BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 27, 2021
As visitation to Acadia National Park continues to surge in the wake of last year’s lackluster pandemic summer, there is an accompanying side effect: emergency response personnel are busier rescuing hikers who need help. Visits to the park so far this season are already eclipsing levels from 2018, when the national park set a record of 3.53 million visits. Visitation in April was 50 percent higher than the same month in 2018, while May and June saw 30 percent increases over those same months three years ago. With the spike in visitors, the park is also getting more calls from people who need assistance getting off the trails.