BTS#14: Acadia National Park | Field Recording Expedition
Introduction
With more than 3.5 million visitors every year, Acadia National Park ranks 6th on the list of the most popular National Parks in the United States...and for good reason.
Acadia National Park is an incredibly diverse landscape with something for everyone.
With mountains, forest, lakes, ponds, wetlands, swamps, marshes, rocky shorelines, and open ocean, the relatively small island is jam-packed with abundance!
And that’s not even including the impressive dark sky opportunities that draw thousands to the beaches on the island for astrological viewing purposes.
This great diversity is due to the park’s location.
Acadia National Park is in a transition zone between temperate deciduous and northern coniferous forests along the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic flyway, overlying glacially sculpted granite mountains with interspersed glacially scoured lake beds and bounded by rocky headlands.
The land forms of the park illustrate the dynamics of many geologic processes, the power of the glaciers that carved its U-shaped valleys and cliffs, and the ongoing assault by the weather and the sea. An abundance of plant and animal life has risen out of these forces of fire and ice.
This trip is actually the combination of 2 separate trips into one. The first being a 5 day trip from June 24th to the 28th, and the second one, a 6 day trip from August 18th to the 23rd.
These trips were my first experiences with Acadia, and I’m already planning my third visit for winter!
Video
This video is a new form of content from me.
It is my first attempt at capturing “cinematic” video and combining my feelings and sounds into a short film, communicating my experience within a place.
Recording nature sounds is an emotional process for me. One that brings me into the present moment and grounds me within a place.
While monitoring the live audio, I like to close my eyes and allow the sounds to enter my body, becoming one with the soundscape. The emotions I experience while doing so cover a wide breadth from awe, peace, bliss, wonder, and even fear.
Navigating my emotions through sound is a meditative experience, and one that makes field recording one of my strongest passions.
I hope you enjoy this presentation of my Acadian experience, and are motivated to seek out your own connections with Earth.
Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post letting me know if you enjoyed this new form of content. I’m open to suggestions for making these films better!
Sounds
Between my two trips to Acadia, I recorded just under 60 hours of audio from the field. Out of that total, 8 hours and 30 minutes were noise pollution free!
The Acadia BandCamp album represents the sonic highlights from the trip as a whole. You can listen to the album via the embedded player in this post, or view the album on BandCamp via the button below.
The BandCamp album is for personal listening use only. It cannot be redistributed or used for commercial or creative purposes. If you’d like to license any of my recordings, please contact me. Thanks!
Story Map
Below, you’ll find an interactive tour of my trip made possible thanks to an ArcGIS Story Map.
Scroll on the title page “Acadia National Park” to read more details about some of my favorite recordings from the trip.
Be sure to unmute the background audio so you can listen while you read!
To open the Story Map in a new tab for full display, click here.
Photos
Final Thoughts
Although Acadia National Park is heavily traveled, I found that visitors tend to sleep pretty late. This allowed me to capture several noise-free dawn choruses in different locations on the island.
While recording during the day was difficult due to people and marine traffic, the boundless wonders of the park kept me engaged in a near constant state of awe that will keep me coming back to this incredible place for years to come.
Support Acoustic Nature
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As a thank you for your support, Patreon supporters receive a copy of Field Recording For Beginners, exclusive access to the full Behind The Sounds video series, nature sound library downloads, and more.
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Thanks for reading,
-Jared
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