My Favorite Hikes in Acadia National Park

Last summer,

Adam and I had the opportunity to explore Acadia National Park for a week with family. Acadia is located primarily on Mount Desert Island and spans 47,000 acres across the Atlantic coast of Maine. It offers miles and miles of hiking, biking, and kayaking which means that it’s incredibly easy to entertain yourself in this massive recreation area. Although we were there for a full week, we only touched the surface of outdoor opportunities awaiting us in Acadia.

As the documentarian that I am, I filmed our treks and compiled a few of our favorite hikes in Acadia National Park. We love a challenge but tend to stay away from the extremely difficult hikes (I’m looking at you Precipice) as I get a bit nervous when the description reads “only for people with no fear of heights”, not to mention the additional preparation I think about when hiking with type 1 diabetes. Each of the excursions we chose ranged from easy with great views, to moderate/hard based on the elevation gain and overall distance, although we did pick one with a lot of metal ladders which was pretty adventurous and fun…

Enjoy this video showcasing some of our favorite hikes in Acadia, some fun car ride convos between Adam and I, and an inside look at one of our favorite US national parks!

All trail mileage/elevation gain from AllTrails. Be sure to like & subscribe on Youtube.

Some additional tidbits on each hike:

• Beech Cliff Trail – A few sections of iron ladders (do it for the great view). Come down the mountain via Canada Cliffs for a quiet nature walk through the forest.
• Eagle Lake Carriage Road Trail – Great for biking! A pretty easy ride for all ages, only one larger hill. The loop takes you by the Jordan Pond House, which has restrooms.
• Great Head Trail – beautiful ocean views, dog-friendly, and kid-friendly
• South Bubble Mountain – great workout, great view. We came from the Jordan Pond Loop and went straight up the mountain.
• Penobscot Mountain – WOW the VIEW. We came up through Deer Brook Trail via Jordan Pond loop. Walked over to see the hidden pond at the top of Sargent Mountain, and then walked over to the peak of Penobscot. Descended down the mountain via the main Penobscot trail.

A few more of our favorites that weren’t included in the video:

• Deer Brook Trail – difficult, but leads to the top of both Penobscot and Sargent
• Sargent Mountain – find the secret pond & take a dip
• Cadillac Mountain – hike to the top and reward yourself with a great view and ice cream from the visitor center

Have you hiked Acadia? Let me know what your favorite trail is and what activities we should try next time! Thanks for watching & reading. Stay tuned for more US National Park videos/posts.

– Ariana