Acadia National Park, ME

It is another validation of that old wisdom about popular places. Get two miles into the backcountry, or go down the road less advertised, or get under way at dawn, and you tend to be alone. Nowhere is it more applicable than in the landscape around Acadia National Park. Go in the shoulder season of September, find the less accessible sections, leave early, and the reward is a paddle like the one I'm having with my partner.

For example, the coast between Seal Cove and Clark Cove, just east of Bartlett Island, can be divided into several half-day cruises or a daylong outing. The headlands and bays of Schoodic Peninsula between Winter Harbor and Birch Harbor are another destination off the beaten track, where the tides and currents are squirrelly enough to require expert paddling skills. Somes Sound offers a protected choice on windy days. It's the longest fjord on the eastern seaboard and affords convenient access to hiking trails leading to the St. Sauveur Mountain area.

For longer and more ambitious jaunts, consider the area near Stonington, Maine, and the Isle au Haut section of Acadia National Park. This Deer Isle Archipelago, as it's come to be known, may be the premier section of Maine coast. If I had to pick one part of Acadia to paddle, that would get my vote. Besides the impressive and beautiful Isle au Haut (more than half the island is an offshore section of Acadia National Park), which requires some open-water paddling to reach, the Deer Isle section of Maine coast is speckled with more than 60 islands, nearly half of which have public access, for either day use or overnight camping.

The possibilities for day excursions and overnight tours are tantalizing. Get a map, correlate it with a guidebook, and start imagining the variety-ranging from very protected and scenic waters appropriate for family paddling to more adventurous expeditions linking sections of the Maine Island Trail with explorations among islands, tide pools, pocket beaches, and craggy headlands.

Gaining some distance from Acadia proper tends to guarantee fewer crowds. Surprisingly, the views of Acadia, including Cadillac Mountain and the other highlands, are often more spectacular from farther away.

Back on Bartlett, we duck into the small opening of Dogfish Cove, paddle in along low cliffs to the sun-washed shingle beach, and climb out to stretch and have lunch. A lobster boat lugs slowly past, picking up pots. We find a flat, wave-worn rock to picnic on and take a nap. We have to pull the boat well up to avoid the oncoming tide and small breakers. The sea breeze has come up a bit, but we savor the satisfaction of having made the right decision at dawn. The wind will be at our backs when we come around Eastern Point and turn north toward the landing.

I am half asleep, lulled by the small waves and drugged by the warm sun, when I hear Marypat ask, "How could you not own a sea kayak if you lived around here?"