Length: 1.4-mile double loop
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: First loop is ADA compliant; second loop is easy with a few hills
The Ship Harbor Trail is a figure-8-shaped loop that runs along Ship Harbor on the west side of Acadia National Park’s Mount Desert Island. The trail has its own parking lot alongside Highway 120 that holds roughly two dozen vehicles; if it fills up you can park along the road. There is a chemical toilet—fancy outhouse—in the parking lot.
The first loop of the trail is accessible to disabled visitors in wheelchairs, while the second covers hilly terrain and is not ADA compliant. However, it is easy compared to most trails within Acadia National Park.
The Ship Harbor Trail passes through the forest for most of the way, so you will not be exposed to the sun that often. I did have a problem with mosquitoes during my late August visit, though only on the first loop for some reason.
The hike starts off on a gravel path that runs for a tenth of a mile before coming to the first loop. It makes no difference which direction you travel around the loop, but I went to the left, starting in the clockwise direction (away from the harbor) and will describe the hike in this manner.
As mentioned, the first loop of the Ship Harbor Trail is ADA compliant. When I did the hike, the National Park Service was in the process of updating the trail by constructing level paths.
The intersection of the two loops is reached at .3 mile into the hike. Wanting to avoid climbing the wooden-step staircase facing me if I continued the hike in the clockwise direction, I opted to take a right at the intersection and hike in a counterclockwise manner. As it turned out, there were wooden stairs on the right side just as soon as I turned the corner, so again, it really makes no difference as to which way you go.
By taking a right, I now switched over to the side of the trail that runs along Ship Harbor, so the scenery is much more interesting—the interior side of the trail is nothing but a walk in the forest. At the half-mile mark is a set of stairs that leads down to the shore. It’s less than a minute’s walk and worth the detour. Unfortunately, it was foggy when I hiked the trail, so the view was certainly not as nice as it could have been.
After the detour, the trail becomes very rocky and full of roots. Watch your step to avoid twisting an ankle. This is why the second loop is not ADA compliant.
At the far end of the second loop—.8 mile into the hike—the trail comes to a wonderful view of the rocky coast at the mouth of Ship Harbor where the waves are much more violent. Feel free to walk out on the rock shelf that overlooks the harbor. There are some crevices, but other than that, the dry rocks are easy to walk on.
The shoreline is rocky, which makes tide pooling—searching for sea creatures—possible in the small pools left behind by the retreating water at low tide. In fact, there is quite a bit of shoreline exposed during this time. The only thing to be aware of is that the algae and seaweed that covers the rocks are as slippery as ice. I saw two people sustain serious injuries due to falls on slick rocks while I was at Acadia National Park, though not at Ship Harbor.
Continue walking along the rocks, but be on the lookout for the spot where the trail darts back into the woods. From here until the intersection of the two loops, the trail remains in the forest and the hike is uneventful.
Once back at the intersection, take the fork to the left and continue the hike along the shore on the ADA loop. Now much farther inland, the waters of Ship Harbor are calmer. From the intersection it is just .4 mile back to the parking lot.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on September 2, 2023