This is the park for access by walking. One can walk to the mountains or the sea. The trails are good to moderate climbs. The ocean at this end of the park is as Maine as one can imagine. Quiet, almost lonely, with rocky beaches emptied of crowds. If you enjoy walking this is the place to camp. Others have made clear the facilities. They are all good and the reservation service makes a planned vacation possible. There are no showers. We camped here in a Motorhome.
If you don’t have reservations for Blackwoods it is hard to get in with an RV. They only have about 40 RV sites but plenty of tent sites. Actually an RV 25feet and under could fit into many of the tent sites but in the last ten years they are not doing that. Blackwoods is near the parkway and Bar Harbor. There are hikes, walks, ranger talks out of the campground. The bathrooms and many of the sites have been updated in the last five years but still no showers but showers can be found outside the park entrance for a fee, open 24 hours. This campground is still one of our favorites. The trees and the sound of the waves on the rocks at night lull you to sleep. There is a short walk down to the cliffs and park road which is beautiful. One can ride bikes through the campground and take them on the carriage roads. LLBean provides free shuttles from the campground to the parkway, Jordan’s Pond, Bar Harbor and will drop you off even with your bikes to hikes and walks around the National Park if the bus is going that way. Rangers are nice but don’t take the time with you as the Seawall Rangers do because they are so busy. Blackwoods is open all year with limited services. Bar Harbor is expanding with more restaurants especially since now all these cruise ships are in the harbor. One day there were three ships in and one of them was the maiden voyage of the new Queen Victoria from England. Interesting people from the ships and so many campers traveling from all over the country staying in the campground. We camped here in a Motorhome.
I stayed at Site A53. You get assigned your spot when you arrive: so make sure you error on the side of a longer spot when you make the reservation. All spots were very close to one another. You are basically sharing the picnic, fire pit with the person next to you. Generators are allowed, but discouraged (it says to use them "sparingly" during the day). If you have a large RV or trailer you will find that the spots are rather tight to pull into. You can do it, but it isn't the easiest even though they are pull-through sites. The main goal in the campground was to fit as many RV sites on the area as possible. All in all, this was a good campground serving as a base location for going out and doing stuff (the whole point in a national park anyway). Everything was very clean and well maintained. My only complaint was the smoke from the fires. Because of the evergreen trees and people burning wood that wasn't 100% dry: there was a lot of smoke. So much so that you didn't want to open your windows. Although I didn't have time, you should definitely check out the other campground area: Sea Wall. I would think it is a little nicer being that it is a first come, first serve (no reservations). We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Stayed in Loop B site 37. This loop feel a lot different from Loop A, maybe it's the distance between sites, or tree cover, but once we were setup, we were comfortable. This is defenitely not a place for groups to enjoy a weekend since quiet hours are STRICTLY enforced. couples & small families however would enjoy this campground. Facilities were great. Showers are just outside the park on route 3, which was 1.50$ for 4 minutes. We camped here in a Tent.
We were really disappointed with our campsite, A55. We have a 35 foot motorhome with two slides, the maximum length allowable in the park. Although the site was a pull-through it was incredibly difficult to negotiate, evidenced by two prior occupants who damaged the surrounding trees. We ended up camped with trees within six inches of either side of us. I believe that the NP should not advertise these sites as 35 foot. The length is there but not the width. Roads inside the park were paved but narrow with many low overhanging branches. This is a great park for a unit less than 30 feet, or for tent camping. Rate reflects senior Golden Age discount. The park has evening programs and a Sunday morning church service in a nice amphitheater. The Island Explorer buses run frequently into Bar Harbor and around the area, 15 minutes into town, 45 minutes back because of the loop roads. Using a commercial campground in Bar Harbor is actually more practical as the buses run through those campgrounds too. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We arrived late on Saturday so assumed we got offered what was left. However, was very satisfied with the site. Facilities were excellent. Pay showers are located off-site at campground entrance along route 3. 1.25$ for 4min, 2.50$ for 8min. Space between sites was good and check in was fast and painless. Don't think there are any bad sites here. Will stay here again. We camped here in a Tent.
