Road trip: Catching color season
Flying around Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine
The scenery is astonishing as soon as you take off from coastal Maine’s Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport (BHB)—and it only gets better during an evening circumnavigation of Mount Desert Island. Summer is the busiest time of year in coastal Maine, but an autumn flight here is magical.
October is peak autumn color season in this rugged and picturesque corner of America. Cadillac Mountain, the central feature of Acadia National Park, reaches 1,530 feet from the ocean’s surface to its windswept peak. The mountain’s flanks are blanketed in flaming yellow, red, and orange.
Why you should go: The bracing air, dramatic ocean views, and wondrous natural beauty make an aerial lap around Acadia simply unforgettable.Acadia National Park, a long-ago gift from the Rockefeller family to the citizens of the United States, covers about 80 percent of Mount Desert Island, and FAA rules and common courtesy dictate that pilots keep their aircraft at least 2,000 feet agl over the unspoiled natural area.
Stately white-painted homes dot the shoreline at water’s edge, and the town of Bar Harbor slides by underneath. A menagerie of vessels ranging from tiny, low-sided lobster boats to exotic, tall-mast schooners fill the harbor.
Bar Harbor is called the gateway to Acadia. Mount Desert Island is situated on Frenchman’s Bay. It has been a summer destination since families like the Rockefellers built their summer “cottages” here. Today they are the gracious inns and hotels along the bay. Main Street has boutiques, restaurants, and shops. Summer is peak time, but fall offers warm days and crisp nights.
