The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—A plethora of accidents kept Acadia National Park rangers and local emergency responders busy in Acadia National Park last week.
The historically busy holiday weekend seemed busy with vehicles though there have been no numbers yet released by the park or the U.S. Department of Interior. It is currently unknown when and if those figures will be available. Due to the federal government shutdown, park passes are not currently required to enter the park.
This same holiday weekend back in 2024 had created a new daily record for the park.
The previous peak daily visitation record had been July 3, 2022, and it was 3,561 vehicles going through the Sand Beach entrance station at the head of Ocean Drive.
That record was crushed on October 13, 2024, with 3,636 vehicles going through the station.
On Sunday of the holiday weekend in 2024, 1,953 people hiked the Beehive Trail. And in between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., ANP Social Scientist Dr. Adam Gibson counted 279 on that trail. The Precipice hosted 816 hikers on that Sunday in 2024.
“This is October. That’s really unusual,” Dr. Gibson said at the time.
It’s part of a trend the park has been seeing in increased visitation in the shoulder seasons. Fall has had increasing visitation for the last ten years, he’d said.
This past July, the park’s estimated number of visits was 797,000, its previous monthly visitor record was approximately 795,500 in August 2021.
Some of the incidents that happened leading up to the weekend included an October 11 fall at Thunder Hole.
“Thunder Hole, a popular destination year-round, is a carved out inlet along the rocky eastern shoreline of Mount Desert Island. When a storm or the turning tide forces waves into this narrow channel, the air escapes with a thunderous reverberation that is both deafening and thrilling,” according to the NPS website.
At approximately 2:32 p.m., on October 11, a 60-year-old woman fell on the rocks near Thunder Hole along the Park Loop Road, sustaining a compound arm fracture and facial injuries.
“Rangers and Bar Harbor Fire Department personnel responded and transported the patient to a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter in Bar Harbor. She was flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center for treatment,” according to Elizabeth Peace, senior public affairs specialist at the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Two days earlier, at approximately 1:29 p.m., a female cyclist fell approximately 20 feet from the Bubble Pond Carriage Road Bridge, sustaining multiple injuries.
“Rangers and Bar Harbor Fire Department personnel provided care at the scene,” Peace said.
Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said, “The patient was taken directly to Eastern Maine via Lifeflight.”
LifeFlight and the Town of Bar Harbor just officially opened a new helipad at the corner of Park Street and Main Street, Friday, October 3. That pad was paid for by donations.
In 2023, LifeFlight transported 69 patients from Bar Harbor. In 2021, LifeFlight transported 60 patients from Bar Harbor. Back in fiscal year 2015 (June 2014-July 2015), LifeFlight transported 47.
In another accident that required a helicopter, though not LifeFlight’s, just before 9 a.m. on October 7, a 63-year-old woman dislocated her hip while climbing near the Beehive summit.
“The Maine Forest Service assisted with a short-haul operation to extract the patient. She was transferred to a Bar Harbor Fire Department ambulance and transported to MDI Hospital,” Peace said.
That short-haul refers to the Maine Forest Service helicopter transporting the injured woman from the trail and to a nearby landing zone in the park where the ambulance waited.
That same day, two hours later, there was a medical event on the Precipice Trail. The Maine Forest rangers were in the area, but did not end up having to do another short-haul.
”At approximately 11:05 a.m., rangers responded to a report of an unresponsive male hiker on the Precipice Trail. The individual regained responsiveness after experiencing a medical event. With ranger assistance, he was able to hike out under his own power and declined further medical aid,” she said.
Also on October 7 there was a bicycle collision near Jordan Pond Gatehouse.
“At approximately 12:36 p.m., a male and female cyclist collided near the Jordan Pond Gatehouse, sustaining head and shoulder injuries. Rangers and Mount Desert Fire Department personnel provided care at the scene, and both patients were transported to MDI Hospital,” Peace said.
Photos and video: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
For tips on visiting Acadia during the shutdown, head to Friends of Acadia’s website.
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