Hiking the Asticou Trail

By Melanie Brooks
Photos by Brian Brooks

On Sunday, Sidekick Shane and I headed down to MDI to meet up with my parents, Brian and Mary Ellen, for a fabulous fall hike. We headed onto the Park Loop Road and over to The Jordan Pond House to find the Asticou Trail. None of us had hiked it before, but my mom had found it in a book and wanted to try it.

It was a winding trail through the woods. Not great for leaf peeping views, but a nice hike nonetheless. The biggest downer? We didn't have a really good map to chart our way. One of the maps we had charted the Carriage Trails, the other charted some of the hiking trails. We should have just broken down and bought the hiking trail Acadia sells. That would have fixed our consternation as to what way we could go. Clearly I seem to know the way...


My mom wins the award for finding the coolest thing on the trail. She spotted this blaze orange crop of mushrooms, first thinking it was someone's hunting vest.



We would have given anything for a nice warm cup of lobster bisque and a couple of popovers at The Jordan Pond House -- but thanks to two cruise ships and leaf peeping season, the wait was 40 minutes. We headed into Bar Harbor for lunch instead.

This will probably be my last trip to Acadia until the snow flies. I just got a new ski jacket and gloves and I'm looking forward to getting cross country ski lessons on the Carriage Trails from my friend Nicole Ouellette this winter.