I started listening to podcasts back in 2017ish. Like a lot of people, my introduction to podcasts was the true crime genre with shows like Serial, Up and Vanished, and Bear Brook. Over the years, I continued to listen to true crime podcasts but started to add other genres to my interest. In 2021, a new podcast popped up on my radar – National Park After Dark. It’s hosted by two New England girls, Danielle and Cassie, and combines a lot of my interests: True crime, survival stories, National Parks, outdoor recreation and more. NPAD, as it’s often referred to, blew up pretty quickly and the hosts started doing group trips to National Parks and other bucket list locations around the world. I had been wanting to go to one of the group trips to meet them, but a lot of the trips were out of my price range, especially because flights weren’t included. In 2023, they dropped a group trip for the following summer at Acadia National Park. I was so excited – while I was nervous about going on a group trip with a bunch of strangers, I felt like I knew Danielle and Cassie after listening to them for years. Plus, Acadia isn’t that long of drive from my home in New Hampshire so I wouldn’t have to worry about a plane ticket. After booking the trip, we had to fill out a survey to be partnered up with a roommate for our tent assignment and everyone on the trip was put into a group message so people could get to know each other beforehand.
I ended up messaging with a few other girls that lived in New England and the five of us were all driving up to Portland to meet the rest of the group, while everyone else was flying in. The five of us that were driving – myself, Kyra, Shannon, Logan and Olivia – decided to meet up ahead of time and uber to the hotel where we’d all be staying for the first night. Once everyone was settled in, the whole group of us, including our hosts and our two guides, Mike and Lee, headed into the Old Port for a group dinner at Gritty McDuff’s. It was a great way to start chatting with people.
The second day of the trip, we got an early start. We had breakfast at the hotel and then loaded up the two passenger vans and trailer and headed north. It would take us a few hours to make the drive from Portland to Bar Harbor. We stopped for a bathroom break and to stretch our legs in Damariscotta but hit the road again shortly after. We took a longer break in Camden and grabbed lunch downtown along the water from a popular deli. We finally made it to the Bar Harbor area, a little behind our original arrival time. We were supposed to be doing a quick hike up Dorr Mountain before setting up camp at the campground.
We split up into two groups – the fast hikers and the slow hikers. I was happily with the slow hikers. The fast hikers were heading back down before the slower hikers reached the summit, but we weren’t too far behind. Cassie, one of the podcast hosts was with the slow hikers, so it was fun getting to spend time with her. After the hike, we went to the campground to set up the tents. My roommate for the weekend was Kyra. It was a great match, we had so much fun and bonded over our love of books and dogs. Some people may think it’s odd to stay with a stranger in a tent, but honestly, it felt like I had known her forever! Our guides made dinner and we all ate around a fire together. It was really nice. There were people from all over the country. One girl that was supposed to join us was from Alaska but unfortunately she came down with Covid and couldn’t join us for the trip ☹
Day 3 was our first full day of the trip in the park. We got up on the early side to eat breakfast and get ready. It was a beautiful day and we headed into the park to do one of the most famous hikes in Acadia – the Beehive trail! It was such a fun, stunning hike. Due to the nature of the trail (narrow, steep, iron rungs and ladders), it’s slow moving, with lots of pausing to wait for the people in front of you to go over obstacles. We all had a great time and the view from the top was awesome! After the hike, we went into downtown Bar Harbor and had a picnic for lunch overlooking the harbor. Then, we were off again! We rented bikes and we rode through town until we got to the park and hopped onto the carriage road. We zoomed around for a couple hours until it was time to return the rental bikes. We had free time to walk around downtown, but then headed back to camp for dinner and relaxing.
The next day was damp and overcast which was a bit of a bummer, but we all made the best of it. We headed to Jordan Pond for a lowkey, easy hike. We had a few free hours here so we could meander along as fast or as slow as we wanted, which was great for taking photographs. After finishing the hike, we went to Jordan Pond House for their famous popovers. We went back to camp for a quick lunch, then headed back into downtown Bar Harbor for another hike. This one was called the Bar Island Trail and it’s only accessible for a few hours during low tide. You have to plan the hike carefully so you don’t get stranded on the island! It’s an easy hike but it was fun walking across the tidal flat to the island. After dinner at camp, we all turned in fairly early since it was so gloomy out and we had an early morning the next day!
We all started the next morning at Cadillac Mountain for sunrise, but we didn’t have good luck and were socked in at the summit. However, on our ride back down the summit road, the fog started to part and we got to see beautiful cloud inversions. Some people went rock climbing afterwards and the rest of us went to see Bass Harbor Head Light, one of the well-known lighthouses in the park. It was pretty and the overcast skies gave it a dramatic vibe. Then we went over to Ship Harbor Trail, which was a new hike for me. It was easy, but I really enjoyed it and it had some gorgeous, moody views. We all reconvened back at the campsite for lunch.
Afterwards, we all went back into the main part of the park to check out Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. Our guides brought us back to downtown Bar Harbor and we had a few hours of down time to go shopping. We all met up for dinner at a restaurant on the water for our last “family” dinner together, which was really nice. When we got back to the campground, we had one last fire together, did a bit of trivia and then started to pack up our belongings.
The next morning, we packed up the rest of our stuff and helped our guides with the tents and other campsite equipment. We drove back to Portland for the drop off and said our goodbyes. It was hard saying goodbye to all the new friends made! It was such a wonderful trip and I’m so grateful to Cassie and Danielle to being such gracious hosts and spending time with their fans. It was such a privilege to meet them both and I hope I get to cross paths with them again soon!
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy) and N’dakina (Abenaki/Abénaquis) people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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