Acadia RV Camping Including Schoodic Woods

Last updated October 28, 2026 · By RV National Parks Guide Editorial Team

Acadia has three drive-in campgrounds, and for anyone in a rig over 35 feet, or anyone who wants to plug in, the answer is the one most visitors have never heard of. Schoodic Woods, on the mainland Schoodic Peninsula, is the only Acadia campground with electric hookups, and its B-Loop sites are rated for 42 to 70 feet. Blackwoods and Seawall, the two campgrounds on Mount Desert Island, top out at 35 feet on a minority of sites, have no hookups, and sit behind a network of century-old stone bridges with clearances as low as 10 feet 4 inches.

This guide covers what each campground actually fits, site by site, what it costs in 2026, how the two-stage Recreation.gov release works, the height and road restrictions that matter for anything taller than a van, and the Cadillac Mountain rule that catches people every summer. All figures are from the National Park Service and Recreation.gov, read October 28, 2026; confirm them on the linked pages before you book, because Acadia changes its seasons and prices more often than most parks.

The three campgrounds compared

Sources: Recreation.gov facility pages for Blackwoods, Seawall and Schoodic Woods. Site counts and per-site lengths are what the booking system listed in October 2026.

The fourth park campground, Duck Harbor on Isle au Haut, is reached by mailboat and has five lean-tos. It is not an RV option, and neither is anywhere else: Acadia allows no backcountry, roadside, overnight-parking or winter camping, so a rig that does not have a reserved site is sleeping in a private campground off-island.

Blackwoods: closest to the Park Loop Road, strict on length

Blackwoods is the campground to choose if you want to be on the Park Loop Road and the Island Explorer without driving: it is on the island’s east side near Otter Creek, a few minutes from Sand Beach and Jordan Pond. Roads are paved, there are flush toilets and water, and a dump station. There are no showers in the campground; fee showers are half a mile away, and the park prohibits portable showers.

For RVs the arithmetic is tight. Of 281 sites, 217 are tent-only. The 60 RV sites split into 29 rated 35 feet and 31 rated 20 feet, and every 35-foot site is in Loop A. Individual site listings cap fifth wheels at 30 feet on the 35-foot sites and state that “equipment exceeding the maximum length will not be allowed entry into the campground.” The facility notice says the same thing in gentler words: if you reserve a site your equipment does not fit, “you may have your reservation cancelled.” One vehicle parks at the site, with overflow near the amphitheater or along Route 3, and all four tires must be on the driveway, not the pad.

Generators are allowed only in A-Loop, 8 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m., and you must be present while one runs. Quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Check-in is after noon and check-out before 10 a.m., earlier than most parks. Black bears visit the campground, so food, coolers and toiletries go in the vehicle when not in use.

Seawall: quieter, and “not designed to accommodate large RVs”

Seawall is on the island’s quiet side near Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor, 30 to 40 minutes from the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, with a picnic area on the shore across the road. The park is blunt about rigs here: “Maneuvering RVs in the campground can be very difficult. Seawall Campground was not designed to accommodate large RVs and trailers,” and “accommodations cannot be made for RVs or trailers that do not fit in reserved sites.”

The numbers back that up. 143 of 178 sites are rated 20 feet, 82 of them walk-in tent sites in D-Loop. The only sites rated 30 feet (16) or 35 feet (14) are in C Loop, which is also the only loop where generators are permitted (8 to 10 a.m., 4 to 7 p.m.). There is a dump station and water; no showers, with pay showers under a mile away. The fare-free Island Explorer stops at the campground, which matters because Seawall is far from the Park Loop Road and the Cadillac side of the island.

Schoodic Woods: the big-rig, plug-in campground

Schoodic Woods opened in 2015 on the park’s only mainland section, 1.5 miles southeast of Winter Harbor and, by the park’s estimate, 60 to 70 minutes from Bar Harbor by road. It was built for RVs in a way the island campgrounds were not: paved roads, ADA picnic tables at every site, a dump station, flush toilets and potable water, and electric service at every drive-in site, with water as well at the B-Loop sites. There are no sewer connections and no showers; the park points you to showers and laundry in Winter Harbor.

