Tide pools at Wonderland in Acadia National Park

Length: .7 mile, one way
Time: 15 minutes, one way
Difficulty: Easy

The Wonderland Trail is located near Bass Harbor on Acadia National Park’s Mount Desert Island. There is a parking lot for the trail along Highway 102, and if it fills up, you can park along the road. The Wonderland area is a popular place to tide pool—search for sea creatures in the small pools left behind by the retreating water at low tide—and the only reason to hike the trail is for this activity. Just be sure you know when low tide is. (An hour and a half on either side of low tide should be a good time to tide pool.)

The trail is an old dirt road that leads to the rocky coast of a small peninsula. There is no trail identification sign like at other trails in Acadia National Park, only a gate with a Fire Road sign attached (keeps unauthorized vehicles off the trail). There is not much to say about the hike other than that the trail has a slight uphill grade on the way out, is mainly smooth with a few rocky areas, and is easy to hike. I saw a man pushing a baby stroller, so I believe a person in a wheelchair could also make it with a little help.

Wonderland Trail in Acadia National Park

At the half-mile point is a side trail to the left that leads to the shore. The Wonderland Trail continues, but you can tide pool anywhere, so it really makes no difference if you exit here or continue the hike. If you do stay on the trail, it makes a small loop at the end that will take you around to the other side of the peninsula.

As far as tide pooling goes, I didn’t find any of the three advertised “tide pooling” locations at Acadia National Park to be worth a darn (Bar Island near Bar Harbor and Ship Harbor are the other two). All I ever saw were barnacles, snails, and perhaps some coin-size crabs. I have visited Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco, so I know what good tide pooling is. There I saw sea anemones, urchins, star fish, crabs, mussels, clams, and even a dead seal that had been shot in the head.

Sea snails on a rock at Wonderland in Acadia National Park

The one thing to remember about tide pooling is that you must be careful on the rocks that are black (algae) or covered in seaweed, for they can be as slick as ice. I saw two people sustain serious injuries due to falls while I was at Acadia National Park, though not at Wonderland. Yellow rocks, on the other hand, have barnacles on them that provide a great gripping surface.

Barnacle covered rocks at Wonderland in Acadia National Park

Algae covered rocks at Wonderland in Acadia National Park

To reach some of the bigger tide pools you must walk over the slick rocks, so be sure that one foot is firmly planted before moving your other foot, keep your weight over the planted foot as much as possible, and never jump from one rock to the next because it could be like landing on a banana peel—at least a cartoon banana peel. Keep your eyes on your kids, because they don’t understand caution. If you have hiking poles, I suggest using them.

Tide pool at Wonderland surrounded by seaweed covered rocks, Acadia National Park

When you are ready to leave, just walk into the woods and you can’t help but stumble upon the Wonderland Trail.

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