Narrows Too RV Resort – A Great Acadia National Park Home Base

June 2015 – After our mad dash up from Virginia through Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, we traveled across western Maine on Route 2 and arrived at the Atlantic Coast. Somewhat dazed by the trip, our minds were still filled with residual visions of lush green Blue Ridge Parkway forests and waterfalls.

What a fabulous shock and change it was to run down to the shoreline on Mt. Desert Island and see craggy granite boulders, expansive blue water, and lobster boats puttering about in the bay! The air was crisp and salty, and the sun was warm on our faces. We pranced along the shore happily taking an endless stream of photos.

We had no idea what to expect from Acadia National Park. Years ago I had driven to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which stands like a sentinel in the middle of the park. I remembered it as a terrific place to take in the views of all the surrounding coves and islands around Mt. Desert Island. But my memory was fuzzy, and I hadn’t seen the rest of the park. And Mark had never been to Maine at all.

As we began to research the options and activities available at Acadia National Park, our pile of tourist literature grew and we realized there was so much to see and do that we could come back summer after summer and never get it all done. No wonder Bostonians and New Yorkers flock to this national park every summer!

The problem was finding a place to stay. Most of America’s National Parks are surrounded by National Forest, and we usually find a place to boondock that is within shooting distance of the park we’re visitng. But Acadia National Park is surrounded by wealthy communities of summer homes and quieter villages of fisherman — all private land that is ardently protected from tourists.

So we were absolutely overjoyed when — totally out of the blue — we received an email from Thousand Trails, the RV campground network, asking if we would like to give up our boondocking ways for a little while and stay at one of their affiliate RV parks for four days.

Are you kidding? What totally perfect timing! YES!!

They found a spot for us at Narrows Too RV Resort, a waterfront RV park right on Mt. Desert Narrows, a body of water that separates the mainland from Mt. Desert Island where Acadia National Park is located. The landmark for making the turn into Narrows Too RV Resort is a classic Maine lobster shack restaurant!

This park is laid out on a very gradually sloping hill so that as you walk from the office through the campsites to the water, the views of the bay get bigger and bigger. It was slightly pre-season, so the park wasn’t full to capacity, and the waterviews between the RVs were lovely.

Quite a few of the sites are directly on the water. Fifth wheels had backed into these sites and motorhomes had nosed into them to make the most of the wonderful views.

I’m not sure what our guardian angel had done to put all this together for us, but Thousand Trails rolled out the red carpet for us and put us in the finest site in the park. We backed in and set up our camping chairs facing the view, and whooped and hollered for quite some time. What a fabulous campsite!!

The Mt. Desert Narrows waterway is tidal, and it was fascinating to watch the tide roll in and out everyday at our site because the water covers a very large distance and moves really fast. At low tide there was a wonderful moonscape of rocks the stretched all the way across the bay, and at high tide the water came right up to our site.

Mark snuck down before dawn one morning to catch the sunrise. The first spray of light across the rocks was a soft pink.

A little later the sun crested the horizon and turned the land orange for a split second. A lobster boat was moving about in the distance.

Then the light softened again and the rocks began to glow. What a cool place to enjoy a cup of morning coffee with a view!

We were backed into our site, and the view from inside our rig was wonderful too. It was hard to tear ourselves away from this beautiful and ultra private and scenic little corner of the world.

Walking the campground loop, we found other folks were enjoying their waterfront sights just as much as we were.

And we learned that Thousand Trails has a very cool camping program where for $545 per year, you can stay in any of their parks in your chosen region for up to 30 nights for free and for just $3 a night after that. At times (like now), they offer two zones for the price of one.

This makes a lot of sense for people that plan to use their RV predominantly in one region of the country during a given year, for instance, seasonal and full-time RVers who will be spending the winter in southern California or Florida, and for working folks who want to enjoy their RV on weekends and shorter vacations close to home.

A side benefit for Thousand Trails members is that they get a 20% discount on camping fees at RV parks in the Encore RV Resort network (of which Narrows Too is a part) as well.

The heavens blessed us with some fantastically clear and sunny days. We didn’t take a dip in the pool — summertime heat hadn’t quite hit yet — but it looked like a great spot to kick back.

This RV park has cottages for rent too: one group that is brightly colored and has kitchens and another group of rustic log cabins for cozy nights in the woods.

With such an ideal home base to tour from, we were torn between just lounging around the RV park all day everyday and actually going to see the sights at Acadia National Park. But the beauty of Maine finally won out and lured us away to some great adventures.

How wonderful it was, though, to come home each evening after a day of energetic sightseeing to relax in a really lovely setting.

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If you take your RV to Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park in Maine, Narrows Too RV Resort is an excellent place to stay. The island is not especially RV friendly, and there are some roads in the National Park with bridges too low for many taller RVs!

Acadia National Park and all the things to do nearby are very spread out, so finding an RV Park or campground that is close to the hot spots is tricky. Narrows Too is ideally located — just 7+ miles from the north entrance to Acadia National Park, 12 miles from the popular seaside town of Bar Harbor and 8+ miles from the city of Ellsworth.

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Here are some more details about this RV Park and the Thousand Trails program:

• Thousand Trails – Official Website
• Thousand Trails Camping Pass – Detailed info about the camping pass program
• Thousand Trails Campgrounds and Encore RV Resorts – Booking website
• Narrows Too RV Resort – RV park info
• Narrows Too RV Resort – Location on Google Maps

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