One in a series of historic Acadia hiking trail highlights

Travel along two of the oldest paths in Acadia National Park, from Asticou to Jordan Pond, and step through history, starting at the Map House in Northeast Harbor and ending at a plaque off Jordan Pond that honors a modern-day couple’s contributions to Acadia trails forever.

We were inspired to make this 7-mile round-trip hike along the Asticou & Jordan Pond Path and the Jordan Pond Path by a recent talk about Acadia’s historic trails by Gary Stellpflug, retired Acadia National Park trails crew foreman.

Begin at the Asticou & Jordan Pond Path, a woodland path that starts outside the park at the Map House across from the Asticou Inn. The Map House, located in the Mount Desert Land & Garden Preserve, is a pavilion constructed in the village of Asticou by the late Charles K. Savage, in 1938, according to historic documents in the Northeast Harbor Library’s digital archives. Former longtime owner and manager of the Asticou Inn, Savage was also “creator and original designer of both the Asticou Azalea Garden and Thuya Garden,” according to the website of the Land & Garden Preserve, which runs the gardens.

Willa Cather, the early 20^th century novelist who spent some summers in the 1940s, staying at the Asticou Inn, loved stopping for a rest at the Map House, per the Northeast Harbor Library’s digital archives. Savage built the Map House “at his own expense and on his own land for the use of all walkers and passers-by,” according to the library’s digital archives.

Champlain Society built Asticou & Jordan Pond Path in 1880s

The Asticou & Jordan Pond Path, dating back to the 1880s, stands out among the oldest paths in Acadia National Park. It was built by a group of Harvard students who camped at the head of Northeast Harbor in the 1880s and called themselves the Champlain Society, and used it to reach Jordan Pond. Organized by Charles Eliot Jr., the son of Harvard President and Acadia co-founder Charles W. Eliot, the students came together “to study .. the natural history of Mount Desert Island … complete lists of flora and fauna as far as possible, and … to make a geological map of the island,” according to a citation in an NPS report, “Mount Desert Island Hiking Trail System.”

Eliot Jr. formed the first privately funded land trust for public use—the Trustees of Public
Reservations—in Massachusetts in 1891. After he died in 1897, his father in 1901 became inspired to carry on his son’s work and he founded the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, a nonprofit that acquired scenic and threatened lands, some of which subsequently became Acadia National Park.

Another important figure in Acadia history, Edward Rand, was among the Harvard students camping in Northeast Harbor.  Rand was a botanist and cartographer who completed one of the earliest maps of Mount Desert Island in 1893. He was also an early preservationist who wrote about “vandalism” and “destruction” in the MDI forests as early as 1880, per the NPS report, “Mount Desert Island Hiking Trail System.”

Acadia’s historic trails are recounted by retired trails foreman

Gary Stellpflug, who was foreman of the Acadia National Park trails crew for 35 years before he retired in 2022, spoke about the history of the path during his presentation on “Acadia’s Historic Trails” at the June 18 Pints for a Purpose, one in a series hosted by the Friends of Acadia and the Terramor Outdoor Resort. The Asticou & Jordan Pond Path was one of a dozen trails and paths in Acadia National Park that Stellpflug highlighted for their historic significance.

“The Champlain Society named their camp at the head of Northeast Harbor Camp Asticou, after [Wabanaki] Chief Asticou who had lived at Manchester Point [in Northeast Harbor] in the 1600s. There was even a post office with the name Asticou. They named camp Asticou before the hotel [the Asticou Inn was built in 1883],” Stellpflug said.

The Harvard students built and hiked the Asticou & Jordan Pond Path because they wanted some treats at the Jordan Pond House, he added. George and John Jordan had built the Jordan Pond House in 1847 and planted a small apple orchard.

Clara Barnes Martin, in her last edition 1885 guidebook, noted the path “traveled 2 miles to Jordan Pond, and was well marked with red arrows and blazes,” Stellpflug added.

Some of the other trails highlighted for their history by Stellpflug included the Beech Cliff area trails, the Acadia Mountain Trail, the Bald Peak Trail, the Bar Island Trail and the Great Head Trail.

Rehab of Asticou & Jordan Pond Path follows historic standards

The Asticou & Jordan Pond Path received a much-needed restoration in 2014 when it was extensively rehabbed to the historic standards by trail crews in Acadia National Park. The Acadia Trails Crew is recognized nationally for its maintenance and other work on trails and paths in Acadia National Park.

The Asticou & Jordan Pond Path is a mostly easy hike with lots of shade and several stepping stones to take you over Little Harbor Brook. In the area known as Faint Hill, the path gets a little more difficult. Here, park crews studied old photos of a stairway before restoring or adding about 150 stone steps.

Jordan Pond Path also steeped in history, dating back to 1890s

At Jordan Pond, to continue the walk through history along the paths in Acadia National Park, follow the east side of the Jordan Pond Path, a 3.3 mile loop around the pond. The path’s history includes sections that date to 1890, 1896, and 1898, with substantial village improvement society construction work in the 1920s and Civilian Conservation Corps work in 1930s, according to the report on the historic Mount Desert Island Hiking Trail System in the National Register of Historic Places.

At 0.7 mile on the Jordan Pond Path, we reached a spot that marks modern history: a plaque that honors Ruth and Tris Colket, “ardent hikers” who gave $5 million to the Acadia Trails Forever campaign of the Friends of Acadia. The campaign financed the restoration and ongoing care of hiking trails and made Acadia the first national park to have trail maintenance funded by an endowment. The campaign, totaling $13 million, also was funded by $4 million in park user fees and federal money and another $4 million in private donations raised by the Friends of Acadia.

Tris Colket was the grandson of the late John T. Dorrance, who invented condensed soup and founded the Campbell Soup Co. Tris also was an entrepreneur who acquired and founded several companies in metal manufacturing, software development, robotics, high-tech manufacturing equipment and the airline industry, according to his obituary in 2020.

Ruth Colket is continuing the couple’s philanthropic work on Mount Desert Island.  She is honorary chair of Mount Desert Island Hospital’s “Building Our Future Campaign” and committed $4 million to the effort, among the largest gifts in the hospital’s history, according to a press release in December 2025 from the hospital.

Colket also provided a major boost to hiking when she gave $200,000 to the Friends of Acadia as a matching gift toward construction of a new path in Acadia National Park to connect the two parking lots on Cadillac Mountain. Funded by the Friends of Acadia, the pedestrian path on Cadillac Mountain is designed to improve safety and offer more access to the physically disabled, as well as make it easier for visitors to catch the best sunset views, available off the smaller, secondary parking lot.

To retrace history along Asticou & Jordan Pond Path yourselves, it’s best to start from the Jordan Pond end. Walk behind the Jordan Pond House and follow a sign that says, “To Asticou, Spring Trail, Penobscot & Sargent Mtn Trails.” Cross a carriage road and follow a sign that says, “Penobscot and Sargent Mtn Trails” over a small footbridge. The trailhead is on the other side of the foot bridge on the left where a sign says, “Sargent South Ridge Trail.” It’s 2.4 miles one way to the Map House. You can add a little more than a half mile one way on the east shore of Jordan Pond to reach the Acadia Trails Forever plaque.