Acadia National park is located on Mount Desert Island and is a patchwork all over the island. It offers some of the most dramatic seacliff climbing around, and everything is of excellent quality. Bar Harbor is the biggest town (and tourist trap) on the island and is where most services are available. The island Hospital is right downtown.... but i hope no one ever needs that. Camping may be had all over the island in private campgrounds, and at Blackwoods or Wonderland, the National Park campgrounds. Blackwoods is the more convenient for climbers and is located past Bar Harbor on route 3 a ways (ten or so miles).

The park offers some spectacular climbing on dramatic sea cliffs like Otter Cliffs and Great Head. At climbing areas with logbooks: Otter Cliffs, South Wall of the Precipice and Canada Cliffs climbers are required to register. Use of the park also requires paying the fee, which you can do at either the visitor center you pass coming onto the island or at the Ocean Drive ranger station, which you pass to get to Otter Cliffs. The Precipice proper (not the South wall which is were all the roues on this site are), the Jordan Cliffs and occasionally other areas are closed from April to August due to peregrine falcon nesting. Please respect these closures. Organized groups of 6 or more people require a permit, so if that is you talk to the park (like all those college groups with their outing clubs that just show up).

There is a new, and excellent, guidebook by local guide Jeff Butterfield available at the outdoor gear shops in town. Pick it up, it is an great guide. There are two guide services in town, both are easy to find in downtown Bar Harbor and offer qualified instruction.

For the weekend warrior nothing beats the ocean side experience of Otter Cliffs, though it can be very busy. Tradmasters will love the South Wall of the Precipice with tons of 1, 2, &3 pitch routes for all abilities. South Bubble offers some good routes, and is another good place for TRing and beginners, it is always less crowded than Otter. Great Head is incredible, overhanging, and generally hard climbing over the ocean, quite dramatic. Know the tides and how to use ascenders (and have a fixed rope) if you plan on going there. Canada Cliffs also offers plenty of great routes, but is often very buggy until late summer and does not offer the views the other areas do; tends to be much less busy. Gorham Mtn and all along Ocean Drive offer good bouldering, as well as everywhere scattered throughout the park on smaller cliffs. There is also some ice climbing, but that takes a deranged spirit in these parts - and exceptional weather.

Routes are updated with star descriptions. None to ***. No stars means sorta crumby, three classic and one and two definitely worth doing. Also checked everthything for accuracy and redundancy, and there are many multiple otter cliffs climbs...i'll fix them when i have time.

When adding routes please make sure they are in the right spot and not already up. If in doubt take your best shot or try and ask someone who looks like they go there a lot. The routes and areas pretty much follow the Butterfield guide if you have that too.