The Schoodic Peninsula is home to a remarkable landscape of dense spruce forests, jack pine woodlands, shrubby heaths, cobble beaches, granite headlands, deep harbors and rugged islands. Bounded by Frenchman Bay to the west, Gouldsboro Bay to the east and the Gulf of Maine along its southern margin, the peninsula is a true natural gem of Maine’s bold Downeast coastline.

Two towns make up the Schoodic Peninsula. Winter Harbor encompasses the southern reaches, which feature the extraordinary Schoodic District of Acadia National Park, the only mainland chunk of the park, while Gouldsboro takes in the lands on both sides of U.S. Route 1, stretching from the center of the peninsula north toward Tunk Lake.

The “quiet side” of Acadia National Park may be considered by most to be the west side of Mount Desert Island, but that label might be better applied to Schoodic. Despite having attracted increased attention when it expanded to 3,450 acres in late 2015 thanks to a large private donation of land and recreational infrastructure, Schoodic still sees just a fraction of the annual visitors that overwhelm the park proper – from Sand Beach to Jordan Pond to Bass Harbor Light – on MDI.

Enjoy the network of meandering trails and bike paths, amble in awe over the wave-splashed pink granite at Schoodic Point, check out the cool log and stone visitor information center and perhaps camp at the park’s Schoodic Woods Campground.

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From Colorado to Oregon to Maine, these incredible winter hiking trails offer beautiful views, wildlife-spotting opportunities, and fewer crowds.

If you have a habit of stashing your hiking boots the moment cooler temperatures arrive, you’ve been missing out. In the winter, the nation’s best hiking trails clear out and you can walk for miles without seeing another soul. Strap on a pair of snowshoes and stomp across glittering, snow-covered fields, or avoid the snow entirely and head south, where you’ll find plenty of dry terrain that’s too hot to brave in the summer.

The secret to winter hiking is making sure you have the gear necessary to stay warm, kick through snow, and outsmart the sun. Appropriate footwear and versatile lightweight layers are key. And since the days are shorter, you’ll want to make sure you give yourself plenty of time to finish your hike before darkness falls and the views you came for disappear.

To get you started, here are some favorite winter hiking trails…

There’s a Maine town trying to identify the hiker who built a replacement bridge next to a collapsed one along a hiking trail on a popular 308-acre preserve. “When outside entities create trails and structures without notifying our department, that leads to confusion for hikers and others” using the Lowell Preserve, Windham town manager Barry Tibbetts posted on Facebook.

The post drew widespread criticism from Mainers who felt the town was targeting the hiker for wrongdoing, instead of thanking them for installing a safe crossing on a municipal trail that had become dangerous. The town’s post was edited the next day to apologize and “thank” the anonymous hiker for making the repairs.

Although its one-person parks and recreation department routinely receives calls about felled trees or animals along the path, Tibbetts said the broken bridge had not been reported to the town, which maintains the preserve with help from partners. The old bridge will be removed and the new one will be “inspected for functionality,” he said.

Tibbetts said that no one had offered information about the hiker yet, but they won’t face repercussions if identified. “If you want to find the person you might try interviewing people picking up litter off the sidewalks, giving lost strangers directions or shoveling the walkways of the elderly,” one commenter suggested.

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The only national park in all of New England, Acadia incorporates both coastline and mountains and has a remarkably diverse landscape. There are scenic lakes and ponds to discover too plus plenty of picnic spots. It’s the seventh most visited national park in the US with 3.5m visitors annually, and in order to cut down on traffic and reduce overcrowding, visitors will have to acquire permits from the summer of 2021 to visit certain popular areas of the park. In advance of this, the park’s management plans to trial the system for two to three weeks around October of this year.

When the new reservation system comes into effect, visitors will need to reserve permits during the summer for Ocean Drive road and the parking lots at James Pond and Cadillac Mountain. They will have a specific window between the hours of 7am and 5pm to enter the restricted areas, between the second Friday in June and the Sunday following Columbus Day. Cadillac Mountain’s reservations will start earlier and end later in the day. It is anticipated that these permits may cost $10 on top of the $30 park entrance fee.

The introduction of the new system is necessary, as the Acadia Advisory Commission was recently advised by superintendent Kevin Schneider that hundreds of cars are parked illegally and potentially in unsafe locations on a daily basis. There is a larger plan in place that includes constructing a new visitor center with expanded parking at Hulls Cove and encouraging visitors to explore from there using the Island Explorer shuttle system.

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Each winter, Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway, owners of Ten Apple Farm in Gray, Maine, host goat hikes on their 18-acre property.

“When you hear me calling to the goats, I’m talking to everyone,” Ten Apple Farm owner Karl Schatz said before leading about a dozen keen hikers and snowshoers on a 1-mile hike through his property. “You’re all goats today, you’re all part of the herd,” said Schatz.

Turns out, goats are pretty good hiking partners. They don’t protest or complain but are content with foraging, stripping bark from trees and munching on boughs of trees along the trail.

According to Hathaway, the goat hikes started about 10 years ago, a few years after her and Schatz left New York, spent a year traveling around the country living at various goat farms and settled in Gray.

Part of the “Year of the Goat” was spending time in Wyoming, where goats carry gear and bags and go out hiking. They were inspired to implement the same system, sans the gear-carrying, with their goats.

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  A proposed hydropower transmission line in Maine would impact the AT, wildlife, recreation, and tourism. Is it worth it?

