Parking
Use the Jordan Pond House parking area and carriage-road entrance behind the house at sign 15; follow the numbered route to Intersection 16, the circuit start. The Bubbles parking area is another access.
Overview
About Jordan Pond Carriage Road Loop
Why go
- Four historic bridges, including the waterfall crossing at Deer Brook
- Wide gravel roads with mostly rolling grades
Heads up
- The 8.6-mile circuit takes a half-day
- Cyclists and horse-drawn carriages share the route
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 Jordan Pond Carriage Road 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 area
Jordan Pond and Popovers0:00 / 0:32
“Jordan Pond is coming up, with the rounded peaks called the Bubbles at the far end of the water. Walk down to the south shore for that classic view; you don't need to circle the lake to enjoy it.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Stanley Brook Bridge’s Three Crossings
- Wildwood Stables by Carriage
- South Triad’s Wooded Summit
- The Hermit Crab's Borrowed Shell
- 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 Jordan Pond Carriage Road Loop
What you get for the milesThe Jordan Pond Carriage Road Loop is an 8.
The Jordan Pond Carriage Road Loop is an 8.6-mile circuit on broad gravel carriage roads linking the west side of Jordan Pond with Day Mountain, Bubble Pond and Eagle Lake. Plan about four hours with stops. It's a long, nontechnical half-day for the old stone crossings and the changing pond-side stretches, not a summit hike. If you only want Jordan Pond, the separate 3.3-mile Jordan Pond Path follows the shoreline; it isn't a shorter version of this loop.
Follow the numbered circuitThe loop runs 16–10–8–7–17–16.
The loop runs 16–10–8–7–17–16. It follows Jordan Pond's west side, reaches Day Mountain at its southeast corner, then goes west of Bubble Pond and along the south side of Eagle Lake. Intersection 10S is the high point. The Bubble Pond stretch is nearly flat; elsewhere the carriage road rolls. Check the intersection numbers at junctions so you don't drift onto the shoreline path or a different carriage-road loop.
Four bridges break up the walkThe circuit crosses four named bridges: Jordan Pond Dam Bridge (1920), Deer Brook Bridge…
The circuit crosses four named bridges: Jordan Pond Dam Bridge (1920), Deer Brook Bridge (1925), Bubble Pond Bridge (1928), and Triad-Day Mountain Bridge (1940). Deer Brook Bridge spans a brook by a waterfall near Jordan Pond's north end. Take a moment there; framing both stone arches with the rocky channel below shows the bridge's shape and the watercourse. At Bubble Pond, the older bridge is now a relic after the road was realigned in the 1960s.
A carriage road, sharedThese are wide, gravel roads, but they're shared with cyclists and horse-drawn carriages.
These are wide, gravel roads, but they're shared with cyclists and horse-drawn carriages. Walk on the right and expect others to pass. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than six feet. Carriage roads close during spring mud season while the gravel is vulnerable to ruts and erosion, so check current conditions before setting out.
Start, pass and nearby foodA practical access is the Jordan Pond House parking area and the carriage-road entrance behind…
A practical access is the Jordan Pond House parking area and the carriage-road entrance behind the house at sign 15; follow the numbered road to Intersection 16, the loop's start. The Bubbles parking area is another NPS-listed access. Jordan Pond House is a separate meal stop near the route, not food service along the loop. Visitors aged 16 or older entering the park on foot need a valid park entrance pass.
Why these roads look differentJohn D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family gave Acadia its carriage-road system.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family gave Acadia its carriage-road system. About 45 miles were built from 1913 to 1940 using broken stone. This loop is one circuit in that larger network, and its bridges are part of the experience as much as the ponds are.
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.