The loops are the whole story:

• A-Loop: 48 sites, electric only, rated 20 feet (40 sites), 22 feet (2) and 25 feet (6). Camper vans, truck campers and small trailers.
• B-Loop: 31 sites with electric and water, rated from 42 to 70 feet, including seven at 60 feet. This is the loop for a 40-foot fifth wheel with a long-bed truck, and the only such loop in the park.
• Nine hike-in sites with bear boxes and a campfire ban, and two group sites.

2026 rates were $40 for an RV electric-and-water site, $36 for RV electric without water, $30 for a standard electric or tent electric site and $22 hike-in, with a $60 group site. Two vehicles may park at a site. If you have not camped on a 30-amp pedestal with a 50-amp rig or vice versa, 30-amp vs 50-amp RV service explains the adapter and load question before you trip a breaker in Maine.

One rule shapes the whole peninsula: “No RVs, trailers or vehicles larger than 21 feet are permitted on Schoodic Loop Road beyond the day-use parking area/campground.” The six-mile one-way loop to Schoodic Point is for cars; oversize vehicles park in the day-use lot at Schoodic Woods and ride the Island Explorer’s Schoodic route, which in 2026 began May 20. There is no bus between Schoodic and Mount Desert Island, so a Schoodic-based trip means either a long drive to Cadillac and Sand Beach or accepting the peninsula on its own terms.

How booking works: two releases, one stay limit

Every site in all three campgrounds is booked on Recreation.gov; the campground offices do not take reservations in person or by phone. The release is in two stages:

1. 90 percent of sites go on sale six months ahead, on the first of each month at 10 a.m. Eastern. For an arrival on May 24, that was December 1.
2. The remaining 10 percent are released at 10 a.m. 14 days before the arrival date, rolling daily. For May 24, that was May 10.

Same-day online bookings are allowed if a site is open. The stay limit is 14 nights combined across Acadia’s campgrounds between the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and Columbus Day, and 30 nights per calendar year. Check-in is after noon, and the park wants you out before 10 a.m. Our Recreation.gov guide for RVers covers the filters that make the per-site length limits visible before you click.

A park entrance pass is required while camping: $35 per private vehicle for seven days, $70 for an Acadia annual pass, as of October 2026, and nonresidents aged 16 and over pay an additional $100 per person unless they enter on an annual or America the Beautiful pass. The park went cashless in April 2026. See the NPS fees page and, for whether the interagency pass is worth it on a longer trip, our America the Beautiful pass guide for RVers.

Height limits: the bridges decide your route

Acadia’s motor roads pass under granite carriage-road bridges built in the 1920s and 1930s, and they were not built for a 13-foot Class A. The NPS oversized vehicles page lists these limits as of October 2026:

The park’s directions page gives the same set as a list of clearances by location: Stanley Brook entrance 10 ft 4 in, Fabbri 11 ft 6 in, Blackwoods Campground 11 ft 8 in, Sieur de Monts 12 ft 2 in, Wildwood Stables 13 ft. Where the two pages differ by a few inches, plan to the lower figure. Vehicles that exceed a limit are told to leave the loop via Otter Cliff Road at the Fabbri Picnic Area.

Measure your rig to the top of the air conditioner, satellite dome or roof rack, not the brochure height, and then subtract a safety margin for crowned pavement. If that number is anywhere near 11 feet 8 inches, the Park Loop Road is a bus ride, not a drive, and the Island Explorer’s Loop Road route exists for exactly this reason. The same page also lists roads where oversize vehicles are banned regardless of height:

• Closed to RVs and trailers: Cadillac Summit Road, Echo Lake Beach Road, Lurvey Spring Road.
• Closed to buses, RVs and trailers: Duck Brook Road, Lighthouse Road, the dead end of Schooner Head Road, the Sand Beach parking lots, the Jordan Pond South lot, the Bubble Pond lot, Schoodic Head Road, Schoodic Loop Road beyond the Schoodic Woods day-use lot, and Arey Cove Road.

