Driving North from Boston | Watching the Sunrise at Acadia, Maine

To catch the first ray of sunlight in the Eastern US, we pulled an all-nighter to hike up in Acadia National Park—all for that iconic sunrise 🌅! First, we followed the travel guides and tried to snag a ticket to drive up Cadillac Mountain… but surprisingly (and disappointingly)… we didn’t get one! What a rough start 😫. After panicking a little, we dug deeper into the info and found a backup plan: hiking the Cadillac North Ridge Trail overnight. We had to head out around 3 AM—so intense, so exhausting! To be safe, we’d bought some flashlights in downtown Bar Harbor the night before. Once we woke up (bleary-eyed but excited), we drove to the trailhead parking. The parking spots are just small clearings along the winding mountain road, and the road is one-way—pro tip: park as soon as you spot an empty spot, don’t drive too far past! By the time we started hiking, there were already lots of fellow sunrise-chasers on the trail—some even brought their dogs 🐶! That totally eased any nerves we had, and the trail itself wasn’t dangerous at all. We packed some light snacks for energy, kept our bags small, and just focused on climbing. We made it to the top before 5 AM, and slowly, we could see the sky starting to brighten for dawn 🌤️. Around 5:30 AM, the sky was already pretty light, and then the sun popped up—rising faster and faster, painting the sky in soft oranges and pinks. Every bit of the early wake-up and hike was worth it. We’ll definitely be back next time! #BostonLife #BostonAdventures #ChengshanPeakSunrise #NorthAmericanLife #5AMSunrise #SunriseAndSunsetSpots #MountainTopSunrise #ChasingSunrisesIsARomanceForYourself #CoastalSunrise #Maine