The Best Acadia National Park Trails You're Probably Skipping

Ask anyone about Acadia National Park trails and you'll hear the same names: Beehive, Precipice, Cadillac Mountain.

All great hikes—all on the busy eastern side of Mount Desert Island. But the island's quieter western half has its own trail system, its own stories, and a lot fewer crowds.

This side of the island—Somesville, Pretty Marsh, Bass Harbor, Southwest Harbor—burned almost entirely in a single catastrophic fire in October 1947. What grew back is the reason Acadia's fall foliage looks the way it does today, and it's also where you'll find some of the park's most peaceful, least-crowded trails.

TAKE A SELF-GUIDED TOUR OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND:

Acadia's Mount Desert Loop Driving Tour connects several of these quieter trailheads into one scenic route, with stories triggering automatically as you drive.

Along the way you'll learn:

• Why this side of the island looked completely different before 1947

• How a Rockefeller heir spent decades building 57 miles of car-free carriage roads

• The real story behind Cadillac Mountain's name—and its surprising link to a car company and the city of Detroit

Most visitors spend 3 to 5 hours exploring the full loop.

Check out Acadia's Mount Desert Loop Driving Tour here.

TRAILS ALONG THE QUIET SIDE:

• Acadia Mountain Trail - A moderate hike near The Bluffs, with sweeping views over Somes Sound.

• Ship Harbor Trail - An easy loop near Bass Harbor, tracing the island's rocky coastline.

• Canon Brook Trailhead - A quieter access point for hikers heading toward Cadillac Mountain from the south.

• Carriage Road Trails - Miles of car-free, crushed-stone paths originally built for horses and pedestrians, still open to hikers and cyclists today.

WHAT MAKES THIS SIDE DIFFERENT:

The eastern side of Mount Desert Island—the one with Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Cadillac Mountain's summit road—draws the overwhelming majority of Acadia's visitors.

The western side burned in the Great Fire of 1947, which reshaped 17,000 acres of the island in a single week and ended the Gilded Age estates that once lined the shore.

What grew back—fast-growing birch, aspen, and maple—is why this half of the island erupts in color every October.

That history means the trails here feel different: quieter, less developed, closer to the working fishing villages that dot the coastline.

PLAN YOUR TRIP:

Want the full breakdown—where to eat, where to stay in Bar Harbor, and how to plan a one or two-day visit? Our Mount Desert Island travel guide covers all of it.

Check out our Acadia National Park travel guide to plan your trip.