Alert 2 , Severity ,closure ,, Carriage Roads Close for Mud Season
Carriage Roads are closed to all users until they dry out and become firm enough to prevent damage to the gravel surface. Use under current conditions can cause ruts and potholes that will channel water and exacerbate erosion.
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Wildlife Closure: Several Trails Are Off Limits During Peregrine Falcon Nesting Period
Construction tools stacked outside visitor center entrance in early April.
Current
Main Visitor Center Gets Long Overdue Stopgap Improvements
► Big changes are underway at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, the main visitor contact facility at Acadia National Park. When the building opens again sometime this summer, expect upgraded restrooms and a better arrangement for getting information, buying entrance passes, and learning about the park.
While the project addresses a number long overdue stopgap improvements, many significant issues remain at the site, which was designed decades ago for a small fraction of the visitors Acadia has today. Among the most notable shortcomings, accessible parking is limited and complicated, and visitors still have to walk up 52 stone stairs to reach the main entrance.
Many of these latest improvements are supported with funds collected from visitor entry fees. Costs of interior displays and exhibits are supported through generous contributions from the park store, Eastern National.
There will no longer be a park theater, or a park film.
There will an expanded number of restrooms, and a new family restroom, all of which will have a separate entrance open to the public 24/7.
The park store is expanding, and will now have a separate direct entry outside.
Crowds should be more comfortable with a significant HVAC upgrade.
There will be a larger array of digital signs conveying real-time messaging about available parking, campgrounds, weather, tides, and emergency closures.
Three oversized maps, each upwards of six feet tall, will be available to help visitors explore finer details of the park's road system, hiking trails, and carriage road network.
There will be a new public display of as many as a half dozen pieces from the Acadia's Artist-in-Residence program.
An example of forested wetlands in Acadia
NPS Photo
Wetland Restoration at Sieur de Monts
In late April through May 2019, Friends of Acadia and Atlantic Resource Co, LLC are assisting Acadia National Park with restoration of the site of a former septic system to a natural forested wetland near the restrooms in the Sieur de Monts parking lot area. There may be intermittent reduced parking capacity and delays in traffic. Please be on the lookout for construction workers and construction equipment.
The restroom facilities had been connected to a mounded septic system from the 1980’s until 2015, when a sewer line connected to the Town of Bar Harbor wastewater treatment plant. Excess nutrients from the septic system were found to have contributed to the growth of algae in the Spring House and Spring Pool. The current project will improve the ecological integrity of the Great Meadow wetland complex and help to protect Sieur de Monts Spring.
Specific activities will include:
reducing the amount of disturbance tolerant species like Cattail
regrading the land to mimic the topography of the adjacent area
and planting native wetland species including Red Maple, Yellow Birch, Common Winterberry, Highbush Blueberry, Mountain Holly, among others.
Over the next several years, the park and Friends of Acadia will control for invasive exotic plant species, and monitor the establishment of native species.
Long Term
► The Bubble Pond Parking Lot is closed to private vehicles when the Island Explorer bus is in operation. Visitors hiking the Cadillac West Face Trail can use the bus to return to where their vehicle is parked, or to meet other drivers that might be providing a shuttle back to another location. Learn more about Island Explorer Maps and Timetables
► Valley Cove Trail has been closed since July 2016 due to severely damaged and deteriorated walls, stone steps, and tread support structures. Planning is underway for possible repair work in summer 2018. The trail is located between Flying Mountain and Man O' War Brook, on the east side St. Sauveur Mountain, along Somes Sound. (The Flying Mountain Trail is open.)
Winter at the Jordan Pond Gatehouse.
NPS
Weather
Whether sunny, snowy, foggy, icy, or anything in between weather at Acadia can change quickly. Be prepared and check the weather before traveling. For forecasts and advisories visit our Weather page or the National Weather Service.
