Most of Acadia’s trails are listed below. For convenience trails are separated into difficulty ratings and are listed in alphabetical order. Click on the underlined trail name for link to more complete trail description.

Easy Trails

Moderate Trails

Strenuous Trails

Otter cliffs is the most popular climbing area in the park, and it, along with Great Head are nice options for folks who want to climb above crashing surf below.

If you’re planning on spending any portion of your time in Acadia at the crags, you may like to have a guidebook. Try “Rock Climbs of Acadia” by Grant Simmons.

Guided services are available too, and this is not a bad place to learn the techniques of rock climbing. Try one of these services.

Atlantic Climbing School

Acadia Mountain Guides

For more information on climbing in Acadia, check out Acadia’s climbing page.

NPS – Climbing in Acadia

Eagle Lake, Long Pond, Jordan Pond, and Echo Lake are some of the more popular freshwater options, and each has a boat ramp to enable easy access.

Use caution when taking to the sea in Acadia, as these waters can quickly kick a landlubber right in the ass. Cold water, swift currents and dense fog combine with constantly changing weather patterns to wreak havoc upon paddlers whose preparations are lacking.

Check the weather and tide charts before you toss your craft in the water. If you’re planning on visiting any of the park’s smaller islands, discuss your itinerary with park rangers in order to avoid areas that may be closed due to bird nesting.

If you didn’t bring your kayak with you, you can always rent one in Bar Harbor.

National Park Canoe & Kayak Rental

For those who may want a guided kayak trip, check out a couple of the local options.

National Park Sea Kayak Tours

Maine State Sea Kayak

Coastal Kayaking

For more information, check out Acadia’s boating page.

NPS – Boating in Acadia

Windjammer Cruises offers sailing tours on both a 151′ four masted schooner and a 91′ Maine built schooner. In addition to these, they also have a smaller lobster sloop, which offers a more intimate sailing experience.

Windjammer Cruises

The Baker Island Tour is an option for those who would like to learn of Acadia’s historic and cultural past while journeying to a small island on a ranger-led tour.

Baker Island Tour

If you want a unique trip on the water, try the Dive In Theater. This cruise searches for underwater life. Passengers scour the bay for signs of life, while a diver heads below and brings up live specimens for observation. This is more of a “hands-on” opportunity that the kids just love. Hey, anything for the kids…

Dive-In Theater Cruise

Sea Princess Cruises offer a range of tours throughout the day, some of which are ranger-led. The morning and afternoon cruises include a visit to the Islesford Historic Museum on Little Cranberry Island, which is a 200-year-old lobster fishing village which has been preserved to maintain the feel of days-gone-by.

They also offer sunset cruises and a Somes Sound Cruise.

Sea Princess Cruises

Island Cruises offers a variety of options, including wildlife watching, fishing charters and sailing charters.

Island Cruises

For more information on boat tours that are offered in the Acadia area, see the park service’s page on guided tours.

NPS – Acadia – Guided Tours

For those seeking a relaxing ride, look no further than a comfortable cruise on one of the park’s historic carriage roads. Acadia is home to 45 miles of broken-stone roads that were designed in the early 20th century by J.D. Rockefeller Junior. These roads are perfect for cycling and treat riders, hikers and equestrians to some of the best scenic views on Mount Desert.

Road cyclists will find the Park Loop Road a treat, with its steep grades and sharp turns, but it can seem a bit tight given the excessive vehicular traffic in the park these days.

For a real challenge, peel off on the 3.5-mile Mountain Loop Road, which takes travelers to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. Rest assured, the ascent is tough, but the reward is a fab view and a whiz back down the mountain.

There are other options as well. A less congested road ride can be achieved by riding the loop around the Schoodic Peninsula’s rocky coastline. Cyclists can also find a bit of space on Route 102 on the quieter western side of Mount Desert Island.

If you like riding gravel, it’s super easy to escape the crowds and head out into nowhere on one of the gravel roads that are found over on the west side of the island. Seal Cove Road and Hio Road both lie in a network of gravel roads that offer the opportunity to ride without traffic and can be used to access a few out of the way places that your hiking friends will never see.

Bike rentals can be found in Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor. Here are a few options.

Acadia Bike

Island Bike Rental

Acadia E Bike Rental

See the Acadia National Park bicycling page for more information.

NPS – Acadia – Bicycling

The carriage roads were the vision of John D. Rockefeller, who wanted to travel into the remote areas of Mount Desert via horse and carriage. The wealthy businessman had some knowledge of road building, which was attained from his father, who had built a number of such roads on his estates in Ohio and New York. 

Rockefeller Jr. adopted the techniques used by his father, and laid out routes through the hills of Mount Desert that preserved the landscape’s natural lines, and preserved trees. The roads were designed and graded so they would not be too steep, and curves were held wide to provide for easy navigation via horse and carriage.

