‘Acadia’ guide well-organized Bangor native’s book provides plethora of information about beloved park

ACADIA REVEALED: MOUNT DESERT & ACADIA NATIONAL PARK: THE COMPLETE GUIDE, By Jay Kaiser, Papyrus Travel Guides, Northeast Harbor, 212 pages, $18.95.

“Acadia Revealed: The Complete Guide” is a product of Jay Kaiser’s personal knowledge of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. Kaiser not only wrote the book, he published it.

“Everybody I knew,” he said in an e-mail interview, “thought I was crazy. ‘Aren’t there already guides to the park?’ was the question my friends constantly asked.”

Kaiser felt that many of the existing guides to Acadia were poorly organized and hard to follow. He wanted to write one that told people where to go to do a range of activities, including things not directly related to the park.

The twentysomething author grew up in Bangor and is a graduate of Dartmouth College. As a child, Kaiser says in a foreword, he spent part of each summer at Acadia National Park and remembers wading in the tidal pools. He went on his first hike in the park at age 6.

Drawing on his experience of Acadia, Kaiser tells you where to go, how to get there, and what to do once you arrive. His directions are clear, to the point, and easy to follow. Beautiful color photos of gorgeous MDI scenery, on glossy paper, and easy-to-read maps, in color, complement the text. The book is a convenient size and you don’t have to squint to read the typeface.

The hiking section describes the park trails with enough detail to help even a novice decide which ones to walk. The trails are easy to locate on the accompanying maps, which are bound into the book, not separate from it or of the cumbersome fold-out variety. Each trail is rated using National Park Service designations – easy, moderate, strenuous and ladder.

For those who like to hike with a four-footed companion, dogs are allowed on the trails if they are leashed, a small piece of information not always easily found in other guides. The guide also offers detailed information about the Park Loop Road and the Carriage Trails with all the attendant attractions – Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, Cadillac Mountain, and the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

In “Acadia Revealed,” Kaiser proves himself an able historian. He takes you back into prehistory to the ancient continent of Avalonia, which eventually became Maine. He throws in a bit of plate tectonic theory before he deftly swings you into the age of glaciation and the formation of the mountains and lakes of Mount Desert Island. In the process, you get a delightful minilesson in geology, one of many on a variety of topics, including ecology and marine biology.

Kaiser takes you through eons of time in relatively few pages in a pleasantly narrative style. He doesn’t overwhelm you with too much information, but gives a solid context for the first-time or veteran visitor. He includes information about the Wabanaki people, Norumbega and the fabled city of gold, the massacre of the French Jesuits, the arrival of artist Thomas Cole in the 1840s, the rusticator era, and the advent of the wealthy cottagers in the 1880s.

Historical photographs, illustrations, and sidebars invite browsing, page turning, and the discovery of other interesting details – such as the legend of the Porcupine Islands, movie-making at Sand Beach, and the eccentric Joseph Pulitzer.

In the section about the formation of the park, Kaiser says it was to be called, in 1929, Lafayette National Park. Three wealthy sisters, who are not identified, objected to the name and did not want to become park benefactors until the name was changed. This is just one example of interesting little facts that illuminate the text.

If you don’t want to hike, camp, kayak, fish, rock climb, sail, watch whales and birds – some of the subjects covered in the guide – Kaiser suggests things to see and do in the six towns on MDI.

The book also includes a handy restaurant guide, a bibliography and an index.

In his foreword Kaiser says, “make the most of your time here and find out for yourself what makes Mount Desert Island one of the most intriguing islands in the world.”

And when you do, let “Acadia Revealed” be your guide.