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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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Thunder Hole
A wave crashes out of Thunder Hole after roaring in on the tide.
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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.
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Peregrine falcon
A peregrine falcon seen on Acadia National Park's Beech Cliff in this archival photograph.
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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.
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.
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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.
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 atop Cadillac Mountain
Some of the park's most dramatic rock formations are near the top of Cadillac Mountain, such as those seen here.
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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
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 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
This tiny bridge passes over a flow of water coming out of the southern end of Acadia National Park's Jordan Pond.
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Sand Beach
A view looking east at Sand Beach.
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Jordan Pond
A view straight north over Jordan Pond from its southern end.
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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.
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Walkway
A long, narrow wooden boardwalk near the Wild Gardens of Acadia.
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Granite shoreline
A section of granite shoreline at Acadia National Park, in Maine.
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The Bubbles
The park's famous "Bubbles" mountains, as seen in this archival photograph from Jordan Pond.
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Sunny day
A view of North Bubble, as seen in this archival photograph.
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Lighthouse
The fully functional lighthouse at Acadia National Park's Bass Harbor Head.
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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.