Ship Harbor Trail

 

This is a very convenient and easy hike to do from the road and gives access to the rugged coast line. Located in the Southwest Harbor area, parking is on Route 102A. There is not much parking, maybe enough for 8-10 cars. The trail is relatively flat and is about 1.3 miles round trip. The trail goes through a nice forest until you reach the coast line. This is a nice place to have lunch. The rugged coast line is easily explored at low tide and the walk back to the parking lot follows the rock if you are hiking clockwise. There are great photo opportunities here.

I checked the tide chart the park service provides and fortunately the tide was out around midday.  Sure enough there are some tide pools here. It’s a nice area to explore around and easier to see the tide pools as opposed to the tide pools at Otter Cliffs.  The tide pools at Ship Harbor have a lot of marine plant life and a few small fish but I couldn’t find and crabs or starfish. Still a worthwhile adventure and would visit these tide pools again.