Begin at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center (+1 207 288 3338. May-Oct.) near Frenchman Bay, first explored by Samuelde Champlain in 1604. After 5 miles [8 kilometers], turn off for Sieur De Monts to visit the Nature Center (Phone for hours) and the Robert Abbe Museum of Stone Age Antiquities (+1 207 288 3519.Mid-May–mid-Oct.; Adm. fee).Continue for 1 mile [1.6 kilometers] to the Champlain Mountain Overlook, offering a magnificent panorama of the Gouldsboro Hills, Frenchman Bay, and the tip of Schoodic Peninsula. As you leave, look back to the left toward Thrumcap Island, a rookery for gulls and cormorants. Four miles [6.4 kilometers] farther is Sand Beach, consisting mostly of crushed marine shells.
Stop a half mile [0.8 kilometer] past the beach at Thunder Hole. When seas run high, huge waves rush into a narrow slot in the rocks, forcing air trapped at the back of the chasm to compress and make a thundering sound. A mile [1.6 kilometers] past Thunder Hole, near the pink granite Otter Cliffs, explore the tidal pools an hour or two before low tide at Otter Point. Just beyond, the road enters a spruce-fir forest. Wildwood Stables (+1 207 276 3622. Late May–early Oct.; Fee), 4.5 miles [7.2 kilometers] past Otter Point, offers wagon rides on some of the 57 miles [91.7 kilometers] of wide, gravel Carriage Roads begun by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in 1917; they’re also open to horseback riders, hikers, bikers, and cross-country skiers.
A mile past the stables, stop at Jordan Pond House (+1 207 276 3316. Mid-May–mid-Oct.) for a meal or the century-old tradition of tea on the lawn. Four miles [6.4 kilometers] beyond, turn right off the main road to ascend the 3.5 miles [5.6 kilometers] to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the eastern seaboard north of Brazil. To return to the Visit or Center, follow the signs.
