On the Ocean Trail with Otter Cliffs to the left, we pause before going into the wooded section.

Covering two to three miles and extending from Sand Beach to Otter Point, the Ocean Trail is more a "walk" than a "hike."  It runs parallel to the Loop Road between the road and the rocky shore.  Although the path is sometimes right next to the road, the Loop is often sufficiently far from the shoreline that the path is much closer to the ocean than to the road.  This is especially true around Otter Cliffs, where the trail descends into the woods, rises via steps to where the Loop crosses the top of the cliffs, and then descends again to a path that follows the shoreline some distance from the road.

The trail is easy but never boring.  Because the rock formations make the coastline extremely irregular, one experiences many new vistas not seen from the road.  From a photographer's viewpoint, it's an opportunity to capture familiar views from a different perspective.  Moreover, the ocean provides its own artistry and music.  People who see only sameness in the ocean simply are not looking and listening; changes wrought by tides and weather, as well as by the contours of the rocky shore, produce effects of infinite variety.  And there's always the occasional seabird soaring above the water or a red squirrel scampering across the path.

We decided to take the boys along the Ocean Trail as a sort of initiation into hiking.  There were plenty of safe rocks to climb to break the monotony of "just walking," and the ocean was new enough to them that they could find it interesting – even if they are not yet inclined to share Grandpa's philosophical view of it.  Besides, it was good practice before attempting the more challenging mountain trails – sort of like starting out with training wheels on the bike.

Instead of attempting the whole stretch, which was a bit too much for Grandma and Grandpa, we decided to take only the middle third, from Thunder Hole to Otter Cliffs.  We had hoped to catch Thunder Hole "thundering," but we were a little too late to catch the ideal tide, which is midway between low and high tide with the tide coming in, and the sea was fairly calm.

By way of explanation, Thunder Hole is a passage about four feet wide that the waves have carved into the rock.  The water rushes into this passage that ends in a sort of cave with a rock overhang.  When this happens, it creates a loud rumble – hence, the name.  When the seawater enters with sufficient force, a plume of spray arcs over the surrounding rocks (and the rock jetty where spectators stand), sometimes leaping many feet into the air.  Though we've seen pictures of this and have seen the evidence that the spray has covered the rocks as far as thirty of forty feet from Thunder Hole itself, we got wet only once in our many visits.  On this stop, Thunder Hole was barely rumbling and was doing what I describe as its imitation of a giant toilet – not very exciting, to say the least.  We took a few pictures anyway and then set out on our walk.

Besides the vista of sea and rocks, the dominant image on a walk from Thunder Hole toward Otter Cliffs is the facade of the cliffs themselves.  It is one of the most photographed (and painted) landmarks in Acadia – and rightly so because the 110-foot cliffs constitute one of the highest headlands on the coast of North America north of Rio de Janeiro.

We made our way to the cliffs, stopping for a few group pictures on the way.  At about that point, we considered turning back, for some of us felt that the return trip to where we were parked at Thunder Hole might be a bit too much.  Son-in-law David graciously volunteered to make the return trip after we got to the cliffs, and the loafers could wait there until he arrived with the van.

The trail descends into woods shortly before Otter Cliffs and then rises gradually so that it comes out at a point twenty or thirty feet below the place where the Loop Road crosses the top of the cliffs.  It can go no further because it would need to traverse sheer rock.  Therefore, steep steps  carved into boulders lead up to the road, where it forms a walled overlook above the cliffs.

Here we stopped, as David and Christopher returned to get the van.  While we waited, I enjoyed the view from the overlook (left:  looking down from the overlook) and went a little way down the incline on the other side where the trail resumes toward Otter Point.  Since I had taken this part of the trail on an earlier visit, I knew that this was an ideal spot for photographs, taking in not only the coastline to the west but also the cliffs themselves and the waves crashing at their base.  I stood there for a while, enjoying the view, the calls of the gulls, and the sound of the bell buoy in the ocean beyond Otter Cliffs.

On the Ocean Trail
Left: Kate, David, and the boys.
Right: Grandma, Grandpa, and the boys.

For a panoramic (in motion) view of the area:  Click Here.  The view is mostly of the ocean (much stormier than it was during our walk).  About halfway through the pan, you will see Otter Cliffs in the distance.  For more pans Click Here and Here.  These interesting shots are from http://www.naturepanoramas.com/.  They may not work very well if you have a low-speed Internet connection.