Acadia National Park's Historic Hiking Trails
Walk Back in Time Through Maine’s Wilderness
© Kat Long
Sep 3, 2009
The best way to get close to nature in Acadia National Park, Maine’s perennially popular recreation area, is to hike the historic trails that crisscross the park’s pine woodlands, rugged mountains, fern-covered valleys and rocky streams.
The Origin of the Hiking Trails
The historic trails follow the patterns made hundreds of years ago by Native Americans as they hunted game on Mt. Desert Island, on which Acadia is located. In the mid-nineteenth century, groups of civic-minded and wealthy citizens were drawn to the island’s craggy landscape and built summer “cottages” (often mansions with dozens of rooms for entertaining and socializing) on the outskirts of the wilderness. These “rusticators” delighted in walking and riding on horseback through the unpaved trails, and soon advocated the preservation of the paths.
After the turn of the twentieth century, leading citizens built more trails through a variety of natural terrains, from level valley paths to sheer rock faces and mountain summits. By 1915, according to the National Park Service, more than 200 miles of trails had been completed.
Today’s Trails and Activities
Acadia’s trails offer an array of options for hikers of all skill levels and stamina. The trails are rated according to difficulty:
- Very Easy
- Easy: uneven ground but fairly level
- Moderate: some steep grades, some level stretches
- Strenuous: steep grades, many steady climbs, including some stretches with iron rung ladders
In addition, the park’s system of carriage roads are easily hiked. Horses and bicycles are allowed on the carriage roads but not hiking trails.
The trails cover every type of landscape. The Shore Path is an easy trail that skirts the sailboat-studded bay off Bar Harbor, the nearby resort village; while the Wonderland trail, on the west side of Mt. Desert Island, meanders through pine forest to the rocky beach--a popular site for discovering tide pools and their aquatic flora and fauna.
On the other end of the difficulty scale, the Precipice trail challenges hardy climbers with vertical climbs up sheer rock faces. The Dorr Mountain trails, named for park founder George Dorr, leads to open ledges and forested cliffs with views of the valley below.
Because of the rugged nature of the trails, some are closed during winter months, while others are closed over the summer due to the presence of nesting peregrine falcons, an endangered species. The National Park Service’s Web site includes up-to-date information about trail closings in Acadia, as well as useful maps and safety tips available for download.
Though it is possible to see Acadia by car, any visit will be enriched by walking one of the park’s many historic hiking trails.
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