Day 7 in Acadia brought steady rain and was our first fully rainy day of the trip. Instead of pushing through a full hiking itinerary, we adjusted as we went, spending more time around Bar Harbor, making a coastal stop at Indian Point, and mixing in a few great food stops along the way.
🌧️ Rainy Day in Acadia: Adjusting the Plan
Rain shaped the entire day for us. Instead of forcing a full itinerary, we leaned into a slower pace — mixing in time around Bar Harbor, a coastal stop, and a few food stops along the way.
It’s probably not how we would have planned the day with clear skies, but it ended up being one of the more relaxed and memorable days of the trip.
💡 MWN Tip: Not every plan needs to be optimized, sometimes adjusting to the weather leads to better experiences than forcing a perfect itinerary.
Cafe This Way is well known in downtown Bar Harbor. They do not take reservations, so it’s first come, first served. They have an efficient process, though. Servers warned that wait times would be around 40 minutes, but it felt closer to 20.
Reminder: with anything on MDI, arrive early.
Service was great and the breakfast was solid. If your typical breakfast is not your thing, it is a great place to order some good old fashioned pancakes or eggs and bacon. Coffee was solid as well. On rainy days, places like this offer warm comfort food.
Bar Harbor has a large variety of shops. Some more notable shops I can recall visiting are a wood shop and a local photographer studio. I’d make a point to stop in.
In the Woods is a unique woodshop with a variety of small and large pieces. Its a neat shop and I’d say a must see if exploring downtown.
For the photographer, stop in to Katahdin Photo Gallery. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting photographer Steve Bart. He was kind enough to spend time explaining some of the photo locations associated to his artwork and answering some of my questions based on my experience visiting the sites for some of his photographed scenes.
Day 7 map preview showing Indian Point. The full interactive map is available via Free Resources.
🦭 Seal Watching in Acadia at Indian Point
🔭 Bring your binoculars!
Despite the rain, we set out to try and spot seals. While you can see them in Acadia, it’s never guaranteed. Indian Point (Blagden Preserve) is one known location, and it became the focus of our afternoon.
Quick tip: Parking is along a roadway open to local traffic only. You’ll need to hike to the water unless you own property there, which I’m assuming you don’t 🙂
The preserve is not officially part of Acadia National Park. It’s private land that has been opened for public access, so be respectful and stick to the trails.
We initially walked the road after missing the trailhead. If you go, head west from the parking area to find the wooded path, it’s the recommended route.
The hike was an easy 1.25 trail to the waterfront. It can be slick with many roots, so watch your step, especially on a rainy day. Once you reach the water, head west along the path. You’ll come across some red Adirondack chairs. The red contrast with the landscape makes for an interesting photo, especially in the soft light of a rainy day in Acadia. Continue until you reach signage marking the limit of public access. From there, grab your binoculars and scan the water.
💡 Pro tip: We used the sign to stabilize the binoculars for a better view.
We did spot seals! They were too distant for a photo, and with the rain, my telephoto stayed in the car. That being said, it was still a fun experience and we were happy to say we found them. A memory we can always have on the trip, and sometimes making something out of a rainy day is part of the fun in Acadia.
Late Lunch at Quietside Snacks
A bit cold and wet, we worked up quite an appetite. We came across a food truck, or more accurately, a food airstream , off the side of the road near Tremont.
Quietside Snacks is the name, and it was luckily just opening as we arrived. This was a perfect quick stop. No crowds, and a buttermilk chicken sandwich with pickles on the menu. Highly recommend their chicken sandwich.
The convenience of a quick stop, rare on the island, was also appreciated. Make sure you check their hours; they aren’t open every day, but definitely worth a stop during your trip. If you’re passing through Acadia and it’s a rainy day, their hot food hits the spot.
Sweet treats in Southwest Harbor 🍨
Following late lunch, or early dinner in the car, we stopped into Southwest Harbor to check in on local shops and to grab an early dessert. Sweet treats at the Salt shop. The Salt Shop sits across the street from the Cafe Dry Dock and Inn, its a great quietside place to satisfy any craving for ice cream. We visited twice on our trip, the second visit being the last day they were open for the season, lucky us, just in the nick of time.
Full on chicken and ice cream, we called it an early day.
Settling in and drying off by the fire was exactly what we needed — especially with permits secured for an early Cadillac Mountain sunrise the next morning.
After multiple attempts, it finally looked like the weather would clear just in time.
More on that in the next post.
