United States
Acadia National Park
Winter's first American sunrise strikes Cadillac's pink granite before the country below wakes.
Acadia wakes before anywhere else in the United States for half the year, Cadillac Mountain catching first light while the rest of Maine is still dark. Below, Atlantic swells drive into Thunder Hole and detonate in spray, and the air carries balsam fir on one breath and salt on the next.
Acadia National Park protects the highest rocky headlands on the Atlantic coast of the United States, crowded onto Mount Desert Island where forest runs to the tide line. Cadillac Mountain, at 1,530 feet the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard, is the first place in the country to see the sunrise between early October and early March, and a vehicle reservation is needed for the summit road from late May to mid October. Forty-five miles of carriage roads financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. thread the interior, still free of cars and built for walkers, cyclists and horses. Tea and popovers have been served above Jordan Pond since around 1895, and the tradition survived because Rockefeller founded a company in 1946 to make sure it would.
Couple
Watch dawn from Cadillac Mountain, take tea and popovers on the Jordan Pond lawn, then follow a carriage road until the forest opens suddenly onto the sea.
Family
The carriage roads are gentle enough for young cyclists, low tide turns the rock pools into an afternoon of their own, and the Junior Ranger programme keeps the visitor centre honest.
Friends
Sea kayaking past harbour seals, iron-rung cliff trails above the water and a shoreline lobster feast afterwards fill a long shared weekend.
- Between early October and early March the summit of Cadillac Mountain is the first place in the United States to see the sunrise.
- Arrive an hour or two before high tide and Thunder Hole answers the swell with a deafening boom and spray past forty feet.
- Forty-five miles of carriage roads financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. wind through the park, still closed to cars and open to walkers, cyclists and horses.
- Popovers and tea have been served at Jordan Pond since around 1895, eaten on a lawn that looks straight up the water.
Popovers with strawberry jam on the Jordan Pond lawn, a teatime ritual since around 1895.
Lobster on a butter-grilled, top-split roll from a seasonal shack, chilled with lemon mayo or warm with melted butter.
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