How Many Peaks Are There in Acadia?
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—For those of us who like a challenge and maybe 26 goals or just bragging rights, hiking all peaks in Acadia National Park is a thing.
It’s a big thing.
It isn’t that the mountains of Acadia are like the mountains out west or the Alps or the Andes, but there’s something about them, about the rungs, the ladders, the boardwalks, the scrambles, that captures your soul.
The problem for peak baggers is this: How many peaks are there?
And wait . . . is a peak the same thing as a summit?
“Peak and summit are often used interchangeably to refer to the highest point of a mountain or hill,” according to This vs That. “However, there is a subtle difference between the two terms. A peak is typically used to describe a pointed or sharp top of a mountain, while a summit is more commonly used to refer to the highest point or the top of a mountain or hill. Both terms convey the idea of reaching the highest point of elevation, but peak may imply a more dramatic or prominent top, while summit is a more general term for the highest point.”
A few different websites list 26 peaks in the park so that you can check them off, one by one, a bucket list of peaks on the island.
The park itself?
Right now it’s a little cagey, saying, “Today, there are more than 20 named mountains and summits that rise from the sea and comprise much of Mount Desert Island. These mountains inspired the French colonizer Samuel de Champlain to name the island ‘Ile des Monts Desert’ in 1604, meaning the ‘Island of Barren Mountains.’ These mountains are not as barren as denoted by this name.”
HERE IS A LIST WE HAVE. ARE WE MISSING ANY?
1) Cadillac (Green) – 1,530 feet.
2) Sargent – 1,373 feet.
3) Dorr (Flying Squadron) – 1,270 feet.
4) Pemetic – 1,248 feet.
5) Penobscot (Jordan) – 1,194 feet.
6) Bernard (of Western) – 1,071 feet.
7) Champlain (Newport) – 1,058 feet.
8) Gilmore – 1,036 feet.
9) Bald – 974 feet.
10) Mansell (of Western) – 949 feet.
11) Cedar Swamp – 942 feet.
12) Parkman (Little Brown) – 941 feet.
13) North Bubble – 872 feet.
14) Norumbega (Brown) – 852 feet.
15) Beech – 839 feet.
16) South Bubble – 766 feet.
17) Huguenot Head (Picket) – 731 feet.
18) The Triad – 698 feet.
19) Acadia (Robinson) – 681 feet.
20) St. Sauveur (Dog) – 679 feet.
21) Conners Nubble – 588 feet.
22) Day – 580 feet.
23) Gorham – 525 feet
24) The Beehive – 520 feet.
25) Kebo – 407 feet
26) Flying – 284 feet.
Thanks for this article! This is the list we've used (We finally hit the last one on our last trip, so we've now done all of them at least once.) There are other potential peaks/summits that don't have trails (Young's, McFarland, Halfway etc.), but we decided those don't count. I guess by that standard, Huguenot Head is a bit questionable since the Beechcraft Path doesn't go to the top, though it goes quite close.