate Lodge, in Acadia National Park. Completed in 1932, this building, along with the Brown Mountain Gate Lodge near Northeast Harbor--a town close to the park--"ornament the [park's] carriage road system," according to the National Park Service. "The gates serve as symbolic barriers to automobiles, and welcome the traveler into a motor-free system of carriage roads in the heart of" the park.

"The design of the gate lodges was inspired by the rustic architecture found in France near the home of explorer Sieur de Monts, who once held land claims on Mount Desert Island," where Acadia National Park is located. "Like the bridges, and the carriage roads themselves, the gate lodges were designed to blend harmoniously with their surroundings."

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Horses_with_carriage.jpg
12 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Visitors to the park can frequently encounter horse-drawn carriages on the carriage roads.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Rocks_near_top_of_Cadillac.jpg
13 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Rocks atop Cadillac Mountain

Some of the park's most dramatic rock formations are near the top of Cadillac Mountain, such as those seen here.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Marshy_dunes.jpg
14 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Marshy dunes

One of the best parts of Acadia National Park is that it has an incredibly wide range of environments, from mountains to rugged coastline to forests to lakes and ponds to, as seen here, marshy dunes. These are just adjacent to Sand Beach on the park's southeastern corner.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Above_the_clouds.jpg
15 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Above the clouds

The low-lying clouds and fog can make for very dramatic skies at Acadia National Park.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Three_arch_bridge.jpg
16 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Three arches

A three-arch bridge that spans a marshy section of the southern portion of the 27-mile-long Loop Road.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Little_bridge_and_waterway.jpg
17 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Little bridge

This tiny bridge passes over a flow of water coming out of the southern end of Acadia National Park's Jordan Pond.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Sand_Beach.jpg
18 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Sand Beach

A view looking east at Sand Beach.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Jordan_Pond.jpg
19 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Jordan Pond

A view straight north over Jordan Pond from its southern end.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Rugged_coastline_with_fancy_house.jpg
20 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Rugged coast line with beautiful house

Throughout Acadia National Park, there are private houses nestled into nature, as seen here along the park's eastern edge.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Walkway.jpg
21 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Walkway

A long, narrow wooden boardwalk near the Wild Gardens of Acadia.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

Granite_shoreline.jpg
22 of 26 Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Granite shoreline

A section of granite shoreline at Acadia National Park, in Maine.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-The_Bubbles.png
23 of 26 Todd Edgar/National Park Service

The Bubbles

The park's famous "Bubbles" mountains, as seen in this archival photograph from Jordan Pond.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Bubbles_on_sunny_day.png
24 of 26 Sheridan Steele/National Park Service

Sunny day

A view of North Bubble, as seen in this archival photograph.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Bass_Harbor_Lighthouse.png
25 of 26 John Chelko/National Park Service

Lighthouse

The fully functional lighthouse at Acadia National Park's Bass Harbor Head.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

z-Snapper_turtle.png
26 of 26 Lora Haller/National Park Service

Snapper turtle

This snapping turtle's shell is about the size of a quarter. It is seen in one of the park's collection of archival images.

Click here to read the related story on Maine's Acadia National Park, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

More Galleries

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
A houseplant

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera

20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
magic-v2-2024-foldable-1383

Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra

10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
Samsung Galaxy S24

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum

23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra in multiple colors

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design

23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
img-0368.jpg

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
Invitation for the Apple September iPhone 15 event

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?
img-1599-2.jpg

AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?

17 Photos