FIELD NOTES #8 – Part Two
SOUTHWEST HARBOR,
MAINE
Beautiful places aren’t always healing.
Dates
Aug 11 – Aug 17, 2026
Miles to camp
355
(1,632mi travelled so far)
Weather
60-75
Sunny w/ Storms
Symptom Score
20
(baseline: 23)
WOuld we return
Yes
How I Felt
During our stay my average score was 22, but my high was 40, and my low was 8, both were new records. I made the mistake early in our stay of going in tide pools and the swimming pool, which along with high humidity and moderate AQI/PM2.5 might have lead to higher scores.
What We Did
We started our second week of vacation time in Maine with a short walk over to the Golf of Maine Mini Golf course just 600ft from the campground. After Meg got out of work, we ran over to Northeast Harbor for some blueberry donuts from Colonel’s Bakery and Restaurant and to walk along the marina. Northeast Harbor is a picture perfect ocean side town.
Throughout the week we took several more opportunities to go tide pooling (our favorite is seal cove) and went to the iconic Bass Head Harbor Light Station.
Cadillac Mountain was without a doubt the highlight of our trip. We went three separate times, each time staying long enough to go for a decent hike and see the sun set over Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. The diversity of hikes available from Cadillac Mountain is awesome. We hiked from Cadillac Mountain Summit to Dorr Mountain Summit, From Cadillac Mountain Summit to Bubble Pond and the Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail.
The carriage trails, a network of over forty miles of gravel roads open to bike riders and walkers, were a close second for the highlight of our trip. We rode from the Hull Visitor Center to Bar Harbor multiple times and rode around Eagle Lake once. We had tried Eagle Lake earlier in the week, but didn’t make it when the boys had one speed bikes. After upgrading them to 7 speed or better bikes they buzzed around no problem!
We took one trip into the “busy side” of Acadia National Park to hike the infamous Bee Hive Trail, which takes hikers up a steep cliff that towers over Sand Beach. The boys loved climbing up the rebar ladders and reaching the top. We continued down the trail to The Bowl Pond to recreate a picture that Meg, Finn (and Gabe, unborn at the time) took almost a decade ago.
Our splurge for this trip was to take a Sail Acadia tour on a working lobster boat. The boys loved pulling up lobster pots to find crabs, starfish and of course, lobsters. We also had the chance to see osprey, bald eagles, harbor and grey seals, as well as, a beautiful sunset over the sound.
We finished off our vacation time here in Southwest Harbor with a final trip into Bar Harbor for dinner and some tasty ice cream.
These two weeks were a great break for all of us. It gave us a wonderful chance to just focus on enjoying the area we had worked so hard to get to. Although it was busy, we did great avoiding the crowds and still getting a chance to experience so much of what Acadia has to offer.
Our Favorite Moment
Climbing the Bee Hive Trail in Acadia National Park. It was a blast navigating the ledges and rebar ladders up to the summit
Observations
The Journey Continues
We are visiting 45 campgrounds in 300 days to find a place where our family thrives and my symptoms improve. Follow along as we share what we learn along the way
Graham Simplified
Scorecard
2 / 10
2 / 10
2 / 10
9 / 10
7 / 10
2 / 10
Yes
Overall
6
/ 10
- This was a very interesting test and I feel like we still don’t fully understand the results. One thing that is clear is that leaving the campground made a big difference. Days that were spent on Cadillac Mountain or by the ocean were significantly lower symptom scores than those we spent near the campground.
- We faced a lot of high humidity and moderate AQI/PM2.5 levels, this along with some trigger mistakes I made early in our stay (swimming and wading) could have resulted in the high scores I experienced at the start of the stay
- This all sets up a very interesting stay in Rockport, ME. We are staying close to the ocean where hopefully we will experience some consistent sea breeze.
- Unlike the surrounding native forests, our campground had a lot of deciduous trees which were probably planted when the campground was established. This could have caused higher pollen levels in my immediate surroundings.
- From a purely travel perspective, this area is awesome, especially Cadillac Mountain. We spent three afternoons and evenings up there. Since you have to get a reservation to access it, there are far less hikers and an amazing diversity of hikes to explore.
Next we are headed to:
Rockport, Maine
A beautiful town right on the Atlantic Shore to test how sea breeze impacts symptoms. First we have one more week here in Southwest Harbor.
