Parking
Use the Schoodic Institute campus south parking lot. Enter from Schoodic Point Road, follow Acadia Drive and Musetti Drive west, then find the trail marker at the northwest edge beside the forest.
Overview
About Sundew Trail
Why go
- Several distinct shore openings along an easy forest walk.
- A short boardwalk gives the plant-named trail a specific payoff.
Heads up
- The mapped trail is one-way; plan a campus-path return or retrace it.
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 Sundew 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 trailhead
Rockefeller Hall’s Navy Past0:00 / 0:35
“Rockefeller Hall is coming up, a welcome center in a building made for the Navy in nineteen thirty-four. John D. Rockefeller Junior paid for it as part of a base focused on radio communications with Europe.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Schoodic Point’s Dark Rock Bands
- Blueberry Hill’s Island View
- Schoodic Head’s Wooded Summit
- East Trail’s Steep Schoodic Climb
- 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 Sundew Trail
A short walk to the waterSundew Trail is a 0.
Sundew Trail is a 0.7-mile one-way nature trail on the Schoodic Institute campus, running from the south parking lot through coastal forest to the north end of campus. It is mostly level and easy to follow, with a few openings onto granite shoreline. Allow about 45 minutes for the marked route, plus time for shore spurs. This is point-to-point, not a loop: return on campus paths and roads or retrace your steps. The mapped length covers the named trail only.
Step out for the coastAbout 0.
About 0.2 mile from the parking lot, the first shore spur reaches granite with a west-facing view across Frenchman Bay toward Mount Desert Island and Cadillac Mountain. Farther on, separate openings reach a beach of loose pink granite and a quieter, tree-lined look into West Pond Cove. At the first rocky opening, keep some granite in the foreground with the distant island beyond; it gives a phone photo a sense of the coast's rough surface and scale.
Look closely at the boardwalkNear the north end, a short wooden boardwalk crosses wet, boggy ground.
Near the north end, a short wooden boardwalk crosses wet, boggy ground. This is the best place to look for sundews and other small carnivorous plants, though they can be easy to miss. The main path is earth, with short wooden and gravel sections near the northern end.
Start at the south lotEnter the campus from Schoodic Point Road, then follow Acadia Drive and Musetti Drive west to…
Enter the campus from Schoodic Point Road, then follow Acadia Drive and Musetti Drive west to the south parking lot. The trail marker is at the northwest edge, where the lot meets the forest. The route finishes at a small pavilion on the north side of campus. From there, use campus paths and roads to return or walk back along the trail. Dogs are allowed; keep them on a leash no longer than six feet.
A former listening stationThe campus was a U.S.
The campus was a U.S. Navy listening station until it closed in 2002 and returned to park control. Today the Schoodic Institute uses the site for research, classes and conferences, so this walk threads a coastal forest and shore through a working research campus rather than a remote stretch of park.
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.