Anything larger than a 15-passenger van is also restricted to paved roads and paved lots.

Cadillac Mountain: 21 feet, no RVs, and a $6 reservation

Cadillac Summit Road has two separate gates. The first is size: RVs and trailers are prohibited, and so is any vehicle over 21 feet including bike racks and hitch attachments; the park says over-length vehicles are “denied entry even with a valid reservation.” The second is timing: from May 20 through October 25, 2026 every vehicle needed a timed reservation bought in advance on Recreation.gov for $6, not sold at the park. Thirty percent of slots are released 90 days ahead and 70 percent two days ahead, both at 10 a.m. Eastern. Sunrise reservations carry a 90-minute entry window and are limited to one per seven days; daytime reservations have a 30-minute window and one per day. There is no departure time, re-entry is not allowed, and the road closes at 9 p.m.

The practical plan for an RV party is a tow car, a rental, or a taxi from Bar Harbor; the Island Explorer does not serve the summit. The reservation is per vehicle, so one car covers everyone in it. The general mechanics of these systems are in our sister site’s national park timed entry guide; Acadia’s is the only one that applies to a single road.

Getting there and getting around without the rig

From the south, the park’s directions are I-95 to Augusta then Route 3 east through Ellsworth onto Mount Desert Island, or I-95 to Bangor, Route 1A to Ellsworth and Route 3. Route 3 across the causeway at Trenton is an ordinary state highway. For Schoodic, leave Ellsworth north on US-1 for 17.3 miles, turn onto ME-186 for 6.5 miles, then follow signs to Schoodic Loop Road; it is a shorter drive from the north than the mileage suggests because you skip the island traffic.

Once parked, the Island Explorer is free and is how the park expects campers to move. In 2026 the Loop Road, Gateway Center and Schoodic routes started May 20 and the rest of the system ran June 23 to October 12, with reduced schedules from August 17. Buses stop at the park campgrounds and carry up to six conventional bikes on racks (no e-bikes, fat-tire bikes or trailers). It does not climb Cadillac. Full schedules are at exploreacadia.com.

Who should camp where

• Fifth wheel or motorhome over 35 feet, or anyone who needs shore power: Schoodic Woods B-Loop. Book the moment the six-month window opens; there are 31 of these sites in the whole park.
• Trailer or motorhome 25 to 35 feet that wants the Park Loop Road: Blackwoods Loop A, with the roof height checked against 11 feet 8 inches before you drive the loop.
• Rig under 20 feet, camper van, truck camper: any of the three; Seawall is the quiet pick, and Schoodic A-Loop gives you electric for $30.
• Anything over 12 feet 2 inches tall: treat the Park Loop Road as off-limits to the rig and build the trip around the bus.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Booking a 35-foot site for a 36-foot rig. The limit is enforced at the gate, and the park says it cancels rather than accommodates.
2. Following GPS onto Stanley Brook Road from Seal Harbor toward Jordan Pond. It is 10 feet 4 inches.
3. Driving a 22-foot van to Cadillac with a reservation. Length is measured with the bike rack.
4. Expecting sewer at Schoodic Woods. It is electric and water; the dump station is on the way out.
5. Missing the 10 a.m. Eastern release. Sites appear on the first of the month six months out, not on your arrival date minus six months.
6. Bringing firewood from home. Wood from more than 50 miles away is not allowed; buy it locally.

For other eastern parks with similar bridge problems, see Shenandoah Skyline Drive RV camping and Great Smoky Mountains RV campgrounds. The nationwide picture of which campgrounds fit which lengths is in national park RV size limits, and the short list of parks with any hookups at all is in national park campgrounds with hookups, where Schoodic Woods is one of the few entries east of the Mississippi.