No showers - pay showers at the entrance to the campground along the highway. Non-level sites. No water views. They asked for "sparing" use of generators which our next door neighbor did not comply with. This campground may be better suited to tent campers although there were a few motorhomes there. Dense shade. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Very nice no hook-up campground in Acadia National Park. We had site A56, a pull-thru, at the end of one row in the loop so we did not have a neighbor on one side which was perfectly sized for our 30 ft class A and toad. The sites are not overly large and not completely level (minor slope) but clean with lots of trees. The bathrooms near us were brand new and still smelled like freshly cut wood. The dump station was easy to access and had potable water for filling your water tank. Most of the sites in this campground are designed for tent campers but there were two rows of pull-thrus for RV's up to 35 ft. We were there over Memorial Day weekend and felt very lucky that the dreaded black flies we'd heard so much about were really not much of a problem and with the exception of Bar Harbor the area was not too crowded. Nice campground, great park. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is 1 of 2 campgounds in Acadia National Park. Blackwoods is located off the loop road near Bar Harbor and it is required to have reservations now from May 1 to mid Sept. You can take the chance and pull up and be placed on a wait list but you might have to move everyday. You have a better chance of getting in-in the Spring and Fall unless you make a reservation. There are no showers in the campground but some very close by. This is a great campgound. We have camped here maybe 15 times in the last twenty-five years,usually for 5 or more days and sometimes for two weeks at a time. Now they have the Island Shuttle Bus which comes to the campground, which is free(thanks to LL Bean) to take you to different sections of the park and to Bar Harbor, Northwest Harbor and Southwest Harbor. Southwest Harbor is where the other campground Seawall is-very pretty and first come first serve (only open May to early September). There is so much to do in Acadia - dirt bike trails on the carriage roads, hiking, ranger talks and hikes, beaches, tours out to some of the islands and a visit to Bar Harbor with its great shops and nice walk along the seashore. There are ranger talks at night with slideshows at the campground. To drive the loop you need to buy a pass for your car for $20 which is good for seven days. Lots to see and do and it is beautiful. Lots of wildlife. Visit the Acadia National Park site for more information. The campground is huge with two loops. The second loop where many of the RV's are, the sites are close but many are pull throughs. RV's can be placed in any loop though-some of the upper loops have huge sites. You need to check your site out because one time we could not get into our site because it was too small and the road was muddy but that was only once in fifteen times. We love this campground even though it does not have showers. There are pay showers right outside the campground gate. There are hiking trails right from the campground and one of them goes down to a rocky cliff way above the ocean where you can sit and read and enjoy the day (be careful with small children though because at the rocky edge you can slip). We have hiked this trail when our children were 2 and when they were 20 - you just need to be careful. The last time we camped at Blackwoods we did encounter a problem with RV's running their generators for a long period of time in the morning, during the afternoon and at night. It was so bad that when one camper finally turned theirs off after 2 hours everyone around them cheered, clapped and hooted. This has never happened before when we camped there but I don't believe they have generator hours like some other National Park campgrounds do, also it was in October and not in the summer when it is warmer. Trips to Northwest Harbor are fun because you can go down to the boats coming in and purchase clams and lobsters right off the boat. A ride over to the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland is a good days trip. It is part of Acadia National Park and the views are outstanding. Blackwoods campground had different rates depending on the season. The basic season runs from May 1 to October 31 then the bathrooms are shut down but it is open year round. Check this out because this year they closed October 31, 2005 until May 2006 to make repairs in the campground. It is a great place and the kids will love all the activities. Ours loved the drive up the mountain at night to view the stars and the flashlight walks through some of the trails. There is a paper of the weekly walks, talks, activities etc at the visitor center which you can pick up. There is a pond for swimming and a few beaches around the island. I do not know anyone that has not fallen in love with Acadia National Park - it is a wonderful place to camp and visit. We camped here in a Motorhome.