Hiking Acadia National Park in October – An Autumn Lover’s Dream
Hiking Acadia National Park at the beginning of October is an autumn lover’s dream. We have four trails to tell you about.
The Beehive Trail extended
The Beehive Trail is a 1.5-mile loop but we extended it to 6 miles by adding in the Bowl, Gorham Mountain, and Ocean Drive. This was our favorite hike and allowed us to see a lot. There was a lot of beautiful forest scenery with bright colors, rock faces, ocean views, fall wildflowers, and lakes. There was quite a bit of elevation change and some climbing required. We would consider it to be on the upper end of moderate.
The Precipice Trail
The Precipice Loop is one of the most popular and difficult hikes in Acadia National Park. The 3.2-mile loop rises 1000 feet in elevation in just 0.9 miles to reach the top of Champlain Mountain. The trail weaves its way up the side of the cliff face utilizing granite stairs and iron rungs to climb as you have magnificent views of the Frenchman Bay to your back. The challenge to ascend is well worth the reward of the view from the summit.
Eagle Lake
Utilizing a few miles of the old carriage roads in Acadia National Park, we had a morning jog around Eagle Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the park. The carriage roads are a great route for bikers as well as they are exceptionally maintained. The colors of leaves and the cool October air made the run that much more enjoyable. Taking a detour off the main trail, we made scrambled up to Conners Nubble which gave us an expansive view to include Sargent Mountain and Cadillac Mountain. During the winter months, the Cadillac Mountain summit is the first place to see the sunrise in the United States.
Jordan Pond Loop with The South Bubble
The Jordan Pond Loop is another super popular trail in the Acadia. The pond is a beautiful, clear lake carved by glaciers. The path around the pond is a boardwalk which could be a nice 3ish mile walk done by itself. The climb up the South Bubble was no joke. It was pretty strenuous but definitely worth it! This is where we saw the most fall colors and it provided an amazing view of the lake.
