On our trip to Bar Harbor, ME (pronounced Ba Ha-baa by the locals) we scoured the web for a cozy cottage and stumbled upon Hiker’s Haven.  Owned and managed by Alan and Lucia Chapman, this little hideaway quickly became our home away from home.  The cabin is about 7 years old already but is kept in such great condition that you’d swear you were the first person to stay.  Reading through the journal entries of past guests, you quickly come to realize how many others have enjoyed the cabin before you and you’ll also pick up on some great places to eat or see from their suggestions.  There is a strict no shoes upstairs policy to protect the soft pine floor combined with the fact that it only accommodates a couple (or an individual) keep it in fabulous condition.  It is not available year round because it does not have central heating.  While we were there the low temperatures approached 30 and the high temperatures approached 60.  We used the electric fireplace and it heated the entire cabin so well that we had it turned off more than on.

When you enter the property, you walk through a sliding door into the living area complete with love seat, arm chair, TV, DVD player (there is a Redbox at the grocery store in town).  The living area opens to the kitchen that isn’t large but functions well enough that we prepared about 50% of our meals at Hiker’s Haven instead of dining out.  Between the living area and kitchen is a short hallway that ends with a full size washer and dryer in case you need to clean your clothes after a particularly dirty hike.  Also within the hallway is the full bath.  Back through the living room you’ll pass the electric fireplace on your way upstairs to the loft with the queen size bed and two arm chairs.  The skylight is an added bonus (yes they have a shade you can pull over it).  The furnishings are a mixture of cozy country and contemporary Asian…it sounds like a clashing combination but it actually works quite well so that we felt comfortable yet didn’t have a sense that we were in a musty dirty old cabin.

We didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Lucia (she runs a shop part time, Sew Special) while we were there but spoke with Alan before arriving and communicated via email several times.  He asked what the purpose of our visit was and offered to make suggestions of things to do and places to see based on our reason for vacationing.  We took him up on his offer!  Alan is very knowledgeable about the area and is heavily involved with Acadia National Park and it’s preservation.  He had maps ready for us when we arrived with trails already highlighted that we may be interested in and some books about the various flora and fauna of the area.  We told him we’d be driving up from Boston and he sent us directions both the scenic route and the faster route in order to get from point A to point B.  Alan was a wealth of knowledge and he was very warm and welcoming.

About half way through our week long stay at Hiker’s Haven, we caught ourselves saying “when we get home tonight” while we were out and about instead of “when we get back to the cabin.”  We will absolutely stay at Hiker’s Haven again!