Parking
No parking is available at the Route 3 trailhead beside the Acadia Inn, across from College of the Atlantic. Approach on area sidewalks. The mapped connector ends at Duck Brook Road; plan your return or onward carriage-road route separately.
Overview
About Duck Brook Connector Trail
Why go
- A direct walk from Route 3 toward Acadia’s carriage roads
- Short enough to add as a simple point-to-point connector
Heads up
- No parking at the Route 3 trailhead
- Walking back the same way doubles the connector distance
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 Duck Brook Connector Trail, 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 area
The Loon Beneath the Surface0:00 / 0:26
“If you spot a loon on one of the lakes, watch what happens when it dives. Its solid bones help it sink, while its feet, set far back on the body, drive it through the water after fish.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Bat's Feeding Buzz
- The Paycheck Behind the Park
- Duck Brook Bridge and Farrand’s Landscape
- Bar Island’s Low-Tide Crossing
- 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 Duck Brook Connector Trail
A short connector, one wayDuck Brook Connector Trail is a 0.
Duck Brook Connector Trail is a 0.46-mile point-to-point walk from Route 3 beside the Acadia Inn to Duck Brook Road. That distance is for the mapped connector in one direction; walking back the same way makes it about 0.92 mile. Allow roughly 15–20 minutes each way. It’s a useful way to reach the carriage-road network on foot, while the longer outings to Duck Brook Bridge are separate routes.
Start beside the Acadia InnThe Route 3 entrance is across from College of the Atlantic.
The Route 3 entrance is across from College of the Atlantic. There is no parking at the trailhead, so approach on area sidewalks. The connector climbs about 140 feet through a wooded corridor before meeting Duck Brook Road. From there you can turn back or choose a longer carriage-road walk; that extra mileage is not included here. A visitor photo from the path shows a boardwalk section, but the whole connector’s surface is not documented. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than six feet.
A village-to-park linkThe trail was dedicated on National Trails Day in 2012 as the fifth of Mount Desert Island’s…
The trail was dedicated on National Trails Day in 2012 as the fifth of Mount Desert Island’s Village Connector Trails. Its appeal is practical: it joins the Route 3 corridor to Acadia’s carriage roads without making the bridge itself the destination. Treat Duck Brook Bridge as a separate stop reached by a longer walk through the carriage-road system.
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.
