JULY 2023

Mt. Desert Island

Where: Maine coast

Directions: US Route 1

Why so good: 

THE HERITAGE.
Samuel Champlain guided a French expedition that landed here on September 5, 1604. In claiming the land for France, Champlain, noting the bare, rocky mountain humps, called his discovery “Isles des Monts Desert.” In the Gilded Age of the end of the 19th century tycoons like the Rockefellers, Astors, Fords, and Vanderbilts all built lavish summer estates on Mount Desert Island. One, George B. Dorr, devoted 43 years and much of his family fortune to preserving the island and gave 6,000 acres to the federal government for safekeeping. In 1919 Woodrow Wilson made Acadia, originally named Lafayette, the first national park east of the Mississippi River.

THE NATIONAL PARK.
Acadia National Park is one of the crown jewels in the National Park Service and dogs will not bark in dissent. Only a handful of park trails are off-limits to dogs and several of these, such as the celebrated Precipice Trail up the east side of Champlain Mountain, involve insurmountable ladders or vertical climbs anyway. More than 45 miles of carriage roads ripple across Mount Desert Island, constructed by park patron John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who was no great fan of the newfangled horseless carriage. The rustic broken stone roads were hand-built between 1913 and 1940 and are the best examples of the construction technique still in use in America. In addition to the irregularly spaced granite slab guardrails known colloquially as “Rockefeller’s Teeth,” there are 16 stone-faced bridges - each unique in design. Much of your dog’s hiking will take place around more than a dozen small mountain peaks that were blazed by early settlers and later incorporated into a master trail plan for the island that began in 1891. The tallest is the 1,530-foot Cadillac Mountain that is the highest point on the Atlantic Ocean north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sunrise hikes here will be the first illuminated in the United States. The Jordan Pond Nature Trail is a mile-long loop leading to views of glacial mountains reflecting in the pond waters. The rounded mountains framing the pond, known as the Bubbles, can be climbed on short trails. Some of the most rewarding canine hiking in Acadia takes place on the headlands overlooking the ocean. The Great Head Trail loops across Sand Beach and most people go right at the head of the loop. But going left into the maritime forest saves the spectacular coastal views until the end. In the western reaches of the park across Somes Sound - America’s only fjord - expect to find far fewer paw prints on the trail.

THE TOWN.
Bar Harbor is the main town on Mount Desert Island, squeezed between Acadia National Park and the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1800s wealthy vacationers began claiming homesites on the water but private landowners have provided a sliver of land for the public to enjoy the for over 100 years. The curvilinear Shore Path is a gravel walkway, starting at the Town Pier, absolutely level and ideal for strolling. When the waves are gentle there are numerous spots for your dog to drop down and play in the tidal pools of Frenchman Bay.