Shannon Bryan on her skiff. Photo courtesy of Shannon Bryan

Shannon Bryan is an outdoors writer, the founder of Fit Maine and the interim vice president of communications at the nonprofit Friends of Acadia. From spring to fall, she lives on Islesford, and that’s where her perfect day would begin.

On my perfect day, the sun wakes up before me – but just barely.

I’m out the door while there’s still dew on the grass and slugs taking their sweet time crossing the damp stones of the front walk. On goes the PFD before I scoop up my paddleboard from the lawn. In just a few moments, I’m clamoring over the cobblestones of Gilley Beach.

The waters surrounding Islesford (aka Little Cranberry Island) are no stranger to wind and chop, but on my perfect day, they’re calm and ironed flat. The early morning sky is painted in sherbet colors, and the mellow waters around me mirror back the oranges and pinks.

My paddleboard is a 12.6-foot teal-covered delight I purchased from Acadia Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Bar Harbor. Owner Chris Stout has a knack for getting people on paddleboards, be it matching them with one to own or guiding a crew of out-of-towners on a reliable fleet of rentals.

This morning’s solo destination: nearby Baker Island. Acadia National Park owns most of the 162-acre island, although it’s a part of the park most visitors never see (there are ranger-led tours to Baker Island, during which you’ll gain a good deal of the island’s history, too). I’m lucky I get to explore it often, walking the island path through meadow, past the Gilley homestead and the Baker Island Light Station and through mossy woods, until I step out onto the “Dance Floor” – a flat expanse of granite that looks out onto the open Atlantic.

I watch the waves. I drink my coffee. I hover over tidepools and take too many videos of snails and sea anemones.

The view from Shannon Bryan’s paddleboard as she faces Islesford. Photo by Shannon Bryan

When I get back home, my partner, Ian, is awake and ready for an adventure. We take the skiff to Mount Desert Island, although I often commute via the Cranberry Cove Ferry – one of two ferry options to get around the Cranberry Isles for locals and visitors alike. Before we depart, Ian and I brunch at the Islesford Dock Restaurant (I love the beet salad with a side of home fries) and stop in to shop the handsome handmade wares at Islesford Pottery and chat up owner Marian Baker.

Our bellies fueled, we scoot off to MDI to enjoy one of the perks of Islesford’s proximity: hiking in Acadia. I love Mansell Mountain when I’m looking for a workout up those impressively stacked granite steps – lots of them – and Beech Mountain for summit picnics under the fire tower.

Thanks to my job at Friends of Acadia, I’ve also been able to get a closer look at all that goes into conserving Acadia: the trail and carriage road crews who build and maintain trails, the rangers who welcome us and steer us in the right direction, the researchers whose work aims to keep the park’s ecosystems resilient.

Shannon Bryan hiking in Acadia National Park. Photo by Ian Unger

Today, Ian and I tackle Sargent Mountain, starting on the carriage road and hoofing it up through forest and panting happily as we go. Eventually, the evergreens drop back, and we’re led by smartly placed cairns across rolling pink granite veined by tenacious subalpine vegetation. At Sargent’s summit, we sit in the sunshine, dabbing our brows and marveling at the views. And of course we eat snacks (Little Lad’s Herbal Popcorn, mixed nuts, an apple and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups).

Having earned a robust meal (even with the snacks), we head to Peter Trout’s in Southwest Harbor, stationing ourselves at a picnic table outside. The fried chicken here is the stuff of dreams, but my heart belongs to the wedge salad, a hulking hunk of iceberg lavishly decked with buttermilk dressing, gorgonzola, fried chicken, and pork belly. It pairs well with a house margarita.

When we skiff home, the water is like glass on a windless summer evening. The sun dips behind the mountains of Acadia, ready for bed after a full day. And I am, too.

The sunset from the dock on Islesford. Photo by Shannon Bryan