Acadia National Park

Field Trip Tour

This trip will consist of
four main nature stops:
Cadillac Mountain
Eagle Lake
Bubble Rock
The Wetlands
Route Map
This route will be best travelled
by car. It spans approximately 9
miles from Cadillac Mountain
(first stop, point A) to Jordan
Pond and the Wetlands (last
stop, point D).
A
D
C
B
1
st
Stop:
Cadillac Mountain
Summit of Cadillac Mountain
overlooking the Porcupine Islands.
Image from travelguideofamerica.com
Cadillac Mountain
Eagle Lake
Bubble Rock
Wetlands

Mount Desert Island
N
The summit of Cadillac Mountain reaches
1,530 feet in elevation. This astounding
geological beauty in Acadia National Park
is the tallest mountain in the east coast of
the United States. Because of its height
and location, it is often the first place in all
of the U.S. to see the sunrise.
F O R M A T I O N
This east coast landmark was formed
by the tectonic plates and volcanic
forces that pushed the landmass
upward millions of years ago. Its
summit, which is quite flat and
rounded, earns its shape from glaciers
that once slowly moved atop the
landmass and essentially shaved off
the top.

Image from basicplanet.com

2
nd
Stop:
Eagle Lake
3
rd
Stop:
Bubble Rock
4
th
and Last Stop:
Wetlands
Spreading across 436 acres, Eagle
Lake is Acadia National Parks
largest fresh water lake. Its deepest
point rests at 110 feet below. You
can find both salmon and trout
within the lake.
F O R M A T I O N
Numerous lakes in the
Northern Hemisphere were
formed by large glaciers that
slowly moved along
landmasses and carved out
the basins or bowl-shapes that
then formed lakes when the
glaciers melted and filled the
basins with water.
Big Bubble Rock is known as a glacial
erratic, meaning that its own
geological composition is different to
that upon which it is sitting. This is a
result of glacial activity, which brought
this particular boulder 20 miles from its
origin, northeast of where it sits today.
The countless different rocks in
Acadia National Park have all come
about to be where they are from
quite similar origins. From millions of
years ago with volcanic and glacial
activity shaping the land and leaving
certain pieces of debris behind, rocks
like Bubble are still around for us to
observe and study. And even still, the
continuing processes of erosion
persistently shape the parks
geology.
20% of Acadia National Park is
covered in all different classes of
wetlands. This includes: swamps,
tidal pools, lakes, marine aquatic
beds, intertidal shellfish flat, salt
marshes, freshwater marshes,
forested wetlands, and peatlands.
These sights can be seen from the
road, atop the mountains, and by
hike.

Wetland formation is similar to that
of lakes, when glaciers carve out
the valleys and fill them with their
melted ice, and saturate the land.
The freshwater wetlands here in
Acadia National Park and
specifically, Mount Desert Island are
living communities that are still in
the process of formation, and are
bound to look different years from
now.
Image from acadianationalpark.com
Image from sueannhodges.com
Image from barharbormagic.com