Acadia National Park in Mount Desert Island, Maine is known for its rocky beaches, granite peaks, and stunning views of the Atlantic. You’ve perhaps imagined a trip to Acadia to be about hiking the Cadillac mountain to catch the first rays of sunlight on the eastern coast or camping in the woods to enjoy a starlit sky at night or treating yourself to delicacies such as lobster rolls and clam chowder.
In addition to these popular choices, you should consider exploring the Carriage Roads if you are planning a trip to the national park. In this post, I am writing about my recent biking experience in the Carriage Roads, and hopefully this will give you motivation to include it in your plan.
A brief history
The Carriage Roads are a 45-mile network of gravel roads that run through Acadia National Park and offer amazing views of the landscape and lake systems. The roads were originally constructed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. as a means to travel in and out of Mount Desert Island without using the byways at that time. Today it is maintained by the National Park Service and a non-profit organization known as Friends of Acadia and used mostly by tourists for recreation.
Biking
If you are a beginner-to-intermediate biker like me, you can certainly ride most of the Carriage Roads within a few hours. To give you context, my wife and I bike about 3-4 miles twice a week, and we finished the Tri-Lakes Loop in 3 hours. We do not consider ourselves regular bikers.
Since the roads are surfaced with fine gravel, you may benefit from a hybrid or mountain bike. Bikes may be rented from stores in Bar Harbor or you can bring your own bikes like we did. Be sure to carry water for hydration and a few energy bars as there are very few convenience options on the roads. There will be plenty of other riders if you are riding in the summer or fall, and you will have a lot of company.
Entrance points
Technically, you can start riding from anywhere in the network, but there are a couple of key spots which I mention below.
If you are staying or coming from Bar Harbor or any of the campgrounds in the western region of Mount Desert Island, you can find parking near the Eagle Lake Bridge. This is a great spot to start from with a brilliant view of Eagle Lake.
If you are camping for the night in Blackwoods campground or coming in from the south-eastern region, your best bet is to park at the parking lot near Jordan Pond House. This is the larger parking lot with plenty of spots, restrooms, and a busy restaurant. This is where we started our ride from.
Riding from Jordan Pond House
We didn’t really have an initial plan for which roads we would bike on. In general, I think may be good to make that decision given the traffic and weather on the day. In our case, we were blessed with good weather and light traffic. We got the map I shared above from the gift shop near Jordan Pond House and decided to do the Tri-Lakes loop which encompasses Eagle Lake, Jordan Pond, and Bubble Pond.
We started our ride from the entrance near Jordan Pond Gate Lodge and took the path along the west of Jordan Pond towards Eagle Lake which quickly evolved into an incline. This would be the first of the numerous inclines we had to bike through, but fear not, with difficult uphill climbs there comes speedy declines which are a lot of fun to ride on these roads. Just make sure your tires are not over-inflated in which case you will lose the much needed handling.
The ride along this section featured stunning views of Jordan Pond on our right. We sometimes crossed a few barren stretches with the occasional tree offering shade for rest. Other times we were riding through the cool forest. The roads are well marked with cedar signs which is great because you won’t need to bring out your phone to get directions.
Eagle Lake and Bubble Pond
We reached Eagle lake after a fun series of inclines and declines. From the northern side, you can get a clear view of the lake and the hills surrounding Jordan Pond. We spent a few minutes here enjoying the view and took some pictures for my Acadia collection. This was the farthest point of our journey and we decided to head back from here.
Getting back
The way back to Jordan Pond was just as beautiful. There were more declines on this route and we were a lot faster than before. But that didn’t mean we didn’t have to stop a few times to catch our breath. By the time we reached Bubble Pond, we were already quite tired. We found a nice spot to rest under a tree and enjoyed the view of the lake.
Final thoughts
Biking along the Carriage paths was a unique and fun experience. It is perhaps not as popular a choice as other activities in Acadia, but that actually makes it a little more enjoyable by getting you away from the hustle-bustle of the popular areas. If you like biking I would definitely recommend it as one of the best ways to explore Acadia National Park.
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