Schoodic Woods Campground — Acadia National Park

We spent 3 nights in Acadia National Park. Our first night was at the Blackwoods Campground and the last 2 were at the Schoodic Woods Campground. This review is for Schoodic Woods. 

Before visiting Acadia I didn't realize that the 2 areas of Acadia National Park are pretty far from each other. Blackwoods Campground is on Mount Desert Island and is only about a 10 minute drive to Bar Harbor whereas Schoodic Woods Campground is on the Schoodic Peninsula and is closer to an hour away. I found Schoodic Woods to be more peaceful and more spaced out than Blackwoods. It felt further removed from the usual action of a national park. The sites were large and private. We stayed in a long, pull through site which I honestly tend to avoid because they sometimes feel less private but that was definitely not the case here. Our site had electricity, water hook ups and a fire ring. 

The bathroom (no showers) was probably the nicest and cleanest I've ever been to at a campground. 

There are several hiking paths from the campground including one that takes you down to the bay which is about a mile away. The Schoodic Peninsula has a ring road which you can drive around and we stopped at Schoodic Point which was spectacular- huge waves crashing against the rocks. The small town of Winter Harbor is also only about a 5 minute drive from the campground. 

All in all, I really loved this campground. We had a very peaceful time!

We just spent 4 wonderful nights here and it is possibly my favorite campground, ever. The campground is relatively new and although they could have fit more sites in here, I am so glad they did not. The sites are carefully designed so that although you might hear your neighbor you likely will not see them. We sleep in our van and also have a tent for storage and changing. Every tent site has electric, and water is available at the bathhouse. There is also a dishwashing station there, as well as trash, recycling, and food scrap bins. There are no showers, but you can wash up in the bathhouse and also heat water at your site for a quick wipe down. That was fine for us for 4 nights. There are some negative reviews on here about the lack of showers but maybe this is just not the campground for them. There are plenty of other campgrounds in the area that have showers. If that's what you're looking for ....

We stayed at A48 and loved it.  The driveway is deep, so we felt very secluded, especially at night. The only thing we didn't like about this site is that the fire ring is in the middle of the site.  We moved the picnic table to the side and had room, but it did. limit our options for the tent a little bit. 

This is a dark sky park so no string lights or anything like that and as a result it is also VERY quiet at night. Very dog friendly and everyone seemed very responsible as far as no barking and picking up after their pets.

At night we drove over to Fraser Point and took amazing photos of the northern lights. Not for the feint of heart, though — it is VERY dark! This is such an amazing campground, I almost don't want to tell you because it feels like a hidden little secret!

We stayed 7 nights here and really enjoyed the campground and surrounding area. We were in B loop, site # B19 we had water & electric hook up. Our site was very private most of them are in this loop were in.  We were across from the bathrooms which the bathroom area has Wi-Fi. Since we were close we had Wi-Fi at our site which was nice. The sites are very big and all in this loop are pull through sites. Big tall trees, lots of song birds and no bugs the week we were there. There is a visitor center onsite and clean restrooms. No showers onsite so come prepared. If you have the senior lifetime National Park pass the sites are 1/2 off. 

Loop A the sites weren't as nice or as big and most not private. We liked the B loop much better.

As you leave the campground and take a left Frazer Point is about a 5 minute drive. Excellent place to see a sunset. There are picnic tables and fire pits if you want to just hang out there. The sunsets were amazing. We had a hard rain at sunset that only lasted a few minutes. When I turned around there was an amazing double rainbow. As it faded it became a big pink dome. We had never seen anything like it. I showed it to a ranger and she asked me to post it on the Acadia NP Hiking group on facebook. I have shared it in this review.  

There are lots of trails for hiking in the park. This part of Acadia is peaceful and laidback. 

Once you pass Frazer point it becomes a one way loop that goes along the shoreline with overlooks and Schoodic Point. Beautiful drive. It's 2 lane so a great place to ride your bike or walk. I believe it's about 5 or 6 miles through the National Park. 

