QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 500 acres
- Trail Mileage: 5.5 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: moderate to challenging
- Sights: Schoodic Bog, views, open summit
The Schoodic Bog Trail connects to a large network of trails maintained by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy, including Baker Hill and Long Ledges preserves to the south. It also links up to the astonishingly lovely 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 wetland, depending on which path you choose. You can also continue on an approximately 1.5-mile trail up the backside of Schoodic Mountain, crossing private land along the way, so please stay on the established route. (Another popular route to the summit approaches from the Donnell Pond Public Lands side.)
The 1,079-foot Schoodic Mountain summit is glorious, with 360-degree views. a little radio tower and a stone wind break. Watch for the cairns across the open ledge to stay on the trail.
If you plan to hike from Schoodic Bog to Schoodic Mountain, look for the unmarked route after emerging onto the Down East Sunrise Trail from the bog loop. Follow the wide rail trail for 100 yards or so, then bear sharply right onto an ATV track. The route crosses private property and can be confusing in places, though cairns and occasional markers help guide the way. Eventually the trail climbs steeply over loose, rubbly terrain toward the open summit ledges. (From the Down East Sunrise Trail, the elevation gain is about 890 feet, if I’m doing my math right.)
To return via the east side of the Schoodic Bog Trail, you continue across the bog along the Down East Sunrise Trail. About 0.8 miles along, a side trail on the right leads approximately 1.5 miles to Punkin Ledge Road. From there, turn right on the road 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 0.7 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.
Update: On some of the kiosks on this preserve there is a map that shows a trail with a warning that says “Trail Under Construction. May be difficult to Navigate”. This is the trail that is located just off the Schoodic Bog parking lot and threads its way to the inside curve of the sunrise trail.
If you are taking this trail, please do not be worried. I think the maps have not been updated on the Kiosks themselves, but the trail itself has long been completed. I have taken it many times and noted on 08/15/26 that it was recently blazed with new blue paint and is used enough to clearly follow it.
Additionally, this is a great trail!
Halfway to the Sunrise Trail there is a nice whales back (smooth humped up outcropping of rock like a whales back) that gives a nice view of Schoodic Mountain in the distance. This is a great place to take a break and gets some great pictures while sitting on rock and not dirty ground.
But not only does the trail wind its way through a nice stretch of forest, it also has many unauthorized hiking trails off from where it connects onto the Sunrise Trail. I am not a fan of hiking the Sunrise trail per se just because of ATV usage, dust and noise, but a hiker can go to the right, through a road along a gravel pit and be at the Schoodic Beach parking area rather quickly. Or, take an old jeep trail up the backside of Schoodic Mountain. On 08/15/2026 I did the loop, hiking the Sunrise Trail and at about a mile long between the two trails, it took me fifteen minutes to cross the bog on the way back to the Connector Trail and I never saw an ATV once while making the trek. I even stopped at the picnic table at the edge of the bog for a snack. Since I started at the Baker Hill parking area just off Route One, this figure-eight hike was a 10.5 mile hike for those wishing for a longish hike and could have even included a swim in Long Pond. When I was there, another couple was doing just that.