Blackwoods is one of only a couple of campgrounds in Acadia National Park, which doesn't allow backpacking. It's connected to the South Ridge Trail, which gives you the opportunity to hike to Cadillac Mountain directly from the campground; we did this for the sunrise on our last day, and HIGHLY recommend it! (See the last picture.)

Rangers consistently patrol the campground, even driving through a couple of times after quiet hours begin; I found this really helped keep the noise down, despite the number of campers. (The campground was sold out for the duration of our stay!)

Each campsite has a fire ring and a picnic table, and sites are spaced decently; I would've appreciated a bit more privacy and space, but I'm sure the tree cover varies based on the site. My friend, who stayed at B121, seemed to have a bit more vegetation between her site and the surrounding sites.

There are plenty of bathrooms throughout the campground, as well as taps with potable water. There is an ampitheatre which is used for nightly activities; I think it can be rented by groups, too. There are showers just outside the campground (8 quarters for 4 minutes; the water isn't always hot, though!) and you can also purchase wood at the shower facility.

One of the routes run by the FREE shuttle bus stops at Blackwoods every hour during the summer; using this shuttle, you can get to Sieur de Monts, Otter Cliff, and the Village Green, where you can connect to any other bus. This is awesome, because it means you don't have to waste half the day jockeying for parking!

Overall, I think Blackwoods Campground is a great value and a great place to camp while visiting Acadia.

Black woods was a very large, very diverse campground that provided all the amenities needed for a comfortable night after a long day on the trail. Admittedly my legs were quite sore after 2 days of hiking, so by the time we reached this site, it was a little difficult to step up into the leanto.... this was easily remedied by carrying over a rock to use as a stepping stool into the shelter. The restrooms were just a Short walk from our site and provided extra large handicap size amenities... which was nice to get changed in comfort with ample space. The roads and trails were well maintained and they had some downed trees along the sides of the road into the site, which the rangers offered to let us have the wood for free if we cut it ourselves.

There was easy access to the stream from our site and we were able to get plenty of water for bathing and cooking, and plenty of trees for hanging gear to dry and to hang our hammock for relaxation. I would absolutely recommend this site to others. Only downfall is that the site can be noisy due to the number of hikers there. But the drive-in site is ideal

Overall, this is a nice campground set in a pine forest. It’s fairly close to the ocean, so you can hear waves crashing against the rocky cliffs if it’s quiet enough. The sites are decently spacious with some privacy between sites, and the campground is generally quiet.

As for facilities – there are restrooms in the campground, but no shower houses. The shower house is located in a separate facility about 1/4 mile from the campground entrance. A bit inconvenient, but not terrible.. however, I will still never understand why a campground would go to the effort of plumbing in flush toilets and sinks, but not go the extra step and install showers, even cold outdoor ones. (Plus, the showers in the separate facility up the road are REALLY expensive - if I remember correctly, they were a minimum 4 bucks!) Also, the restrooms in the campground are on ground level, and the two outer restroom stalls have windows in them that don't have privacy glass - someone walking by can see RIGHT in them. So unless you are fine with people potentially seeing you go to the bathroom, there are only 3 stalls available in each building, not 5. So weird.

Final thoughts - I enjoyed my stay here, and would stay here again given the chance! But, the facilities could use improvement.

This is a fabulous spot no matter the time of year. It gets its name from the large towering trees that block a significant amount of the sun each day, making the campground appear dark or black. While not advertised, there is firewood available in the campground. It's free and each campsite is allowed one arm load a day.

The campground is in the national park, however, you have to exit the park to enter the campground. There are times of the year that the Park Service closes the Park Loop road for bikers only and if you're staying here when that happens, be prepared not to be able to drive into the park for a few hours in the morning (if not all day). Even if the road isn't closed, be aware of bikers while driving.

The campground has very nice restrooms, water spigots, dumpsters and recycling receptacles. There is also a very small store at the entrance gate that sells a few odds and ends. The sites are well maintained but a bit small and some sites may experience walk through foot traffic as other campers take short cuts to get to the restrooms. There are two loops, A & B available in the summer. There is also a nice amphitheater in the campground that hosts ranger talks every few nights.

Tent sites are all gravel so be sure you have a thick footprint to protect a delicate nylon floor. Fire rings and picnic tables are also amenities at each site. While the campground can get busy, it doesn't feel too crowded thanks to the trees. If you're spending any time in or around Acadia you should spend a few nights here!

