Hadlock Falls

Acadia National Park, Maine

Description

With a bit more flow this waterfall, also known as Hadlock Brook Falls, would be nice.  As it was the day we visited it was a bit disappointing.  Still the hike was really nice.  The carriage roads in Acadia National Park are fabulous and you get to see a couple of really nice carriage road bridges on the hike.

Getting There

Parking for the hike is located just north of Upper Hadlock Pond on Sound Drive, or Highway 198/3.  I've put together a nice little Google map of the parking area along with the marked path to the waterfall via the carriage roads.  I highly recommend printing this out to help on your hike. You can also just click through the map below and customize directions as needed.

View Hadlock Falls, Acadia National Park in a larger map

Hike Details

The hike is approximately 1.8 miles roundtrip from parking.  Elevation gain from parking is around 250 feet.  No, I wouldn't consider this difficult but it's not a "walk in the park" either, especially for the overweight or out of shape variety.

Follow the carriage road south from the parking area and take a left at the first intersection (marked 13).  At the next intersection (12) take a right and follow this road on up to the waterfall.  The waterfall can be easily viewed to your left from the 2nd carriage road bridge.

Photo Tips

You will definitely want to lug your tripod up here as the low water flow begs for a slow shutter speed just to make the waterfall look a little bigger/better.

The waterfall was exposed to direct sunlight the afternoon I was there and you should expect the same unless you arrive before 10:00 AM or so.  That's just a guess.  If possible get to this one as early as possible.

I'm not terribly happy with the shots I got.  Less sunlight would've helped and more water flow would've been nice as well.  If lighting conditions are better try playing around with various compositions using the carriage road bridge as a frame.

Good luck.