Today, visitors can witness Rockefeller’s masterpiece themselves as they are drawn through the enchanting woods of Acadia National Park by horse and carriage, just as the designer would have wanted.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, try contacting Wildwood Stables or Carriages of Acadia to book a ride.

Wildwood Stables – 877-276-3622

Carriages of Acadia

For more information on the history of the carriage roads, check out the park history page here at Park Junkie.

You an also check out Acadia National Park’s page describing the history of the carriage roads.

NPS – Acadia’s Carriage Road

The park is home to numerous lakes and ponds that can accommodate such activity. But if you want to jump into the ocean, Sand Beach will be your first option, and there is a lifeguard on duty during the busy summer months.

So you’ll have that going for you… which is nice.

The beach is located near the beginning of the Park Loop Road, and is super busy during the summer, which is its only bummer.

Lake Wood is a small, secluded pond with a small sandy beach which is close to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center. It is often busy, but the crowds are nothing like those found at Sand Beach.

Another option is found just north of Southwest Harbor. The Echo Lake Beach swimming area is staffed with a lifeguard and offers tranquil waters in a peaceful wooded surrounding.

For more information, see the Acadia website’s swimming section.

NPS – Acadia – Swimming

Bond was an early twentieth-century ornithologist, who was best known for his works regarding birds of the Caribbean, including Birds of the West Indies, released in 1936.

James Bond was a native of Pennsylvania, who had taken a keen interest in the natural sciences at a young age. Throughout his life he would travel the globe in his pursuit of birds, but in his biography, he would credit Mount Desert Island as the place that inspired him to become an ornithologist.

In the early 1950s, author Ian Fleming, an amateur ornithologist living in Jamaica, who was familiar with Bond’s book was seeking a nonchalant, yet masculine name for a fictional British Spy who he was introducing in Casino Royale, Flemming’s first novel, published in 1953. Fleming was struck by the brief simplicity of the ornithologist’s name, and a star was born.

In fact, in an early scene from the 2002 film Die Another Day, Bond’s character, played by Pierce Brosnan, is found in Havana, Cuba reading Birds of the West Indies and later introduces himself to Jinx, played by Halle Berry, as an ornithologist. Anyway, I digress…

More than 300 species of our avian friends have been identified on Mount Desert Island and the surrounding waters. Ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson referred to the island as the “warbler capital of the world”. No doubt, bird watching park junkies will definitely want to check this park off of their list.

Sightings of peregrine falcons are common, and the cliffs of certain areas are closed during nesting season to provide for the bird’s successful reproduction. These birds were reintroduced to the area in the 1980s and seem to be doing well in the park. The park offers a Peregrine Watch program along the Precipice Walk most days during the summer.

Sieur de Monts Springs is a fine place to observe pileated woodpeckers and ruby-throated hummingbirds, while Beaver Dam Pond is known for sightings of bald eagles, ducks and herons.

The Otter Cliffs are stacked with seabirds and Cadillac Mountain’s open skies provide the perfect vantage point to watch for eagles, hawks and falcons. Stop by the Hawk Watch station while at the summit if you’re visiting during the fall months as park rangers point out raptors as they move southward through the skies above the park.

For more information about birding in Acadia, check out the park service birding page.

NPS – Acadia – Birding

The freshwater fishing season generally runs from April through September, during which time anglers target Eagle Lake, Echo Lake, Jordan Pond and Long Pond for cold water spots along with Long Pond and Seal Cove Pond for those seeking warmer water.

Stop by a visitor center and grab the park service flyer, Fishing on Mount Desert Island, which offers some helpful advice on freshwater fishing in the park.

Fishermen who seek a saltwater experience can test their luck against Mackerel, bluefish and striped bass at one of two areas within the park. Sargent Drive on Somes Sound and Frazer Point on the Schoodic Peninsula both offer a good opportunity to land a Mackerel between July and September.

Ice fishing is a cool way to spend a winter day in the Acadia and you’ll likely see any number of other fishermen on the park’s larger lakes and ponds. Take the effort to be cautious on these frozen bodies of water and ensure that the ice is thick enough to support your weight.

If you want to toss a line in one of Maine’s freshwater lakes or ponds, you’ll need a Maine fishing license, unless you’re under 16 for Maine residents, or under 12 for non-residents. You can purchase licenses from Paradis True Value in Bar Harbor, or online.

Saltwater fishing in Maine does not require a license as of August 2020. Check the regulations however, as this seems too good to remain the case forever.

There are fishing and lobster charters available out of Bar Harbor as well and landing a nice mackerel or bluefish may just be a highlight of your trip. These tours often also haul lobster traps and sometimes even kick fresh lobster down to the passengers. Sounds good to me…

Check out Aadia Fishing Tours for more information.

Take a quick peek at Acadia’s fishing page for more detailed information on fishing.

NPS- fishing