Acadia’s Carriage Road Ski Trails

A dedicated cadre of Nordic skiers on Mount Desert Island maintain a fabulous ~30-mile network of groomed trails on some of the park’s iconic carriage roads. Open to all, with no daily or seasonal pass required, you can do an all-day ski or go out for shorter jaunts. (The Acadia Winter Trails Association does appreciate donations, though!) The trail system is groomed with one Classic track next to a skate-skiing track.

No matter what, expect a workout: the carriage roads wind up and down and around the area’s small hills, offering occasional peeks of the ocean and quiet stretches through snowy spruce-fir forests. While there are no hills that are too steep or technical, you might find yourself going up or down, gently, for what feels like forever! Though with fresh snow, you’re unlikely to need to do many snowplows or herringbones. It is helpful to have a map with contour lines to see the changes in elevation ahead of time. I like the Avenza Maps app, which allows you to download inexpensive Acadia park maps (and also see your location on them).

Grooming Conditions and Map: Check out the latest grooming conditions and a current map from the Association. Dogs are allowed but must be on a leash.

One of the neat things about skiing here is if you want to get off the groomed and beaten path, you can follow any number of ungroomed carriage roads to explore other parts of the park. There are enough fanatical skiers in the area that someone will likely have broken a track ahead of you.

The official loops don’t seem to be marked beginner, intermediate, or expert, but overall, I would rate this system as intermediate, with some flatter legs appropriate for beginners. Skiers can make all sorts of ingenious routes within the network, but here are the loops we did:

Witch Hole Loop — You can pick up this loop from three parking areas: Hulls Cove Visitor Center, Duck Brook Road, or Eagle Lake Parking lot. The quickest access to the loop is from Duck Brook Road, where you can park on the road shoulder. The half-mile connector trail from the Hulls Cove parking area is ungroomed and includes a steep hill! Other than that hill, Witch Hole Loop is a lovely, rolling ski, between 3.5 miles (from Duck Brook Road) and 5.5 miles (via the 1-mile one-way Eagle Lake Connector). If you tack on the extra loop of Paradise Hill, you’ll add about a mile. You’ll see Witch Hole Pond, snowy mountaintops, and some distant ocean views.

Aunt Betty Loop — Expect long, gentle inclines and declines on this 6.5-mile loop. You’ll ski next to Eagle Lake and Aunt Betty Pond, with hills in the backdrop. Start your ski from the Eagle Lake parking lot at the northern tip of the lake on Eagle Lake Road (Route 233).

Parkman Connector to Around Mountain trails — While the 3.4-mile Parkman Connector trail is relatively flat, expect a dramatic up and down on the ~3.7-mile Around Mountain trail, which is hard but offers some of the best views on this trail system. The full loop, if you leave from the Parkman Mountain trailhead off Route 3 and do the leg on Aunt Betty Loop that connects them, is about 8.6 miles, according to my GPS.

Hadlock Loop — This is a super fun 3.8-mile loop. If you do the loop clockwise, you’ll head up a hill for just under a mile. When you reach an impressive frozen waterfall and a bridge, you’ll round a bend and then head down, down, down for almost 1.8 miles! Then you can swing back along the mostly flat returning leg — that is, until you reach the end, when you slog back up (more briefly this time).

Amphitheater Loop — You can catch this 3-mile loop from the Hadlock Loop, and the best place to park is the Brown Mountain parking area, about 1 mile away, making for a 5-mile ski in total. Alternatively, you could park at Jordan Pond House and make your way along the Jordan Connector Trail. If you do this, head out onto the lake from the parking area and veer left, aiming toward the little stone bridge. Cross the bridge to find the Jordan Pond Connector trail that will bring you to the loop in about 1.4 miles. The Jordan Pond Connector trail was not grooomed when we visited.

Directions: The three main parking areas are Eagle Lake parking area on Eagle Lake Road/Route 233, Parkman Mountain trailhead on Route 3, and Brown Mountain parking area on Route 3. You can also access the trails from Hulls Cove visitors lot, and ski a 0.5-mile ungroomed connector trail in, a gate on Duck Brook Road, or from Jordan Pond House (and ski the maybe not groomed Jordan connector trail to the Amphitheater Loop or Aunt Betty Loop.)