Hiking on carriage roads is like hiking on rails-to-trails, a little goes a long way unless you realize you have an opportunity not usually available when hiking. You don’t have to stare at your feet; you can enjoy the world around you and concentrate on finding the next perfect scene.
Thanks to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Acadia NP has 45 miles of pathways designed for motor-free travel in some of the most scenic valleys of the park. Whether on a bike or your feet, you won’t have to huff and puff up any steep grades, although some are more than the 2-3% of railroad grades. In the summer, one can actually travel the roads in a horse-drawn carriage. In the winter, cross-country skiers and snowmobilers use the roads.

Your carriage awaits!
The paths are roads in the sense they are 16 feet wide with a 6-8 inch crown and wide culverts that insure good drainage.

On the Carriage Road around Witch Hole Pond

Carriage Road along Eagle Lake
The roadsides were carefully landscaped and groomed, and many coping stones were placed as guardrails or to define the roadway.

Coping Stones
One of the delights of traveling the carriage roads is finding the next hand-built stone-covered bridge.

Three-arched Duck Brook Bridge
The Duck Brook Bridge’s central arch is 30 feet wide, while the two flanking arches are 20 feet. Corbelled, semi-circular balconies provide viewing platforms

Duck Brook Bridge Viewing Platform
for taking in the scene along Duck Brook.

Duck Brook, scene 1

Duck Brook, scene 2
The triple-arched Stanley Brook Bridge carries a carriage road over Stanley Brook, the road connecting Jordan Pond to Seal Harbor, and the Seaside Trail. Note how this less symetrical, more rustic-looking bridge differs from the one over Duck Brook.

Stanley Brook Bridge
A multi-million dollar restoration of the carriage roads and their bridges began in the 1990s as an experiment in public-private partnerships for the National Park Service. Maintenance of the roads is a continual battle against nature, but the Friends of Acadia contribute thousands of hours of manual labor to clear debris and keep the culverts running. After widening the Eagle Lake Bridge to accommodate a busy cross-island road, work continues on restoring its stone facing.

Eagle Lake Bridge


































































