 When you come out of the park there is the Bunkers seafood & Spirits. WE had a lobster roll and steamed mussels. It was good. A little further down the road is the pickled Wrinkle, next door to Me & Ben's dairy Creme. Great Ice cream. There's always a line so be patient. 

There is a small grocery store in town (Winter Harbor Provisions) they had a great selection from meats to veggies. There are a few shops in town yet not much. We ate at Chases it was ok. The mudslides were amazing yet the food was just Ok. 

We drove to Prospect Harbor & Milbridge (there's a grocery (Bayside) in Milbridge too).  Driving 186 back from Prospect Harbor we stopped at a farm that had a little fresh farm stand/store that had a sign out on the road. We bought fresh lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, beets and local honey.  Then we passed a Fresh pie farm stand that had pies and slices of pies and cookies for sale. We also saw a sign for farm fresh eggs and Ray's Meats. Ray's meats was amazing. The best big ham steak, ground beef, Ribeye steaks and more. They cut everything while you wait. It was all so good.

We came back to Schoodic one year after our first trip, so we knew what to expect. The grounds are still gorgeous and the sites are immaculate. The problem at Schoodic is the staff. One staff member was fantastic. She was polite, helpful, warm and knowledgeable. Everyone else complained about being overworked, under staffed and just about everything else they could complain about. One of the volunteers has a god complex and he loves to show it off. We had an issue with our setup and instead of explaining the issue and providing an alternative, he acted like an overzealous teen and got confrontational. I remembered him from our previous trip because of the same behavior.

Another issue we encountered were the bathrooms. At multiple points, there was no water pressure, so we couldn’t wash our hands or use the toilets. Aside from that, the bathrooms were frequently dirty. And to top it off, they still don’t have shower facilities anywhere on the site, nor do they have them in the area. Camp showers are prohibited and the closest paid shower facility is 70 minutes by car. This is where Schoodic has really failed.

I would love to return, but I don’t want to go several days without showering while also having to deal with disgruntled staff members and volunteers.

Schoodic Woods is the best of the three Acadia National Park Campgrounds for camping, though the worst for convenience to major attractions. Opened only in 2015, the facilities here are ample, new, and well-maintained compared to the two other Acadia campgrounds.

Schoodic Woods lives off the "main island" of Acadia, on a large, adjacent inlet and operates as a separate National Park district called, surprise, "The Schoodic District".

There are a couple short, easy trails accessible by foot from within the campground. Schoodic Loop Road -- less popular than the main park "Park Loop Road", provides access to gorgeous shore line views and more hiking trails, but RVs and trailers aren't allowed past the campground entrance, which is fairly early on the road. If you have a campervan, you may be able to pass as a car for full access to the Schoodic Loop Road, however the Schoodic District, being newer, is the most heavily trafficked and closely enforced area of Acadia National Park by the Park Rangers, and so the more you look like an "RV", the less likely you are to make the cut.

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INTERNET: Access here varies quite a bit. The "Standard" site loops have 1-2 bars of T-Mobile and Verizon LTE that seems usable for basic e-mail and slow web-browsing, but little else. There is a good amount of tree coverage, but the campsites are well laid out and fairly open toward the road. Our Starlink worked flawlessly here for 6 straight days. In the "RV" classified sites, there is also campground WiFi with its own password provided free-of-charge by the National Park, but the service is so slow as to be basically unusable.

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MAJOR PROS: The newest, most quiet, relaxed, well maintained and well Rangered of the three Acadia campgrounds. Bathrooms are less than a decade old and the campground overall resolves virtually all of the issues you find at Blackwoods and Seawall. The bathrooms also have fully functional exterior dishwashing areas outside where they even provide Dawn dish soap.

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What Schoodic Woods Campground lacks in accessibility to Acadia's main attractions, it makes up for as a campground experience. Although you'll be doing quite a bit more driving to all the park's best features (close to an hour each way), you'll also have the most pleasant, clean, accommodating camping experience in the National Park here.

