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National Geographic : 2005 Nov
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cars poured across the mainland causeway, creating backups and fouling the air. Notices are occasionally posted on busy summer days advising visitors that ozone has exceeded safe levels. But here, once again, park supporters have pitched in to ease the strain. Following an example first set at Yosemite Valley to get visitors out of their cars, Acadia since 1999 has operated a fleet of propane-fueled shuttle buses (17 now in service) and dramatically increased the number of folks happy to leave the driving to others. "It's going gangbusters," says Ken Olson, president of Friends of Acadia. "In its first six years the program has picked up a million and a half riders. That adds up to more than half a million vehicles off the park's roads-enough cars to stretch from here all the way down the coast to Charleston, South Carolina." The shuttle service now extends into October to enhance the visitor's experience of Acadia's autumn palette: the golds and yellows of birch, beech, and aspen, the reds and russets of maple weaving their way across a black-green tapestry of spruce and fir. But wait! Don't turn away when those deciduous leaves begin to shrivel and flutter from the hardwood trees. There'll be new secret places and scenic vistas to enchant your eye in the forest openings. After all, when autumn retreats from Acadia, wonders of a different sort won't be far behind. O ONLINE EXTRAS Planning a trip to Acadia? Get travel tips on places to stay and things to do, including hiking and birding. Also download images of the park for your computer's desktop, and read about the great fire of 1947 that destroyed many of Mount Desert's grandest homes. Allat ngm.com/0511. ACADIA NATIONAL PARK 45
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