The Fat Girl Hiking - The Fat Girl Hiking

When I say hidden treasure, I mean it quite literally; this trail only becomes visible and walkable around low tide. Though it is submerged by water most of the day, if you time your trip right, taking a stroll out to Bar Island is incredibly enjoyable and easy. Even better is the location of this trail! It’s right outside of the downtown area so you can grab a bite to eat, shop around, and enjoy the quaint town of Bar Harbor before you head to Bar Island.

Timing Your Trip

As I mentioned, this trail is only passable for a few hours at a time, getting the timing right is imperative. You can access the Bar Island Land Bridge 1.5 hours before and after low tide. Now, many people make the mistake of saying “Oh, low tide was at “x” time yesterday, so it’ll probably be about the same today, right?” WRONG. Low tide can change up to about 50 minutes on a daily basis. You’ll need to use a tide tracker to ensure you’re headed out with plenty of time for your return trip.

The Trail at a Glance

Length: 1.9 Miles Roundtrip (Tidal)
Elevation Gain: 216 ft.
Type: Network
My Rating: Easy
Dog Friendly: Yes
Would we do it again: Yes

Bar Island Experience

You can park anywhere in the town of Bar Harbor to access the Bar Island Land Bridge. The town itself is small and walkable, so you shouldn’t have any issues with parking too far away. Most of the parking areas in the town are paid parking. Make sure to pay for enough time to avoid getting a ticket. Walk out to the land bridge, which is just on the outskirts of downtown, and enjoy an easy stroll through rocky tide pods to the island. It feels a little bit like walking on water, so this hike may or may not make you feel invincible.

Once you reach the island, you water bender, you, there’s another 1 mile of trail that will take you to the highest point on the island and provide stunning views of the surrounding area. On the island, you’ll ditch the rocky ground and be met with a dirt trail for the remainder of your time on Bar Island. Don’t spend too much time exploring the island! You could get stuck out there, and I mean that in a 100000% serious way!

Bar Island Safety

Yes, you can get trapped on Bar Island. Yes, people have actually gotten trapped on Bar Island. Once the Bar Island Land Bridge is submerged underwater, the tide won’t be low enough to pass through for another 9 HOURS! That’s a really long time to be stranded on an island with no snack bar or margarita stand… It all comes down to timing your trip and keeping to a set schedule. Know when the tide will start rising again, and set a time for when you need to leave the island, then leave at that time. Don’t stay longer and assume you can make it back out in time. Even if the bridge isn’t fully submerged, no one wants to walk through a foot of water to make it back to Bar Harbor – especially a foot of ocean water in Maine. That stuff is cold!

If you make a mistake (it happens!) and miss low tide, rendering yourself stuck on a deserted island, what’s the one thing you’d bring with you?? Kidding, kidding – you can always call a water taxi or the Bar Harbor search and rescue. These calls will be costly, about $60 for a water taxi, and it can sometimes take a number of hours for them to make it out to the island, but there is a safety net if you find yourself in a worst-case scenario. I’d highly recommend not being “that person” and taking the extra time to plan your trip, but hey, SH&(@ happens.

Accessible for All Fitness Levels

You can take dogs and kids on this trail, as it isn’t too strenuous. Make sure to look in some of the tide pools while you venture to the island to see if you can see any cool sea stars or other ocean animals. This is an awesome hike for kids because there’s so much to see and it’s a unique experience, getting to walk across the harbor. If you find snail eggs in the tide pool (little things that look like grains of rice) you can look at them, but please make sure you don’t take any with you. Collecting items from Acadia National Park is prohibited.

Because this park is unique and most people can enjoy it, it does become very busy. You’ll likely be sharing the trail with lots of other people who are excited to get out to Bar Island, so be sure to keep that in mind.

Bar Island, Bar Harbor

If you’re in the area to hike to Bar Island, you can’t miss out on spending time enjoying Bar Harbor. It’s an adorable (albeit touristy) town that has some great places to enjoy fresh seafood, souvenir shopping, and admire art. Make your trip longer to plan excursions like whale watching or sunset kayaking on a different day during your visit. Oh, and don’t forget to stop at Jordan Pond Ice Cream and Fudge! It has an amazing selection of homemade ice cream flavors, including a lobster flavor! I wasn’t brave enough to try ice cream with lobster chunks in it, but hey, kudos to you if that’s the route you go!

Keeping Memories Afloat

A trip to Bar Island, Bar Harbor is such a unique experience that will stick with you forever. Especially if you get stranded on an island! Leave out the stranded part and your trip will be picture perfect. I can honestly say that this part of Maine is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. I haven’t made it out to see the fall foliage, but that’s high up on my list, too! Visit in the spring, summer, or fall, and you can’t go wrong. I wouldn’t recommend planning your trip in the winter unless trudging through snow and freezing temperatures sounds like fun to you.