Here’s a little trade secret from the world of journalism. Most of the field reporting that we do for our stories ends up on the cutting room floor once it’s printing time. Journalism, by nature, is searching for a story within a landscape of infinite narrative windows and junctions. Back in May, I spent a couple of days in New England’s only National Park—Acadia—reporting for the Boston Globe about how NPS destinations could be more easily accessible; by having more lifelines like public transit around the park, and trails that connect a park to adjacent towns. Acadia demonstrates how this can be done, and to paint a vivid picture for readers, I spent two days walking across the park, from the quiet west side of Mount Desert Island to the center of Bar Harbor.
I’m proud of the article that the Globe Ideas team printed a few weeks ago, in their special outdoor-themed WILD issue. But since this was an Ideas themed assignment first and foremost, only select flashes of the cross-Acadia walk made the final draft. Since then, I’ve basically been sitting on a mountain of un-used “footage” from the adventure. And it occurs to me that right now—a moment when many are mourning the end of fall, bracing for winter, and looking ahead to next summer—could be an opportune time to illustrate why and how you can walk across Acadia National Park.
So today, I’m going to tell you about what it’s like to trek from one end of Acadia to the other. This might sound arduous, but it’s actually a world class walking holiday.