There are a few trails accessible within or nearby the Campground, including a very well maintained bike loop, a 4.7 mile trail accessible from behind the Group Camping loop, and the highlight, the Schoodic Harbor Trail accessible from just past the Campground visitor center.

The nearby town of Winter Harbor is the smallest and least useful of nearby towns for provisions, but there are a few small roadside grocers and gas stations. As with the other two campgrounds, firewood is not available in the park itself, but is available from multiple nearby roadside vendors for $3 to $5 a bundle and the park will even encourage you to use these.

An excellent camping experience overall, minus one star for the lack of showers -- not available in any Acadia NP campground -- and for the distance of travel required to reach some of the park's high points. Other than that, this is the place to choose.

Schoodic Woods NPS campground is state of the art for the Park Service. Not only is this new Acadia campground wired for wifi and electric boxes, but the bathrooms are shockingly well-conceived. No showers, but excellent dish washing set-up. 

Sites are generally private and well-cared for. Rangers here seem more engaged & experienced than at Seawall on Mount Desert Island and actually circulate in this section of the park. Driving the one way loop is a joy compared to the loop road on Mount Desert … one feels that you almost have the park to yourself. This branch of Acadia requires a full hour's journey from the Mount Desert side by car. Sometimes there is a ferry that goes between Bar Harbor and Winter Harbor, but it was disabled by motor failure when I visited and wanted to ride to Bar Harbor.

I stayed in site A-49 on the edge of loop A. It was a good site with a large fire ring and was level but directly faces site A-50 where a halogen light was left burning all night long spoiling the dark sky effect. 

Most of Loop A seems to be for RV's with sites A-24 to A-36 and the A-50 section being more suitable for tents. Sites A-40 to A-50 seem to have more shade than sun but it's variable. I would include A-31;A-32; A 34 as shaded sites. My impression is that A-27; A-37; A-43 are mostly sunny. A-39 was small, sloped- not level.

We lucked out and snagged a long weekend reservation during peak weekend. This was one of the best campgrounds I have ever stayed at. The grounds were super clean and impeccably maintained. The rangers were helpful and kind. Sites are spaced far enough apart that you have some privacy.

This National Park campground is on the quiet side and section of the park. It’s about an hours drive from the main/popular trails and Bar Harbor. We loved the sleepy and peaceful vibe of Winter Harbor. It’s about a 10 minute drive away from Schoodic point - which was a bonus for us to see the sunrise without any crowds and for stargazing. There is almost no light pollution on the point and the Milky Way was visible around 10pm on a clear night we were there. Also saw shooting stars walking around the grounds at night with my headlamp off which was delightful.

Bathrooms here are plentiful and clean, but no shower facilities. Each bathroom building also has a very nice dishwashing station outside so we never had fo wait to do camp dishes.

Make sure to book in advance as this is a popular place and fills up as soon as the reservations open (60 days in advance of your start date).

We tried out this campground when it was relatively new, only been in service about 4-5 years now. It’s off the beaten path and not near the hubbub of Bar Harbor, but is near Schoodic point and in a quieter area. Many opportunities for hiking and ocean viewing. The campground itself has a nice layout, sites are spacious, each with picnic table and fire ring. Many have electric. Bathrooms are adequate, just toilets and sinks, no showers in the campground, no laundry or other amenities, so bring all your groceries and supplies with you. Most of the sites are level and spacious. Unfortunately, this beautiful place and our experience there was ruined by a really disrespectful family that was next to us who didn’t understand any of the protocols for camping and behaved like animals. We left early because we couldn’t take it. I recommend going and hope they don’t show up in the the site next to you! If you want the best lobster roll EVER, go to the Winter Harbor Fisherman’s co-op which is on the way!! https://winterharborlobstercoop.com

Great campground with a decent price. I’ll give a list of pros and cons.