Last month I was able to take a 5 week trip to the Northeast and back to Florida. One of the National Parks that I had heard so much about was Acadia. I was very excited to get a last minute site here in Loop A. The campground sites were very shaded and level with a picnic table and firepit on them. There were several restrooms conveniently located throughout our loop. The sites are primitive which means no electric, water or sewer(normal for a National Park). However; there was a dump station and water fill station by entrance to campground. We did take advantage of some trails nearby to Cadillac mountain one day and Otter Cove on another. The negatives about this campground were that sites were very narrow and close together in Loop A and we were scolded via note on our picnic table for hanging our Tentsile up here. The buses weren't running yet so it was a little hard to get around in our RV. Lots of One-way loops and restricted height roads due to overpasses, etc. This put a damper on things but we still tried to make the best of it. We visited Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, and of course; Bar Harbor for some seafood and shopping. Another cool thing to do was walk to Bar Island at low tide. There is a land bridge only visible/accessible at this time. We saw a beautiful sunset that evening and I collected some rocks to take home...shhh! Next time, we will bring a car with us to get around and try our hand at the Precipice Trail or Beehive.

Acadia, especially in the shoulder seasons, is a paradise. Although it is one of the most densely-visited parks during the summer and fall colors seasons, if you time things right, the whole park can be yours to explore.

Blackwoods Campground was our only camping option inside the park during our visit in late October. As some of the campground is closed at this time of year, we were surprised to learn it was almost full to capacity when we arrived for four nights. Definitely book in advance. It is one of the priciest NPS campgrounds at $30/night for a bare tent site, but as our only option for camping inside the park, we swallowed the cost and made the most of it. If we had visited during the summer, we would have stayed elsewhere, like on Isle Au Haut or Seawall Campground.

The campground itself is what you’d expect at most national parks. Bathrooms with flush toilets, sites with picnic tables. Easy access to the wonders of Acadia.

During our five days in the park, our favorite activities included hiking the Precipice Trail (closed during certain months because of nesting), seeing the quieter side of Acadia and walking to Wonderland Point, joining the crowds to watch the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, and exploring the town of Bar Harbor (highly recommend seeing a movie at Reel Pizza!).

You can read much more about our five days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Acadia)

Acadia is a fantastic national park and really not that large. Although these are some huge campgrounds and the sites are huge allowing you to be pretty spaced out from your "neighbors". We stayed on one of the non-electric tent sites (B134) on the back end of one the "loops" and were nestled right into the woods with no one right by us. I really can't believe that more people don't come and camp in the fall, yes it's a little cooler, but that's nothing a good sleeping bag and a nice fire can't fix. However, there was almost no one around and we had so much space to ourselves. The park is probably great in the summer for doing some extra biking, hiking, kayaking, but the fall is just as nice, plus you get to see the amazing colors as the leaves change. Got to setup and have a nice lunch and then explored the park, amazing just driving around and seeing the colors and stopping for a few hikes and to see the sights. Came back to had dinner on the nice picnic table, used the clean and seemingly abandoned (not by the staff, but no one else but use seemed to have used them) facilities. Then got to experience a wonderful northern rain storm... You get to see a photo of the last time I used my tent (I've had it almost 15 years) and even though I had just redone the waterproofing (again) it gave out right around 4 am and the rainstorm wasn't just outside our tent but also in... Thankfully you do get to park right at your site, so we spent the rest of the early morning in the car and then decided to try and see if the storm broke and we could get a glimpse of the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain and then explore more of the wondrous park and the beautiful foliage.

This is a busy but great campground. It's situated in the heart of Acadia National Park and is well maintained any time of year (note that facilities are closed in winter but the camping is still great). The sites, as the name indicates, are heavily shaded and always seem dim even in the height of the day. This is great for protection from the elements in the summer as well as the fall. The sites are a little small and are very close to one another, but there's still plenty of room to stretch out and make yourself at hime.

The fire rings are well maintained and there are garage and recycling receptacles a short walk from the campsites. The restrooms are nice (there are no showers in the campground) and the water from the spigot is delicious. If you're looking for a spot to camp for a visit to this park, you can't beat the location and the price. The rangers at the welcome gate are friendly and there's always a ranger program happening. Be sure you drive slowly through the grounds, as there are people everywhere (a welcome and refreshing site).