Larry Vaught Photo
No way was I coming to Acadia National Park in Maine and not seeing the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island.
Most of the year, this is the first place eon the East Coast to see the sunrise and that makes it a special spot. So what if I had to get up at 4 a.m. and was at the entrance gate at 4:30 a.m. for the expected 5:32 a.m. sun rise.
It’s not a given you can be part of the sunrise watching on Cadillac Mountain, which rises to a height of 1,530 feet and is the highest point on the East Coast of the United States.
Vehicle reservations are required for Cadillac Summit Road from May 21 through Oct. 26. Thanks to my daughter, I was able to secure my $6 permit — they are available 90 days in advance — in mid-May online at Recreation.gov. You must also have a park entrance pass along with the Cadillac Mountain reservation.
When I got to the summit parking lot about 4:40 a.m., it was already well over half full even though reservations are limited to avoid overcrowding. However, there was so much space that it was easy to spread out. I quickly found a perfect rock to sit on to wait for the light and color in the sky to appear that I had heard so much about.
A couple from Vermont sat near me. They had brought breakfast with them, something I had not done. No worries. They had an extra sausage and biscuit they shared with me. I also ran out of water and a man from Minnesota provided an extra bottle. I was wearing a Centre College football long sleeve T-shirt and ran into four Centre graduates. And when it came time to take photos, I had plenty of people offer to take my photo with the rising sun behind me.
That made the time until I started to see pink, orange and yellow in the sky pass so quickly. The sun made its appearance right on time and it was breathtaking and so peaceful. It’s hard to explain just how uplifting it was to watch the sun rise and appreciate the beauty of the landscape, including boats already out early on the ocean.
The weather was near perfect — about 67 degrees at sunrise and calm. It was also a relatively clear day.
Once the sun started rising, many of those who had been watching started to leave. I stayed for almost an hour just enjoying nature’s beauty and feeling thankful I convinced myself to rise and shine at 4 a.m. to see this phenomenon.
Sure, I have seen other sunrises but somehow this one was just different and knowing it was probably the first one on the East Coast will definitely make it a memory I will always cherish.
Cadillac Mountain at Acadia
Photos by Larry Vaught
One Response
It sounds like an awesome experience.