We woke up really early. I don’t even get up this early for work lol. The stars were still out as I looked up while lacing my boots. The air was crisp and the campground was silent. The picture below was taken at 4:12am from my tent.

By 4:40am we were in the car driving towards Acadia National Park. The things we do for a sunrise at Cadillac Mountain lol. It’s said that during half the year this mountain is the first place to view sunrise in the US. Sunrise was at 5:50am that day. I made the ill-assumption thinking 5:10am was early enough to get a good spot. The parking lot was 100% full when we arrived. People were parking illegally on the road that leads to the parking lot causing extra unnecessary traffic. Tony left Nicole and I at the summit and drove down to a lower viewing spot. (Thanks babe!) Luckily he was able to see the sunrise from that overlook as well.

It was cold. Like, we left New York with low 90 degree weather to stand in 49 degree weather approximately 1500ft above sea level. It was windy and we were not prepared for that kind of exposure. Not a single hat or a pair of gloves in sight. Next time I’ll bring a blanket!

Even though we arrived to a large crowd, we were able to find our own unobstructed spot. This is just a portion of the amount of viewers up there. People were pretty quiet for the most part.

I’ll leave a link for the actual sunrise video here. I was recording in time-lapse mode so I don’t have the audio- but one of my favorite things of this experience was hearing the entire crowd gasp simultaneously as the sun touched the horizon for the first time that day.

I’d seen many Youtube videos of people who weren’t as lucky as we were. Some find themselves engulfed in a cloud with zero views or sitting in the rain or snow. I was glad it worked out on our first attempt. It was so peaceful up there. Sometimes even forgetting there was a whole crowd just to my right.

Here comes the fair balance and transparent part of my blog. Getting out of there was terrible. Dozens of cars pulling u-turns where ever they please. They slowed down the flow of cars trying to get up or down the mountain. Hundreds of people walking on the roads causing even more jams. It’s a shame we can all sit and enjoy a beautiful sunrise together, but when it comes to getting down the mountain… Every man for himself!

That being said though, it was worth the headache. EL OH EL! The traffic jam is not enough to deter me from recommending this sunrise or trying it again. Just something to keep in mind and prepare for. Aside from that, it was awesome. This definitely ranks high in my list of favorite sunrises.