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Social media is attracting tourists to an unmarked trail on the Schoodic Peninsula, where dramatic jagged cliffs drop into Frenchman Bay in Acadia’s quieter region.
As more and more tourists vacation in Acadia National Park each year, the park recorded more than 4 million visits last year, many of the park’s most iconic attractions are often congested with people. Some tourists are looking for places to enjoy the park without the mayhem and are turning to social media for suggestions.
One TikTok trend has centered around Ravens Nest, a cluster of cliffs off Schoodic Loop Road in the park’s only mainland section. Many TikTok videos, some with close to 200,000 likes, have focused on the cliffs as a picturesque, secluded hideaway in a park with iconic attractions, like Thunder Hole and Sand Beach, that quickly become congested over the summer.
The short, tree-lined trail leads to breathtaking views of the Schoodic Peninsula’s rocky coastline and Mount Desert Island’s highest peaks. Although it’s gaining popularity, visitors can still find moments of solitude watching the ocean crash against the pebble beach sitting at the cliff’s base.
One TikTok with 15,000 likes features the cliffs on a foggy day and describes Ravens Nest as the park’s “most stunning hidden gem” inside the “most underrated national park.” Two users commented that they had gotten engaged at the spot in recent years.
Acadia does not explicitly advertise the path, but it is marked on both Google and Apple Maps.
Some locals have said the park doesn’t mark the trail because its steep edges could be dangerous for visitors. The park did not respond to an inquiry about accidents or rescues that have been reported at the site.
In early July 2019, MDI Search and Rescue — a volunteer group that assists with park rescue missions — helped the park service and local fire department with a man in his 70s who had fallen off the top of the Ravens Nest cliffs, according to the group’s mission logs. The man survived and was picked up by a boat from the beach below the cliffs.
Schoodic Loop Road, which traces a section of the Schoodic Peninsula, is dotted with pull-offs for visitors to access the coastline and various trailheads.
Ravens Nest is accessible through an unmarked but well traveled path off Schoodic Loop Road, about 5 minutes past Frazer Point on the way to Schoodic Point. The area has a small parking lot, barely large enough to accommodate three vehicles, on the opposite side of the road.
Although unmarked by park signs, the root-covered trail is lined with rope, leading visitors to a dramatic view of the Schoodic coastline.
Brenda and Howard Lake, a central Maine couple who have been vacationing in Acadia nearly annually for 50 years, were visiting Ravens Nest for their first time on Thursday. They added the site to their itinerary this year after reading about its rise in popularity in the BDN, they said.
The couple said they had to park down the road from the cliffs and walk over because the parking lot was full on their arrival, even with the day’s rainy weather.