Beehive Trail — Attraction in Bar Harbor

We hiked this twice during our trip. Once on a Monday morning and then on Tuesday morning. We did this after Cadillac Mountain Sunrise. So we got here around 6:00AM each time. There was plenty of parking spots left in the parking lot. Definitely less than 10 cars total. When we got back from our hike around 8 it was pretty full.

There are bathrooms here in the parking lot and to get to the trail head you just walk across the street. There were still a number of groups that we bumped into this early in the morning so don't expect to have the place to yourself necessarily.

On the first day we had our youngest with us who is 10 year old. He's very athletic and we had just done beech cliff ladder trail the day before to test his ability with heights and he passed with flying colors. But some of the obstacles here he just panic and freaked out. We were about 1/3 the way up the front face and we had to talk him out and walk him down. This was very difficult to do from this point. We had other groups starting to pill up behind us and we felt bad he grabbed onto one rail section and just refused to move or listen to anything any of us had to say. A full on panic attack. We are a family of scouters and are used to situations like this but he was so far gone he wouldn't listen to any of us. Luckily we had an experienced search and recuse volunteer behind us who was also a scouter and just because he was a stranger he was able to talk our youngest into backing down the trail slowly. It took us almost 20 mins to get him off the trail. Our party split in two where the most of us continued while a couple others went back down.

My wife really wanted to do the trail and she was one of the people who went back down with our youngest. So that's why we came back on Tuesday and did it again. It's honestly not a very long hike it's just very technical. We were able to easily finish it in less than 2 hrs and that's even with stopping for pictures and enjoying the view. We weren't rushing at all.

The view on the way up and at the top were stunning. I know why so many people enjoy this particular hike. The weather was good to us too. I can't imagine being stuck on some of these rock faces in the middle of the summer in the sun. It must be miserable. It was crazy windy the second day we went up to but on the mountain side and top it was like dead air. Nothing was moving and it was getting humid. All the wind was hitting the back side of the mountain so we didn't feel it until we were on our way down.

There are multiple viewing points at the top so don't always assume the first one you are at is the best.

We did see a couple families take younger children up the back side which is how most people come down. This is a good way to be able to experience the view even if you have littler ones. To go up the backway, the first fork you get to starting on the trail, there will be a sign, just go straight on the Bowl Trail instead of right for beehive.

Overall an amazing hike and it's actually pretty short. If I knew it wasn't going to be super crowded I'd gladly do this trail again. Great rewarding views with moderate effort. I only gave it a hard rating because of the ladders and the height. If you don't like heights, don't do this trail. We found the Beech Cliff Ladder Trail was a great way to test your abilities...

I completed this hike with my son in late July 2022, a bright sunny/hot day, and we had a blast. We are both intermediate level hikers and backpackers and have never done any technical/rope climbing. I’m a little afraid of heights, but I never experienced any fear as we walked along the ledges, there are lots of hand holds and steel bars drilled into the rock. Though I’m far from being in excellent shape, we found this hike/climb easy (I was the only one winded) and very rewarding.

Here are my recommendations that I would’ve wanted to know prior to embarking on this adventure. Go as early as possible so you can avoid the crowds. If not, you will take a long time to complete the hike because of having to wait for people in front of you to navigate the climbing sections. The Beehive Loop Trail head is “well marked” from the road, but if you blink you will miss it. Park anywhere around or in the Sand Beach parking areas. If you go past Sand Beach, it is a long way to circle back (like 30-min) because the Park Loop Road is one way. Wear decent hiking shoes/boots. We wore good sneakers and slipped more than a few times. The granite rocks have a lot of wear due to the heavy people traffic on the trail. I had no idea that the trail has a junction point where you can decide to do the steep climb, or hike the easier way up to the summit. This point is right after the trail section marked with a few A-Frame Barricades from the park service for caution (maybe 10 min into the hike). Ask for the location from other hikers if you are unsure. The drop-offs are not as steep as I thought they would be. I had no problem navigating the trail, and I never felt like my safety was in jeopardy. I wore an Osprey day-pack and we had water and a few snacks while we rested a bit on the summit. I highly recommend bringing a day pack and water, especially if it is a hot day.

Next time we’re going to do the...

We started by parking on side of the road at the Beehive Trailhead, near the Ocean Path parking lot. First things first, the Beehive Trail is not for people afraid of heights, climbing on rocks or simply pulling yourself up a mountain with metal hand or footholds. If these things don’t bother you, it’s a must do.

We immediately jumped on the Beehive Trail which in the beginning is fairly easy, mostly walking on rocks. This changes fairly quickly as you get to the base of the mountain, which then pretty much goes straight up. This is your last chance to turn around. Going down this side of the mountain would be a ton harder than going up it. At this point it’s lots of hiking switchbacks with fairly narrow paths with no guard rails, and rock climbing with some metal hand/foot holds. Depending on how busy the trail is, you may end up waiting in line in different parts. You are rewarded with excellent views of Sand Beach, Ocean and if there during the fall, wonderful color in the trees below. Simply beautiful. Instead of doing the full Beehive Look, we broke off about ¾ way and hiked the Gorham Mountain Summit trail. This one is fairly easy and it takes you down to the Ocean Path, near Monument Cove. We then hiked Ocean Path down to the Otter Point Overlook. From there we reversed and took Ocean Path all the way back to the car. This was a great trail, about 6.5 miles...