BAR ISLAND GLACIAL TRAIL

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

BAR ISLAND GLACIAL TRAIL - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Bar Island, for a very long time, was an island divided, with Acadia National Park owning one half of the island and Jack Perkins and his wife owning the other half.  Mr. Perkins name should sound similar to any of you who watch any amount of public broadcasting TV, as it is his voice behind many of PBS documentaries.  He once said that life on Bar Island revolved around the ebb and flow of the tide, with things like shopping, car repairs and hair appointments having to be made in such a way as to fall with the low tide mark.

BAR ISLAND GLACIAL TRAIL - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

The low tide mark is important even if you never lived on Bar Island, for even a day visit on foot has to be done two hours before low tide to within two hours after the low tide mark, lost sight of time and you very well could be trapped on the island until the next low tide, which occurs twice a day.  It use to be the town or the National Park Service would come get you if you had the misfortune of getting stranded there, but in recent years the town has placed the business of retrieving stranded tourists in the hands of a local business, and it will now cost you $150.00 for a return trip back to town.  Oddly, when the town put up large signs spelling out this new policy, they some how managed to place one of the large bolts holding the sign right through the 1 in $150.00, so it appears the taxi fee is $50, funny how that happened.  My advice, do not call the town or the harbor master if you get stranded on Bar Island, instead contact the National Park Service, which I believe will still come and get you for free, but there may be some waiting time involved.

Glacial Rock, Bar Island, Acadia National Park

The Bar Island Glacial Trail is easy to locate if you follow the direction given here.  Walk over to Bar Island at low tide, There is an information sign where a dirt road begins, passing uphill through the tree's.  Just ahead is a sharp right hand turn, look behind some small tree's at that sharp turn in the road, on the left hand side, same side as the water, and the worn trail is plain to see - but not plain to see i9f you fail to look behind the small tree's.  The path quickly makes its way to a cliff overlooking a rocky beach, where you can get some nice photos along the cliff, and than the path turns away from the cliff and enters the woods.  The path is short and well worn, follow it through the woods where it comes to a high cliff at the back side of the island, to the left in the tree's is one huge glacial Boulder, and to the right, perched on the side of the cliff is an even larger glacier boulder, it is this second boulder people go to and have their photo taken by it.  To the left of the cliff is a path leading out to an open granite area along with a few places where you can make your way down to the stone beach area.  When two or more cruise ships arrive at Bar Harbor on the same day, the town has one or two of them anchor in the water back here and it gets you really close to those huge ships.

BAR ISLAND - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Back in the day, before there was a National Park here, there was a few farms on Bar Island, and at one time the town hired an engineer to draw up plans for a stone bridge to run from Bridge Street to Bar Island following the sand bar.  The bridge was to be constructed of stones, and have several arches where passing boats at high tide could pass under the bridge.  The plan also called for a road to run around the island in a loop, and as the town council at the time said, "It will offer locals and guests to the island even grander views than that found along the Shore Path."  Interestingly enough, the plans were approved as was the funds to construct the large stone bridge, so what became of the Bridge?  Clearly it was never built, but why remains a mystery, considering the plans and money was approved by the town council.
And it was not the last bridge to be proposed for Bar Island, years down the road the town was to construct a ferry terminal, but where to put it was a subject for debate.  In the end, it came down to two locations, the site where the Ferry Terminal is located at today, and Bar Island.


When three cruise ships come to Bar Harbor, one usually anchors to the back side of Bar Island, and you get get a very closeup view of it from this trail.

Start of dirt road on Bar Island;
latitude       N44.3970947
longitude     W068.2109980

As road turns right, look for path to left
latitude       N44.3976598
longitude     W068.2114336

Huge Glacial Boulders
latitude       N44.3991963
longitude     W068.2122823

  The Ferry Terminal plans for Bar Island called for building a bridge from West Street to Bar Island, but this bridge would not follow the sand bar, instead this bridge would be constructed closer to town, across from lower Rodick Street.  The plan called for bringing in truckloads of fill and creating a 300 car parking area on one side of the island, and as crazy as it might sound today, many back than favored the Bar Island plan.  The town council made a request for the planning board to look into which site would best benefit the town long term, but as more and more time went by, the town was up against a deadline with Canada, and it was decided the current Ferry Terminal location would have to do.  The planning board did finally produce their study, but it came in too late - so exactly what site did they deem as the most appropriate  site that would best benefit the town of Bar Harbor long term?  Bar Island was their choice, the moral being, when up against a deadline, get your report in on time.

Bar Harbor view from Bar Island - Acadia National Park

Deer in Deer Field, Bar Island, Acadia National Park

Bar Island is considered a high sensitivity area due to the vessels that have wrecked along its shores over time.  During  the early twentieth-century records show a boat, a sloop, and a catboat wrecked along the shores of Bar Island, than known as Rodick Island.  In 1908 a gasoline boat owned by George young and L. Stewart as well as a sloop owned by Milton Rodick crashed along its shores during a heavy gale, one ending up totally distroyed.  In 1911, during the same gales that wrecked the Tay on Sand Beach, the catboat Flirt wrecked on Bar Island.