Parking
Use the National Park Service Eagle Lake Road parking area at the carriage-road access, just north of Eagle Lake. Follow the numbered intersections from the access.
Overview
About Aunt Betty Pond Loop
Why go
- A longer walk with a distinctive marsh and worthwhile bird habitat.
- Historic gravel roads and an easy-to-follow numbered junction system.
Heads up
- Most of the outing is shared carriage road rather than a narrow hiking trail.
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Acadia alerts
- CautionAvoid water contact at Sand Beach LagoonDo not swim at Sand Beach Lagoon. - Bacterial levels have exceeded public-health standards, so the NPS has posted a Public Health Advisory.Official details
- ClosureSchoodic Mountain Road closed for repairsSchoodic Mountain Road is closed from Schoodic Loop Road to the summit of Schoodic Head. - The closure began August 31 for resurfacing, regrading, and ditching.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Acadia Tour Guide
Your drive to Aunt Betty Pond Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Acadia National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Eagle Lake and Its Granite-Clad Arch0:00 / 0:33
“You're approaching Eagle Lake's carriage-road entrance, beside the broad stone arch carrying Route Two Thirty-Three.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Kebo Brook and Kebo Mountain
- The Beaver’s Sharpening Trick
- Where Autumn Colors Come From
- Cadillac Mountain’s North Ridge
- 116 audio storiesacross Acadia’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 142 trails, 72 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“…As we drove through Acadia it gave us a tour, which was really cool. Lots of great info about the parks and how to avoid the crowds. It’s a great travel companion!”
Trail guide
Hiking Aunt Betty Pond Loop
The full loopThis is a 6.
This is a 6.1-mile loop from the Eagle Lake carriage-road access, with about 2 to 2½ hours of walking. The surface is broad, crushed gravel, and the route rolls through the woods rather than climbing to a summit. Choose it for a longer, low-key walk and the wetland at Aunt Betty Pond; choose a mountain trail if a summit or ocean view is your goal.
Follow the numbered routeHead toward Signpost 11 at Aunt Betty Pond, then loop back toward Signpost 8 and the access…
Head toward Signpost 11 at Aunt Betty Pond, then loop back toward Signpost 8 and the access along the west side of Eagle Lake. These are carriage roads, not narrow hiking paths, so follow the numbered junction signs through the network. The roads are shared with cyclists and horse-drawn carriages; make room for them, and everyone yields to horses.
A pond that's mostly wetlandAunt Betty Pond is more marsh than open water.
Aunt Betty Pond is more marsh than open water. Look and listen along its wet edge for Swamp Sparrow and Tree Swallow; it is also one of the few places in Acadia known for breeding Northern Waterthrush. In the surrounding mixed woods, NPS notes summer singers such as Blackburnian Warbler, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Winter Wren. Summer and fall are good seasons for migrating or breeding songbirds.
Old carriage roadsThis walk uses part of Acadia's 45-mile carriage-road system, built between 1913 and 1940 with…
This walk uses part of Acadia's 45-mile carriage-road system, built between 1913 and 1940 with Rockefeller family funding. The roads were designed to follow the contours of the land and are wide enough for several kinds of users, so expect company from bikes and horse-drawn carriages.
Access and rulesStart from the Eagle Lake Road carriage-road access parking area and follow the numbered…
Start from the Eagle Lake Road carriage-road access parking area and follow the numbered intersections. A park entrance pass is required May 1 through October 31; NPS lists no separate reservation for this walk. Dogs are allowed on the carriage roads on a leash no longer than six feet.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Acadia
130 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around noonSighting map
21 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
396 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
305 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
201 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsMinkMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Acadia. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
