To introduce yourself to the carriage paths, try the3.9-mile [6.3-kilometer] Hadlock Brook Loop. Park at the Maine Hwy. 198 (Parkman Mountain) parking area just north of Upper Hadlock Pond and walk to the trailhead. Take the left fork east toward Hemlock Bridge, a gemof hand-hewn stone. Follow the rising road to another handsome span, Waterfall Bridge, site of a 40-foot [12.2-meter] fall. (You can turn around here, cutting your hike to about 2 miles [3 kilometers] round-trip.) Cross the bridge and walk south for a mile [1.6 kilometers] to one of the network’s well-marked intersections. Turn right at intersection 19 and right again at intersection 18 and continue along the pond. Watch—and listen—for loons. The road crosses Hadlock Brook Bridge and loops back to the trailhead. The park also has 120 miles [193.1 kilometers] of hiking trails, which range from easystrolls along the ocean or around ponds to steep climbs up Cadillac and other mountains. For a jaunt into history try the Gorge Path, which, like several other trails, has stone steps to ease your way up slopes. Thesteps, flat stones imbedded in rising ground, were built by turn-of-the-century summer people who wanted to rough it, but not too much. The path begins at a parking spot on the Park Loop Road, near 407-foot [124.1-meter] Kebo Mountain,and leads to a wood trail. Cairns mark the trail when it follows a rocky, brook-washed ravine. About a mile [1.6 kilometers] into the woods is an intersection. Depending upon your time and stamina, you can turn and retrace your steps or push onto Cadillac or Dorr Mountain, each a steep hike of more than 1.5 miles [2.4 kilometers].
