Acadia National Park - Kebo Brook & Kebo Mountain Trails, Bar Harbor Shore Path, Upper Hadlock Pond Trail, and the Jordan Pond Path

I spent Friday evening and Saturday exploring Acadia National Park.

Kebo Brook, Kebo Mountain, Hemlock and Stratheden Trails

I made a loop of the above named trails Friday night after work.  

Park Loop Road is still seasonally closed to vehicles, so I parked outside the Cadillac Mountain Gate and walked into the park, turning left on the Kebo Brook Trail.  This is a nice connector trail that runs between Park Loop Road and the border of the park.  This was the only trail that I encountered people, coming across a woman walking and a man running the trail.  Its well-maintained and gradually slopes downhill from Park Loop Road.  The trail can be used to access the Gorge Path and Cadillac North Ridge Trail in addition to Kebo Mountain and Stratheden Trails.  

Around a mile into my hike I turned onto the Kebo Mountain Trail.  I previously hiked this trail in March 2021.  At that time, the trail had ice and snow on it and we were satisfied with just hiking to Kebo's summit.  This time around, I continued beyond the wooded summit to the Hemlock Trail.  The Kebo Trail beyond the summit ascends and descends three more times before reaching Hemlock, making for a good workout and an opportunity for more views (the other false summits have similarly obstructed wooded views).  

Combining the Hemlock and Stratheden Trails with Kebo Mountain makes for a nice loop trail.  I previously blogged about these trails in April 2024.  

Here is a map of my hike.  

Bar Harbor Shore Path

The Bar Harbor Shore Path is a scenic 0.75 mile (one way) path that, as the name implies, runs along the shore.  The advantage of visiting the path at 7 a.m. in April is that I had it to myself with the exception of a single dog walker.  Here is a map of the path.  

My second hike of the morning was the Upper Hadlock Pond Trail.  This scenic trail created an ethical dilemma for me, since I had not realized that a small portion of it crosses over a bridge on the park's closed carriage roads.  Ultimately, I decided against continuing and after confirming there was no other way across the stream, headed back for an abridged 1.25 mile hike.   This was still a great hike.  Here is a map of the hike.  

The choke point where the trail crosses a bridge on the carriage roads.  

Womp womp.

My final hike of the day was the Jordan Pond Path.  I've hiked portions of this trail to get to the Bubbles, but this is the first time I hiked the entire path.  I went clockwise, heading north on the west side of Jordan Pond.  This section of the trail is impressive, in that there is approximately one continuous mile of very well-maintained wooden bog bridges.  After the bridging ends, the trail abruptly hits a patch of boulders, adding some variety, before settling into a flat easy path for the remainder.  Here is a map of my hike.  

Short boulder section