Let's Talk About The Bar
It’s a place that has inspired a popular storytelling YouTuber to make up a harrowing story involving body doubles and sinister bakers.
It’s also a place that has claimed more than a few cars.
But, there haven’t been any tourists going missing near Acadia National Park. The YouTube yarn is just that: a fabricated story for entertainment.
The Bar Island Trail in Acadia National Park is a major tourist attraction that takes people from downtown Bar Harbor to Bar Island during low tide.
Once on Bar Island, you can walk on the trail up to about 173 feet above sea level. The trail’s surface. It changes. Sometimes its the sand bar across the water, which is pretty gravelly, actually. Sometimes its rocks. Sometimes its the forest floor with an occasional root.
To get there, you just want to start at the end of Bridge Street, Bar Harbor, which is off West Street. The trail begins at the sandbar that is at the end of Bridge Street, which is a very short road.
People will tell you to park on Bridge Street. That is not a good idea. Any parking is limited and it mucks everything up for everyone else. Do not park on the sand bar itself or the beach. Cars are lost this way when the tide comes in. That’s because the bar is only there for approximately three hours. You want to check the Bar Harbor tide chart to time this hike so that you also don’t get stuck on the island.
The best place to park is along West Street, which is a street full of beautiful homes and the really great Bar Harbor Historical Society.
QUICK FACTS
1.9 miles round trip (gravel bar and trail)
45-90 minutes
Leash your pups. :)
Totally not haunted