The proposed project, known as New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), is a 145-mile transmission line winding down from the Canadian border through Maine’s forests, and would ferry hydroelectric energy from Canadian dams to the New England grid. It would cross the AT three times within a mile, south of Moxie Pond and about 130 miles from the trail’s momentous conclusion at Mount Katadhin, impacting views from several overlooks.

“There’s a certain awe in thru-hikers, especially those who are coming from the South,” a local said. “They’ve just hiked on these regions where there are a lot of reminders of civilizations, road crossings, and infrastructure. What I’ve heard from them is that Maine is more noted for having that backcountry experience.”

Many of the opponents of NECEC—65 percent of Maine residents are not in favor of the project-according to a recent poll—worry that the line will threaten this scenic character. Maine’s northern woods have been relatively spared from development. They have a legacy of sporting camps; offer hiking, rafting, fishing, kayaking, snowmobiling, and other recreational opportunities, all of which support a robust outdoor industry and local economies. While the exact impacts of the line are up for debate, those who oppose it fear it would bifurcate “what is basically the largest expanse of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States.”

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Although some of us are still recovering from the winter or dreading another nor’easter, spring has officially started in Maine. As temperatures rise, many have already begun looking for a way to get outside and celebrate the outdoors. Luckily, Maine has no shortage of outdoor attractions, and many are accessible to those with limited mobility and people with disabilities.

Acadia National Park is boasted as one of the most accessible in the nation. The park is home to several wide carriage roads and there are accessible trails surrounding both Bubble Pond and Eagle Lake. The Eagle Lake Parking area also has wheelchair-accessible restrooms and parking. Additionally, at Wildwood Stables horse-drawn carriages are able to accommodate two passengers using wheelchairs with up to four additional passengers for tours.

The aptly named Valentine Farm Universally Accessible Trail is just over a mile and has a crushed gravel surface that is level and able to accommodate wheelchairs, strollers and walkers. The trail overlooks the Androscoggin River is known as a blueberry hot spot.

The Southern Corea Heath Trail is a short, wheelchair accessible trail that leads to an observation deck that overlooks Corea Heath. This trail is a part of the Maine Coastal Island National Wildlife Refuge, meaning the chances of spotting wildlife, especially seabirds, are pretty good.

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At the end of February, three Maine men set out on snowshoes to hike the 100-Mile Wilderness, the most remote section of the Appalachian Trail stretching about 100 miles from Monson to Baxter State Park. They completed the arduous journey, over mountains and across half-frozen streams, in nine days, a feat very few hikers accomplish in the winter.

For February, the weather was mild, but that didn’t make traveling any easier. In fact, the three wished the weather had been just a bit colder. With the temperature hovering around freezing on most days, it was nearly impossible for them to dry out their clothing and boots. Snow would melt from the tree branches above, raining down on them non-stop.

They packed enough food for 10 to 12 days, but the trail was slow going, especially at high elevations, where the snow was several feet deep. To cover enough distance each day, they rose early, cooked up some powdered eggs and bacon, then hit the trail, snowshoeing often 10 hours before making camp.

One day in particular stood out to all three men as especially challenging — the day they hiked White Cap Mountain. Rising 3,707 feet above sea level, White Cap is famous for the spectacular view from its summit, which includes Mount Katahdin, Maine’s tallest mountain and the location of the AT’s northern terminus. Hiking toward White Cap, the three followed the ridgeline of Gulf Hagas, West Peak and Hay Mountain, where the snow was at least 4 feet deep, and the trail, cut through a thick forest of evergreens, had almost vanished.

“The green tunnel that’s normally 6 feet high was 2 feet high because we were on top of so much snow,” Koorits explained. “So we were basically crawling through the trees for 5 miles.”

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You don’t always have to huff and puff for miles to reach a great view from the top of a mountain. In Maine, there are plenty of short hikes up small mountains and hills to vistas that may take you by surprise.

There are all sorts of reasons you might be drawn to these shorter mountain hikes. Maybe you’re trying to introduce a kid to hiking. Maybe you’re just a beginner hiker yourself. Or maybe, for whatever reason, you just aren’t cut out for the big mountains anymore.

Hiking doesn’t have to be this big daylong undertaking, especially in Maine, where there are hundreds of easy to moderately challenging trails to enjoy. Some of these trails explore small mountains and hills that offer great views.

(Think easy to moderately difficult. You won’t see Katahdin on this list, but you will find a smaller mountain that offers an amazing view of Katahdin!)

Whatever your reason for hiking small mountains — and believe me, you don’t actually need a reason — here are a few Maine trails you might enjoy…

Where should you hike with the kids next? That’s the question a new hiking guide by Bangor Daily News outdoors columnist Aislinn Sarnacki seeks to answer. The recently released book “Family Friendly Hikes in Maine” features 35 easy hikes from across the state.

And if anyone knows hiking here in Maine, it’s Sarnacki. She estimates she’s hiked 250 trails in Maine since she began writing her popular weekly column “1-Minute Hikes,” 5½ years ago.

The 35 hikes featured in the book allow Mainers to improve their own mental and physical health while exploring the beauty of Maine.

“I know not everybody has a backyard and forest of their own, but that’s why these trails are so cool, is that you can get them out on public lands,” Sarnacki said.

Each book chapter begins with a general information section explaining difficulty, dog accessibility, cost, seasonal accessibility, wheelchair accessibility, hunting, restrooms, GPS coordinates and directions to get there.

Sarnacki’s photos of the plants, birds, animals and insects that inhabit the trail help illustrate the hiking experiences. She also recounts her personal experiences with the trails, including hiking with her husband, her dog Oreo and her niece Willamina, 5, who thinks her “Auntie AZ” owns all the forests.

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