The Wonderland Trail is one of our very favorite hikes in all of Acadia The wide, sandy 0.5-mile path to the water is more of a gentle walk than a hike, and can easily accommodate a jog stroller. This year, we all walked, though. Andrew enjoyed the walk and had a big smile on his face most of the way out. As we got closer to the ocean, there was a sea of blooming rosa rugosa, which smelled lovely.
The trail goes out to a rocky point that juts out along Bennet Cove on one side, and another, unnamed cove on the other. There are numerous paths off the main trail where you can walk out to the beach, but the loop at the end is really magical. It’s a dense forest of evergreens with silvery moss dripping from branches. The sound of the surf and the salt water spray, the glimpses of bright rocks and ocean, combined with the dark forest, is just enchanting.
The trail goes out to a rocky point that juts out along Bennet Cove on one side, and another, unnamed cove on the other. There are numerous paths off the main trail where you can walk out to the beach, but the loop at the end is really magical. It’s a dense forest of evergreens with silvery moss dripping from branches. The sound of the surf and the salt water spray, the glimpses of bright rocks and ocean, combined with the dark forest, is just enchanting.
However, Annika was the expedition leader and couldn’t wait to get on the beach, so we saved the loop portion of the trail for later on. The day was very foggy, we couldn’t see across the cove, but we were able to see the point and our side of the cove. The fog was sort of nice. The tide was low, and there were tidepools everywhere in the rocks on the shore. There isn’t much sand on the beach to the right of the trail, which is the one Annika chose.
We sat out on the rocks, searched through tidepools, and enjoyed our lunches. The children kept themselves occupied hopping from rock to rock and singing to periwinkles; a ranger told them last year that if a person sings to a periwinkle, the periwinkle will poke out of its shell. That seems to be true, but even if it weren’t, it’s adorable to watch the kids singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to a tiny little seashell. :-)
We sat out on the rocks, searched through tidepools, and enjoyed our lunches. The children kept themselves occupied hopping from rock to rock and singing to periwinkles; a ranger told them last year that if a person sings to a periwinkle, the periwinkle will poke out of its shell. That seems to be true, but even if it weren’t, it’s adorable to watch the kids singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to a tiny little seashell. :-)
When we’d had our fill of tidepooling and exploring the rocks, we took a turn around the loop at the end of the path and enjoyed the atmosphere that the fog brought to the dense
forest. We peeked out at the beach on the left side of the trail, which is more sandy and gentle, but the fog was getting thicker and we were hearing a foghorn, so we decided to head back to the car.
As usual, the trek back to the car seemed much longer than the walk out had been.
We’ve been to the Wonderland Trail on beautiful days, so-so days, and foggy days, it doesn’t seem to matter the weather at all. It’s always is special and relaxing to all of us.
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