Even when itâs still cold out, Acadia has a lot to offer
Late winter and early spring mean parking spots, serenity, and a great escape.
By Diane Bair and Pamela Wright Globe Correspondent,Updated March 17, 2021, 12:00 p.m.
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Sand Beach, one of the most popular stops along Acadia's Loop Road, has plenty of space to roam in winter.Pamela Wright
It was a cold, crisp day, and the sand crunched under our boots as we walked the beach. There were few people. A young couple was walking a very energetic puppy. A mother and her teenage son scattered bocce balls, the bright-hued orbs sitting like foreign sea creatures amid the tendrils of bladder wrack and crushed seashells. Pink granite boulders, crusted with frozen sea spray, lined one end of the cove. The Great Head cliffs, its towering rock wall covered in rolling sheets of ice, bordered the other. We were nearly alone here on Sand Beach, one of the most visited destinations in Acadia National Park. In summer, you may not find a parking spot, or a beach towel size slice of sand to call your own. But on this winter day, it offered a deep sense of serenity, solitude, and escape.