Four Ponds Trail (on the AT), Rangeley Plantation

A Rangeley local long ago recommended this out-and-back hike to me, and while it is a bit long to be considered an easy walk, it is on a relatively flat section of the AT (and I mean relatively!. There are some steep, but short, ascents and descents, including up the viewless Spruce Mountain right at the start). A few times you’ll be high enough to have views through trees of Long Pond and the mountains beyond.

You are rewarded for your efforts with great spots for pond-side sitting, lunching and/or musing on Long Pond and Sabbath Day Pond. You’ll first reach Maxie Pond, the smallest of the four ponds, in roughly 1.7 miles from the trailhead at Height of Land off Route 17. The pond access here is difficult, though.

At 3.5 miles, you’ll arrive at the far end of Long Pond. There is a narrow beach here, with clear water and a sandy bottom that might tempt you to swim. A small area behind the beach has been cleared for a tent.

If you hike another 0.3 miles along the AT, you’ll come to Sabbath Day Pond, where rough pond-side benches have been set up. This is also quite a nice place for a swim, but the bottom isn’t sandy. Nearby is an AT tent platform.

The trail cuts through Four Ponds Public Reserve Land.

Directions: Park at the Height of Land scenic overlook lot and hike south along the side of the road for 300 or so feet. When you come to a break in the barrier, cross the road and climb up the stone steps of the AT trail, which is marked for its entire duration with white blazes. In about 1.25 miles the trail crosses a woods road. Go straight.