After a bumpy start to October with the latest federal government shutdown, operations at Acadia National Park have settled into a consistent routine over the past few days — though many visitors seem to be having a hard time tracking down information about current conditions in the park.
The biggest question on incoming visitors’ minds around midday Tuesday when they arrived at the park-run visitors’ center in Hulls Cove was whether they still were expected to buy entrance passes for the park.
The answer is: no, visitors do not need to buy passes during the shutdown. With most of the park’s staff being furloughed, no one is posted at the entrance fee station near Sand Beach, and there are no other current efforts to make sure people have paid a fee before they enter the park, which they can do at dozens of sites around Mount Desert Island and the Schoodic Peninsula.
A few visitors who were just arriving at the visitors’ center on Tuesday said that, though they had questions, they were unconcerned about the shutdown affecting their visit.
Braden and Michelle Maines of Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, were trying to determine which of the Island Explorer’s 10 bus routes they should take to see the park. The fare-free bus system, which is operated by nonprofit group Downeast Transportation, continues to operate as usual.
“We didn’t even think about it,” Braden Maines said about whether they hesitated to make the drive northeast to Acadia.
Katie Agnew of San Francisco, who flew to Boston with a friend so they could come see the fall foliage in the park, said she wasn’t sure if she had to buy an entrance pass. They were staying in Rockland and were unconcerned about making a day trip to Acadia from the midcoast, she said.
“I’m happy to not have to buy a pass,” she said.
Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit group that advocates for and provides support programs to the park, has set up an online donation system where visitors can voluntarily donate the monetary equivalent of an entrance fee. All the donated money will be given by the group to Acadia to help make up for the lost revenue, a group spokesperson said.
However, park visitors still need to purchase a reservation to drive up the summit road toward the top of Cadillac Mountain during their visit, which they can do at Recreation.gov. The vehicle reservation system was implemented in 2021 to reduce crowding at the summit, and rangers are staffing the booths at the bottom of the summit road during the shutdown to make sure that drivers have reservations and are arriving at the appropriate time.
Since the first day of the shutdown on Oct. 1, the park has re-opened public bathrooms at the visitors’ center. The visitors’ center gift shop, which is run by a not-for-profit organization called Eastern National, is also open, but the park has closed down the information desk at the site, which otherwise is staffed by park employees.
While there have been some signs posted in a few places in the park indicating that some specific facilities are closed, in other places there are only locked entrances and no mention at all about the government shutdown — including on entrance pass vending machines near the visitors’ center parking lot.
Since the end of last week, the only facilities in the park that have been closed are the visitors’ center information desk, the Sieur De Monts Nature Center and the adjacent Wild Gardens of Acadia, and Rockefeller Hall at the Schoodic Institute campus on the eastern side of Frenchman Bay. The Jordan Pond House restaurant and gift shop, as well as gift shops at Thunder Hole and at the top of Cadillac Mountain, remain open.
All the park’s roads and trails remain open.
The new Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton, which is owned and operated by the state, also remains open, though park staff will not be on site during the shutdown.
The park’s campgrounds have been unaffected by the shutdown, though the campgrounds do routinely close down for the winter on various dates in October, according to Acadia’s website. The Duck Harbor Campground on the island of Isle Au Haut shuts down each year on Oct. 6, while the Seawall and Schoodic Woods campgrounds close on Oct. 13. Blackwoods Campground, which is closest to Bar Harbor, closes down annually on Oct. 20.
Though most of the park’s staff has been furloughed, some employees continue to work without pay until Congress reaches an agreement to fund at least part of the new federal fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. Custodial workers continue to routinely clean park bathrooms, all of which remain open.
Acadia also continues to provide emergency response services in the park, which remains busy with tourists despite the shutdown. Park rangers and volunteers with MDI Search and Rescue were seen in the park on Tuesday responding to an incident on Champlain Mountain, but park staff did not respond to requests from the Bangor Daily News for information about what happened.