Pros: -Friendly Rangers, they do classes for the kids as well! -Beautiful area -Amazingly maintained -Super close hiking with awesome trails -Close to town but still very woodsy(we -had a rabbit sharing our campsite with us!) -Great access to bathroom facilities, there are outdoor sinks for washing dishes. -Spread our enough so you have privacy -Ground is great for a tent, nice and flat. -Lots of variety for campsites, tenting, RV/Camper, hike in sites and group sites -Tons to do and see with in a reasonable drive or hike from the campground

Cons: -I’ll start with a fairly important one, NO showers on the property. You have to drive to a different facility (there are a few options) and you have to pay to shower. Ours was $4 for 6 minutes not bad priced but when you’ve been hiking all weekend and it’s 90* 6 minutes is a bit of a rush to really get all the sweat and grime off you Wouldn’t be bad if you have a solar shower, enjoy being smelly or have a camper with a shower.

-Not all sites have electric AND water hook ups. Once again not a big deal. Most sites have both I believe, some only has electric like ours did and I believe some don’t have either. We didn’t need water because we brought plenty in water storage jugs and the bathroom/dish washing sinks was all we needed.

-Cannot carry in your own wood for fires, it’s reasonable and understandable. But it does make it a hassle to go buy wood, granted it’s cheap from people selling it along the road but I have a bunch split and dried at home to I needed to use but instead I had to buy some.

I don’t really have very many negatives, it’s a great place and it’s a National Park so it’s very well maintained! I definitely would recommend it for your next leisurely camping trip. It’s nothing hardcore but just enough to get outdoors and enjoy your time adventuring around!

I definitely will be back to this one.

This campground is out of the way and far away from the crowds on Mt Desert Island!  It's fairly compact, and the campsites a little close to each other, but each site still manages to feel private.  The campsite is brand new, and the amenities are very nice.  The welcome center even has free wifi (though, leave your devices at home!).  The bathhouses are clean and have flush toilets and running water in the sinks, but they do not have showers, which seems like an odd choice.

There are some good hiking trails nearby, and the sky is DARK at night!  On a clear night, this is the perfect place for some stargazing.

Each site has a campfire ring, but the rings do not have grill grates.  So bring your own or bring some roasting sticks if you want to cook over the campfire.  

You are not allowed to collect downed wood for fires, but there is a self service firewood stand in the nearby town of Winter Harbor, so bring some small bills for the payment box.

All-in-all, this is a highly recommended campsite!  Have fun!

This is a National Park which was very clean with some large sites. It was somewhat big rig friendly. I was traveling with two other motorhomes (caravan) and my site was the smallest. Electric and water was good - no sewer. WiFi was non-existent unless you got a site near the main office. Cellular reception was very mediocre. If you want to lose contact with family, friends, business... this is the place to go.

The rules are extremely enforced. My left tire on the car was 6 inches on the grass... the rangers left a violation notice on my car. Unfortunately my site was quite small for a 40 foot motorhome so I had to park very close to the road. One evening, just after showering, I hear a bang on the front door. Ranger S.S. (Initials of ranger) told me I am not allowed to run the generator. My generator was not on. It was the 3 air-conditioners on the roof. Standard AC’s from the factory. His body language was obvious that he did not believe me so I offered to show him where the generator was - since it is a diesel pusher, right up front where we were talking. Also... why would I be running my generator if I was hooked up to 50AMP service. I also told him that generators are not located on roofs of RV’s. He finally relented when he saw I was getting quite aggravated with his body language. Another camper near our site told me that she was treated very rudely by the staff. I do not know who she spoke to but Ranger S.S. needs to take interpersonal skills classes and maybe a class on where generators are looked on motorhomes. They obviously will harass someone that is not doing a generator violation but do not enforce barking dogs...

There was only one dump station for Loop B. Each RV took about 15 minutes. If you are third in line, you will be waiting... Since there is no sewer, you would think they would offer more than one dump station.

No matter if you wear long sleeves and long pants, plus use bug spray, the mosquitos are vicious. Between gnats and mosquitos, sitting outside to eat is nearly impossible. Otherwise, this is a visually beautiful park.