Acadia Hiking Trails - Moderate Intensity

Acadia National Park Hiking Guide

Our favorite Acadia hiking trails are of the moderate to strenuous variety. To us, this is the "real" hiking!

You can use this Acadia National Park Hiking Guide to come up with a plan when you want to get more into the "wilderness" of Acadia and push yourself a bit more. Don't worry though, even kids can do most of these trails!

Moderate hiking trails generally cover hillier and/or longer terrain. They may also require more care in watching for trail markers, such as blue blazes and piles of rocks called cairns.

Many Acadia hiking trails climb up to the top of Acadia's small mountain peaks. In fact, we find these trails to be the most fun. There's nothing like the reward of a view of the sea, forest, and rocky coast in every direction.

However, what determines whether these trails are graded moderate or strenuous is the route they take up the mountain. Trails that travel the ridges are generally more of a gentle slope, though there may be occasional short steep grades.

They may take longer, but they're easier to do. On the other hand, trails that climb up one of the faces of the mountain tend to be steep and may even require the use of ladders or rock scrambling. So, these are judged strenuous.

Here are some of the best moderate level Acadia hiking trails...

Bear Brook Trail

This 2.2 mile trails travels to the top of Champlain Mountain and offers great views of Frenchman Bay over pine-covered slopes. It climbs along the ridge, and is one of the easiest routes up Champlain, and also the closest mountain ridge to the shore. It descends to the Bowl, and also offers views of Jackson Laboratory and Beaver Pond.

Gorham Mountain Trail

We did this trail for the first time on our last trip to Acadia. We actually decided to do it as a second hike on a day when we just hadn't gotten enough of an Acadia hiking fix from our first hike of the day.

It's another lovely ridge hike near the coast. It starts on the Ocean Path, passes Thunder Hole, and then starts climbing. Along the way, you'll pass Cadillac Cliffs, but stairs make climbing them a snap.

North Ridge Cadillac

This hike spawned one of our Acadia stories. It's very long... because it traverses the ridge up Cadillac, the tallest Acadia mountain. It follows a historical wagon route that wealthy vacationers used to travel to picnic at the peak, and for much of the route parallels today's Cadillac Mountain road.

So, while it's quite lovely—and any hike up Cadillac is a treat—if it's solitude you're after, this probably isn't the hike for you.

Our Favorite Moderate Acadia Hiking Trails

Jordan Stream Trail to Seal Harbor

This is one of our favorite Acadia hiking trails and somewhat of a secret treasure. If you want to experience every element of Acadia (other than a mountaintop), you can't go wrong with this great hiking trail. From rocky stream in the deep forest to marsh to seashore, it has it all.

South Bubble-Jordan Pond Ramble

This is our first hike every time we go to Acadia! It's challenging, but not too challenging... and a great way to "break into" Acadia hiking. It's up, down, and around... with a special treat!

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