QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 500 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~3.5- to 4-mile loop around bog, extra 1.5 miles to summit
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy bog loop, challenging mountain hike
- Sights: 150-acre Schoodic Bog, lovely views from Schoodic Mountain
The Schoodic Bog trail is connected to a big system of trails maintained by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy, and includes Baker Hill and Long Ledges preserves to the south.
It also loops up to the astonishingly beautiful Donnell Pond Public Lands and its many miles of trails.
At the bog, you can do a 3.5- to 4-mile loop around the beautiful bog (depending on which path you take), and you can also take a spur—on private land, so be mindful—up the backside of Schoodic Mountain. Another way to access the Schoodic Mountain summit is via the Donnell Pond Public Lands side. The 1,070-foot Schoodic Mountain summit is glorious, with 360-degree views and a little radio tower. It looks like someone has also constructed a stone wind break. Watch the cairns on the ledgy top to stay on the trail.
If you’re going to attempt to hike the 1.5-mile spur to Schoodic Mountain from the bog, you’ll see the unmarked trail when you emerge onto Down East Sunrise Trail from the bog loop trail. Follow this wide track 100 yards or so, and take a sharp right. You’ll continue to the power lines and the start of private property. Cross over, continuing along the ATV track. Someone has marked a walking path on your left with a stone cairn. This path will come out on a wider ATV track, also marked with a cairn. (If you take a right here, it’s a shortcut to Down East Sunrise Trail.) Take a left up this steep, rubbly track. It’ll be pretty easy to follow it to the ledgy, open summit—although the footing can be tricky at times. When I hiked it, the way was marked with blue flags.
To return along Schoodic Bog trail, walk across the bog via the Down East Sunrise Trail. You’ll see a little plank on your right at .8 miles that will take you on a 1.5-mile trail (built in 2018) to Punkin Ledge Road. Take a right to return to the Schoodic Bog trailhead.
Directions: From Route 1, turn onto Punkinville Road and drive 2 miles and bear left onto the dirt Punkin Ledge Road. Drive .7 mile to the Schoodic Bog Road on your left. A short distance up this road, you’ll find a parking area. You can walk along Schoodic Bog Road, or along walking paths from the trailhead kiosk (which I did) that connect to Baker Hill and Long Ledges preserves.
