Acadia's Maintained Trails

Most of this site is about trails that were lost. This page is about the ones the park keeps open: the 138 named hiking trails that Acadia National Park marks and maintains today, listed A to Z and drawn on a modern topographic map.

A park given by its neighbors

Acadia was put together by the people who loved the island. In 1901, worried by the spread of development around Bar Harbor and by the new gasoline-powered portable sawmill, George B. Dorr and others formed the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations to hold land for the public, and by 1913 they had gathered 6,000 acres. Dorr offered the land to the federal government, and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson created Sieur de Monts National Monument. In 1919 it became Lafayette National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi River, with Dorr as its first superintendent, and in 1929 it was renamed Acadia National Park. Many of its trails are older than the park, built by the island's village improvement associations, and at its peak the system held about 230 miles of trail. Today the park protects more than 47,000 acres on Mount Desert Island, the Schoodic Peninsula and Isle au Haut.

A daunting task

Keeping those trails open is a daunting job. Acadia counted 4,079,318 visits in 2025, the most in its history, with July and August the busiest months. Its trails climb granite on stone steps and walls, cross wetlands on bog walk and boardwalk, and shed water through culverts, and much of that work must be repaired to the historic design. Every spring the trail crew hikes each trail, a routine it calls cruising, to list downed trees, rotting bog walk, faded blazes and eroded tread, then works through the list while the hikers keep coming. Storms add to it: the January 2024 storms washed out sections of Ocean Path and the Ship Harbor Trail, and that year the park could hire only 4 of the 22 seasonal trail workers it had money for, largely for lack of affordable housing. What keeps the system going is partnership. The Acadia Trails Forever campaign of 1999, by Friends of Acadia and the park, made Acadia the first privately endowed trail system in national park history, and in 2025, 1,491 volunteers gave the park more than 44,000 hours.

138named hiking trails marked and maintained by the park, June 2025
151 miof trail as mapped by the park; the park describes more than 150 miles
4,079,318recreation visits in 2025, a park record
44,764volunteer hours in 2025, from 1,491 volunteers

With gratitude

A Note of Thanks

Every trail on this site was first walked by someone else. Most of the paths I write about were lost because no one was left to look after them. The ones still open stay open because people work on them every season, and this note is for those people.

To the trail crew and staff of Acadia National Park: thank you. Every spring you walk every trail, all 138 of them and about 151 miles. You list the fallen trees, rotting bog walk, faded blazes and washed-out tread, and then you go back and fix each one. Much of that work is done by hand and rebuilt the way it was first built, stone step by stone step. You do it while close to four million of us pass by each year. In 2024 the January storms took out parts of Ocean Path and the Ship Harbor Trail, and you had only 4 of the 22 seasonal workers you had money for. The trails stayed open anyway. That is herculean work.

To the volunteers: in 2025, 1,491 of you gave the park 44,764 hours. You work next to the crew, and most hikers never learn your names.

To Friends of Acadia: your Acadia Trails Forever campaign, with the park, made this the first privately endowed trail system in national park history.

The people who built these paths gave them to the island, and you keep giving them back to us. Whenever I find an old cairn on a forgotten route, I think of the work it takes to keep all the other trails open. Thank you.

Les Heilakka

Modern topo

The trails on the map

Every maintained trail, drawn from the park's own 2025 trail data over the current USGS topographic map. Hover a line for its name, or click it for the length and a link to our field recording. Switch to the 1942 map to see how today's system sits on the old one.

Base Go to

Maintained park trail (NPS, June 2025) Selected trail

Index

Every maintained trail, A to Z

Names as the park uses them. A leading “A” is ignored in the order, so A. Murray Young Path is under M. Click a name to see it on the map; “Field track” opens the Old Paths Crew's own recording of it in the Atlas.

Notes

About this list

What is included

The list and map come from the National Park Service dataset Hiking Trails of Acadia National Park 2025, the park's marked and maintained hiking trail system as of June 2025. Short named access trails and connectors are included as the park lists them. The 45 miles of carriage roads, the motor roads and the fire roads are not hiking trails in this dataset and are not listed here.

Lengths are measured from the mapped lines and can differ by a tenth of a mile or so from park signs. East Side and West Side follow Somes Sound, as everywhere else on this site.

Trails close for peregrine falcon nesting, storm damage and repairs. Before you go, check the park's current conditions, follow the blue blazes, and leave cairns as you find them. See also Walk lightly.

Sources

National Park Service, A History of Acadia: the 1901 Trustees, 6,000 acres by 1913, the 1916, 1919 and 1929 dates, and 47,000 acres today.
National Park Service, George Bucknam Dorr and Cultural Landscapes of Acadia: first national park east of the Mississippi.
National Park Service, History & Culture: village improvement associations.
Friends of Acadia, Acadia Trails Forever: about 230 miles at the system's peak, the 1999 campaign, trail work and spring cruising.
Bangor Daily News, Acadia set new record for total visits in 2025, and Maine Public, record number of visitors in 2025.
Acadia on My Mind, Major deficit in hiring hits work on hiking paths: 2024 crew hiring and storm repairs.
National Park Service, Volunteer (2025 volunteers and hours) and Hiking (more than 150 miles).
Base map: USGS The National Map, topo and imagery.