Amazing Acadia National Park – Schoodic Woods Campground

Last May you may recall that we took a New England & Canadian cruise, and one of the first stops was Bar Harbor.

We opted at the time to not try to rush our short cruise port stop by touring Acadia National Park, as we knew we’d be up this way this summer with much more time on our hands.

Well, we were finally here some four months (and many adventures) later.

And boy oh boy, was it worth the wait!

This post covers September 1-6.

Schoodic Woods Campground

First, let’s start with the campground. Getting a spot within the park for any length of time is notoriously difficult. You have to book far in advance, or snag a last minute cancellation – or take your chances on a rare first come first serve spot.

We really never had ambitions of staying within the park.

One evening I was browsing blogs of other RVers also in the area and caught a headline on Watson’s Wander visit to the ‘Quiet’ Side of Acadia – Schoodic Peninsula during their extended stay in the area.

Located on a peninsula north of where the main attraction on Mt. Desert Island, Schoodic Peninsula has traditionally been the lesser visited area of the National Park.

A few years back an anonymous donor purchased the land to the north of the public land holdings to save it from going to a resort developer. Over the past couple of years they added carriage trails and a campground – and handed it over to the National Park Service (how awesome is that?).

Thus the brand new Schoodic Woods Campground (our review) opened just last September.

Initial reports of it where sounding pretty amazing – big private feeling sites, electric/water hook-ups and cell signal.

On a whim that evening, I decided to check Recreation.gov to see if there was any availability during our projected time in the area.

In about a 4 week span of time, I could find one single spot open for more than 2 nights at a time.

In fact, it was for five nights… and get this, over Labor Day weekend. 

I must have stumbled upon a very recent cancellation. Before I could tell Chris, I just booked it – trying to ignore the $40/night price tag. Serendipity doesn’t have to knock me over the head multiple times.

So, plan on! We were heading to Acadia National Park over one of the most difficult holiday weekends to get reservations for.

I was brimming with excitement to arrive and check this place out, and true to word – this campground is amazing.

Most of the RV spots on B-Loop are spacious pull thrus.

We had one of the smaller ones, and we still felt like we had almost an entire zip code to ourselves. Some of the spots, easily could have accommodated a 80′ RV with 40 slides (if such things were made).

And privacy galore!  A lot of attention was put into the layout and design.

The internet connectivity was marginal – we were getting barely usable Verizon & AT&T service. Which for us, is a plus for a great spot to conduct our current signal enhancing testing project – comparing several boosters and antenna setups. (With any decent booster or antenna, this location becomes swimming in cellular connectivity.)

Now of course the view paled in comparison to what we just left at Narrows Too Campground. But the park definitely made up for that!

Exploring Schoodic Penisula

The campground sits at the northern end of the peninsula, right near the official park entrance. Right beyond the park starts a two lane, one-way scenic drive around the peninsula.

At each of the ends, sits the small towns of Winter Harbor and Birch Harbor, with a ferry service offered over to Bar Harbor.

There’s one small IGA grocery store that offers a few items (best to stock up before coming in), a fuel stations and a few restaurants.

To tour the area, you can either drive yourself, take the free shuttle (which picks up right at the campground), walk or bike. But either way, once you start the one way loop – you’re committed for the entire length – it’s 11 miles to do the full loop back to the campground.

Only pedestrians have the option to reverse course.  And there are some cut across trails as well for bikes and hikers.

This was a perfect place to get our our electric folding bikes, which became our primary transportation.

We easily put 10-15 miles a day on the bikes, either touring the scenic loop or the many carriage trails throughout the park. The electric assist made quick work of the grades.

There’s tons of smaller side trails to explore, some leading the spectacular views that aren’t on the maps.

The highlight of the area, in our opinion, is Schoodic Point at the southern end of the peninsula. A big rocky point with a fabulous view of sunset over Mt. Desert Island across the bay.

On our last evening in the park, the tropical storm off shore caused the infamous crashing waves on the point. We (safely) stood mesmerized for well over an hour watching them just before sunset.

Even over a ‘crowded’ Labor Day weekend, the park just didn’t feel full. Sure, we saw the population increase over the weekend, but this is definitely still a quieter experience than other national parks we’ve explored.

It’s well worth the drive over if you’re staying in the area. And if you can snag a reservation at Schoodic Woods, do it!

Bonus Socializing!

Another blog post I caught whiff of in my casual browsing was from Howard & Linda of RV-Dreams – who had just settled in at Schoodic Point for a couple months as volunteer migratory bird counters. In the morning and early evening hours, they stand on the point with binoculars picking out birds that are migrating versus the ‘locals’.

In exchange for their volunteer work, they get a full hook-up spot on the point in the old Navy base.

I reached out to them in advance to let them know we’d be in the area, and they invited us to join them on the point for one of their counting sessions.

Afterwards, the four of us headed off to dinner and caught up.

It’s always fun to compare notes with other well seasoned full time RVers who have also built businesses that combine our passions for travels and helping other RVers.

Unfortunately, we were unable to meet back up with these two due to Howard’s father falling ill (continuing to wish you guys all the best.. we certainly understand!) and totally spaced on getting a good photo of the four of us together (hey, it happens when you’re too busy having fun!).

But if you want more amazing photos of the area, he’s posting lots of enticing adventures from their time there.

What’s Up Next?

I’m endeavoring to get this blog caught up, and hey – at least now I’m blogging in the same month!  Up ahead are stops in Searsport, Freeport, Salisbury Beach and getting to our 50th state of Rhode Island.

Right now, we’re about to hit the road into the New London area of Connecticut to meet up with my mom who is visiting family.

I’ll try get a couple more travelogues out over the coming days.

Blasts from the Past

I’ll also include some links to past topical’ posts so those desiring more than just the travelogues this week can get their fix too.

Today, I share:

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Moving into a small space means you’ll likely have much more limited storage for clothing. Moving into a home that moves, means you might need more variety for seasonal climate changes & special events.

Here’s our tips and tricks for having a versatile RVing wardrobe suitable for hiking, lounging around, enduring a variety of climates to a night on the town.

Tips & Tricks for a Versatile RVing Wardrobe

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Escapees, Xscapers, FMCA, Good Sam, Passport America, Harvest Hosts, Thousand Trails… so many options and each offers something different.

When you get into RVing you can easily be overwhelmed with all the choices. But which clubs are right for you?

This post/video go over the features & benefits of each – so that you can make an informed decision of where to put your hard earned dollars.

RV Clubs – Which Are Right for You?