Enock, Outdoor Accessibility Specialist, takes readers along on his journey through the fields and woods at the Stone Barn Farm trails on Mount Desert Island.
Stone Barn Farm on Mount Desert Island was my next stop on my Downeast tour. If you are looking for a beautiful place to hike, picnic, birdwatch, or just stop and take in the fresh air, this is the place for you.
When I arrived, I was immediately impressed by the really well done parking lot. It is huge, flat, and firm. I had no problem at all moving around after getting out of my van.
I looked around a bit to find the entrance to the trails and I found there are two pathways to take to the kiosk. If you start at the one furthest to the right of the parking lot the ground is firmer and the incline is less steep.
The kiosk doesn’t have a lot of information, but I did like the fact that the map is at the bottom and easy to access.
Upon entering the field, I found the surface to actually be very firm for a field trail. Usually, they are soft and hard to push on, but this trail was really quite easy. It is a field though, so keep in mind there are rough spots and a lot of steeper cross slopes, with some steep running slopes also. There are a few areas of 7%-10% running slope where I needed a push to continue on. I wasn’t able to measure the cross slope, but it was very visible in places which tells me it was quite significant, and I could feel it while pushing across it.
There is a way to loop back through the field to the parking lot but we chose to carry on into the woods to see what it was like. This is where things got more adventurous! Of course this is where I started really enjoying the hike the most.
The beginning of the woods section is actually quite doable. There are the usual rocks and roots that come with being in a forest, but the terrain is not steep, and the trail is very wide in most places.
It wasn’t long before the trail became only doable with major help. There was a super steep rocky section that led to a stunning spot with blueberry bushes and mossy areas. It also gets quite narrow so I had to straddle the trail and venture onto the sides a little bit.
We came across this huge tree, and I was going to try to sit on the giant branch but decided to just pose with it instead, haha.
Once you reach the high point of this section, there is a trail that goes off to the side, but it is super steep and rocky. This would be a beautiful spot for a picnic table or just a bench. I love mossy areas for some reason and find them beautiful.
We decided to keep going on the path we were on.
We found that it widened out eventually, leading to a bog bridge back into the field.
Luckily the trail here was very wide, and it wasn’t very muddy when we were there. I was able to easily get around the bog bridging without any trouble. After reaching the field, it is all downhill back to the parking lot.
I would recommend this property if you have some help for the steep spots. Definitely check out the woods section if you are into adventure. If not, I would stick to the field and enjoy the views, and maybe a picnic. The loop back to the parking lot from the field is easy as it is all downhill.
If you have a different type of mobility issue or a different disability and you visit this trail or others, please comment on this post and give us your feedback. The more knowledge we gather and share, the more people we can get outside using the trails of Maine!
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