Great Head Trail map (click to enlarge)

Length: 1.7-mile loop from the Schooner Head Road parking lot
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to moderate

Great Head is a peninsula within Acadia National Park that flanks Sand Beach on the east side. A former home to million-dollar mansions, most of this area burned in a 1947 fire that consumed 17,000 acres on Mount Desert Island. The millionaires lost their homes, and instead of rebuilding, they decided to donate the land to Acadia National Park in 1949.

The Great Head Trail is a Figure 8-shaped oval that runs in a north to south direction around Great Head Peninsula. A center cut-through trail allows you to hike either the north or south loop on its own (all of the good scenery is on the south end). The trail can be accessed from either a parking lot on Schooner Head Road or from Sand Beach. I recommend Schooner Head Road because you don’t have to deal with Sand Beach, one of the most congested areas in the park. The Great Head Trail is just a .1-mile walk down a connector path from the parking lot.

If you decide to start the hike at Sand Beach, make your way down to the beach from the parking lot and walk all the way across it to the Great Head Peninsula. Look for a set of stairs that lead up the hill and into the forest. No sign marks or identifies the path, but this is the connector to the Great Head Trail. It is a .2-mile walk from the parking lot.

Walk across Sand Beach to the Great Head Peninsula in Acadia National Park

Connector from Sand Beach to the Great Head Trail, Acadia National Park

One other problem with the Sand Beach option is that at high tide you may have to cross a channel that connects the bay to a lagoon located behind the beach. At low tide the channel dries up and is not a problem.

Channel of water at high tide connects the bay to the lagoon behind Acadia National Park’s Sand Beach

View of Sand Beach and lagoon from the Beehive Trail in Acadia National Park

When in the Sand Beach parking lot, if you see a trailhead with a sign that reads “To Great Head Trail and Parking Area,” do not follow this. This is the Satterlee Trail, and all it does is take you to the Schooner Head Road parking lot nearly .75 mile away. Drive and park there instead.

Satterlee Trail leads to the Schooner Head Road parking area, Acadia National Park

I started the hike at Schooner Head Road. Take the connector trail from the parking lot to the intersection with the Great Head Trail. Being a loop, you can hike in either direction, and it makes no real difference which way you go, but I turned left and hiked in the clockwise direction and will describe the hike in this manner.

The trail surface is a little rough, filled with small rocks and tree roots, but it is an easy hike. In about a tenth of a mile you will start to see the water. A fairly steep side trail leads down to the shore, but pass this by because there are a few other side trails ahead that are much easier and still provide nice views of the coast.

Typical terrain at the start of the Great Head Trail in Acadia National Park

Coast on the east side of Great Head Peninsula in Acadia National Park

For those who just want to hike the upper loop of the Great Head Trail, the cut-through to the west side comes .4 mile from the parking lot. As mentioned, all the best views are at the southern end of the peninsula, so skip this unless you just want to get to Sand Beach or quickly back to the parking lot.

Cut-through trail on the east side of the Great Head Trail at Acadia National Park

The Great Head Trail gets progressively rougher, though still fairly easy as far as Acadia National Park trails go. You will reach the summit of Great Head, 145 feet above sea level, at .6 mile into the hike. The views aren’t that great from here, which so far makes the hike pretty unspectacular.

Typical terrain on the east side of the Great Head Trail near the summit of Great Head, Acadia National Park

Summit of Great Head in Acadia National Park

It is from this point forward that the hike gets difficult, and as you work your way around the point to the west side of Great Head, that’s where the scenery starts. To reach the best views of Sand Beach and Newport Cove you’ll have to hop off the trail and climb onto rocks, and there are plenty of chances to do so.

Views from the southern end of the Great Head Trail in Acadia National Park

Views from the southern end of the Great Head Trail in Acadia National Park

There is one very difficult section where you come to what is essentially a cliff. I sat and slid down the larger boulders, and being as slick as they were, it was like sliding down ice.

Steep, rocky section on the southern end of the Great Head Trail in Acadia National Park

Shortly afterwards you will get your first glimpse of Sand Beach. There are numerous opportunities to see it, ranging from far away at the mouth of Newport Cove to almost directly above it.

View from the Great Head Trail of Sand Beach from the mouth of Newport Cove, Acadia National Park

View from the Great Head Trail directly above Acadia National Park’s Sand Beach

At 1.2 miles into the hike (from the parking lot) is the intersection with the cut-through trail on the west side of the Great Head Trail. Stay to the left, following the sign to Sand Beach.

View of The Beehive from Great Head in Acadia National Park

It’s a tenth of a mile to the connector path to Sand Beach. If this is where you are headed, included in the fun is another slab of granite that is easier to slide down than to walk.

Steep section near the Sand Beach connector to the Great Head Trail at Acadia National Park

Once you pass the connector trail, the Great Head Trail becomes a dirt road that is wide enough to march an army down. Follow this for a third of a mile to the turnoff for the Schooner Head Road parking area to complete the hike.

Typical terrain on the Great Head Trail between Sand Beach and the Schooner Head Road parking lot, Acadia National Park

The Great Head Trail is an excellent starter trail for those new to hiking at Acadia National Park. You’ll get some great views of the rocky Mount Desert Island coast and Sand Beach, and while it has some difficult sections, it’s not anywhere as extreme as the mountain trails. If you hike this and find it too difficult, stick with trails like the Ocean Path. If you love it and want even harder hikes, the mountain summit trails are what you are looking for.

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