Yesterday we hiked the Pemetic Mountain Trail. This is a long, strenuous climb goes up 1234 feet through steep, rocky terrain. The views from the top were amazing. Pemetic is the fourth highest peak in Acadia and from the top, you can see Jordan Pond all the way out to Frenchman’s Bay.
We parked at the Bubble Rock trailhead and took the Pemetic Trail across the street. Right from the start, it’s steep and rocky. You are going right up to the side of the mountain in a boulder scramble. The blue painted markers were hard to find a few times and a few were up on trees. This is the most strenuous part of the entire hike. It took about 45 minutes to summit.
Here’s a photo of the trail as it eases into steps as you approach the summit. Right after this, the trail gives you the choice of continuing up inside a river bed ravine between large tall slabs of rock or climbing straight up the ledge.
This is a photo midway up the summit. We did not take shots from the top. Just as we reached the summit clouds rolled in. Here’s a link to some gorgeous views on a sunny day. Once at the top we continued on the Southwest Ridge Trail. This is a 1.2-mile hike across the ridge and then down the south side of the mountain. At the bottom, we turned right to hike to the Jordan Pond connector. You have to cross the loop road at the bottom and continue the trail about a tenth of a mile to connect with the Jordan Pond trail. We took a right at the pond and continued a nice flat walk north to the Carny Trail (to Bubble Rock parking) and then another right at the carriage road back to the parking lot.
This is a long hike. We estimate about 3.5 hours round trip and just under 4 miles. The mountain hiking is about 2-2.5 hours total. The Jordan Pond trial and connectors back to the car were another 1.5 miles.Another option is to go up the Pemetic Trail, follow the South trail until you start to enter woods and then turn around and reverse your hike.
If you go on a busy weekend, the Bubble Rock parking area does fill up quickly. You can park past it on the side of the road.
