Acadia National Park in Maine offers numerous walking and hiking trails of all levels. One of the longer hiking trails is the moderate 8.4 mile (13.5 km) North Ridge Trail up and back down Cadillac Mountain.

Before starting your hike stop at the Visitor’s Center for the excellent film on the history of Acadia National Park. Then a short drive on the Park Loop Road brings you to the trail head. There is no parking lot so join the other cars along the side the road.

The trail is easy to follow with a mixture of painted blazes and rock piles as you gently climb up the mountain. If you take just a short walk off the main trail you will find wild blueberries. There were plenty of vantage points along the way to observe the rugged Maine coastline and Schoodic Peninsula across the Frenchman Bay. Below us was the resort town of Bar Harbor and two cruise ships anchored just off shore.

As the trail neared the top you are mainly walking across rock until you reach one of the viewing platforms. When we arrived there was a park ranger with binoculars watching for migrating birds of prey which were then identified for the surrounding crowd.

Cadillac Mountain is Acadia’s tallest peak at 1,530 feet and the viewing platforms were crowded with many people who had driven up the other side of the mountain. There is also a small store and snack bar at the top.

If the North Ridge trail sounds too easy then try the South Ridge Trail which also climbs 1530 feet but is 14.8 miles (23.8 km) with some strenuous sections. For easy walking there is the extensive network of Carriage trails.

To get the most from your visit get a copy of Acadia, The Complete Guide: Mount Desert Island & Acadia National Park

Although we were hiking on a long summer weekend we found hiking in Acadia National Park enjoyable with the trails actually not too crowded.