{"id":4627,"date":"2013-08-09T12:49:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T12:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?p=4627"},"modified":"2018-04-27T07:45:43","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T11:45:43","slug":"scenic-views-the-fjord-at-sargeant-drive-mt-desert-island-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?p=4627","title":{"rendered":"Scenic Views: the Fjord at Sargeant Drive, Mt. Desert Island, Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4628\" aria-labelledby=\"figcaption_attachment_4628\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 725px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?attachment_id=4628\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4628\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-4628 \" src=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SargentDriveMaine-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Sargent Drive, Northeast Harbor Maine (photo by Eric)\" width=\"725\" height=\"550\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"figcaption_attachment_4628\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sargent Drive, Northeast Harbor Maine (photo by Eric)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div style=\"display: block; float: left; padding: 5px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[ google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-0542617997214413\"; \/* Cheap-Travel-Side-Ad *\/ google_ad_slot = \"4615336226\"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; \/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\/\/ <![CDATA[ \/\/ ]]><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Many of my Arlington, Mass., elementary school classmates in the 1970s connected loosely with Sweden by listening to ABBA, but I had an even deeper Scandivanian connection close to home by traveling yearly with family to see a fjord just outside Northeast Harbor at Mount Desert Island, Maine.<\/p>\n<p>This unique scene at Sargeant Drive certainly possesses all the classic earmarks of a fjord: a valley that has been glacially carved featuring a long, narrow inlet surrounded by steep hills. Sure, Scandinavia has mountains to create the full effect but the Sargeant Drive hills &#8212; despite their lack of extreme vertical drop &#8212;\u00a0truly carve out a special, one-of-a-kind destination for us New England travelers and those from outside the six-state region. It&#8217;s the only fjord on the East Coast!<\/p>\n<p>The alternating duo of sun and shade along the tree-lined road yields further magic to the already spectacular views of<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4629\" aria-labelledby=\"figcaption_attachment_4629\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 575px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?attachment_id=4629\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4629\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-4629 \" src=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MaineSargeantDrive-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Another perspective of Sargeant Drive (photo by Eric)\" width=\"575\" height=\"380\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"figcaption_attachment_4629\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another perspective of Sargeant Drive (photo by Eric)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Somes Sound. I have walked miles here and the feeling transcends pretty much any other walk personally experienced, but it&#8217;s really safest to drive this stretch as there are no sidewalks. You will find a few places to pull off the road to enjoy the scenery &#8212; make sure you do, as views like this don&#8217;t come along every day. With our own family, we recently returned to Acadia National Park and I thought that maybe those amazing views were just something falsely magnified by being a kid with limited travel experience. \u00a0Not the case: as an adult with more travels, Sargeant Drive seems more impressive than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Sargeant Drive is a real hidden gem, too, as you won&#8217;t find much detailed info on this location in Maine travel guides. You also won&#8217;t find Sargeant Drive by typing it directly into a Google Maps search, either. \u00a0That&#8217;s real proof that Sargeant Drive is an off the beaten path Maine destination! The best way to access Sargeant Drive is off Route 3 about a mile south of the Route 233 turnoff a few miles north of Northeast Harbor.<\/p>\n<p>Sargeant Drive is located just minutes from the famous Loop Road at Acadia National Park where the beyond-scenic mix of sea, mountains and hills draw around two million visitors each year. Now I&#8217;m not going to be one of those people that always favor the underdog and tell you that Sargeant Drive is better than Acadia National Park. It isn&#8217;t. Sargeant Drive spans just a few miles, while Acadia offers 47,000 acres or 73 square miles of a pure natural paradise. What I would recommend, however, is to make sure you include Sargeant Drive as part of your Acadia National Park vacation. It&#8217;s free to view, too &#8212; no entrance fee here.<\/p>\n<p>In my 50+ plus years in New England, this destination sticks out as one of the most scenic and it certainly trumps any ABBA album &#8212; with no disrespect, of course, to Bjorn, Anni, Benny and Agnetha !<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you enjoyed this article, you might also like reading:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?p=2955\">Visiting Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?p=2583\">Affordable lodging near Acadia National Park<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/?p=323\">Exploring Acadia Loop Road<\/a><br \/>\nChilling out at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitingnewengland.com\/acadia-national-park-tour-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sand Beach, Acadia National Park<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitingnewengland.com\/acadia-national-park-tour-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enjoying Northeast Harbor, Maine<\/a><br \/>\nWhat it feels like to be at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitingnewengland.com\/acadia-national-park-tour3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of my Arlington, Mass., elementary school classmates in the 1970s connected loosely with Sweden by listening to ABBA, but I had an even deeper Scandivanian connection close to home by traveling yearly with family to see a fjord just outside Northeast Harbor at Mount Desert Island, Maine. This unique scene at Sargeant Drive certainly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2436,224,251],"tags":[33,2375,582,2376,229,2378,2377],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4627"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7739,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4627\/revisions\/7739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitingnewengland.com\/blog-cheap-travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}