One of the most iconic and frequently photographed sights in Acadia National Park is the view of “The Bubbles” from Jordan Pond, as well as “Bubble Rock”, the enormous boulder hanging off a cliff on the top of South Bubble.
The 1.8 mile hike described here to the summits of North and South Bubble, as well as Bubble Rock, is an easy to moderate hike and a favorite in Acadia.
The hike can be completed in just over an hour, and is suitable for those traveling with children (they’ll love bubble rock!).
There is some boulder scrambling at the end of the trail to Bubble Rock, but otherwise nothing technically challenging.
The total ascent of this hike is just 608 feet.
You could make it a shorter hike by visiting just one of the bubbles, but I recommend visiting both, and there a few options for making it a longer hike, which I’ll describe at the end of the post.
Finding The Trailhead
On the park loop road, driving in clockwise direction, after passing the two parking lots for Jordan Pond House on your left, there are two small parking lots for The Bubbles on your left.
The second parking lot is the trail head for the Bubbles Divide trail. This is the most direct route to Bubble Rock and the Bubbles, IF you can find parking. It’s a very small parking lot and is often full.
Rather than driving, you could take the free Island Explorer shuttle, #4 Loop Road or #5 Jordan Pond. The Bubbles is not listed as a stop but it drives right past it between the stops at Jordan Pond House and Bubble Pond, so the driver will stop at the Bubbles Divide Trail parking lot if you ask.
Alternatively, you could hike to The Bubbles from Jordan Pond, on either the Bubbles Trail or Bubbles Divide Trail, but this is a much steeper and more technically challenging hike with lots of boulder scrambling.
The Hike
From the Bubbles Divide trail head on Park Loop Road, after about a quarter mile on a flat path through the woods, you’ll reach the trail intersection for North Bubble and South Bubble, just 0.3 miles away.
Turn left at this intersection to continue on the Bubbles Divide trail toward South Bubble and Bubble Rock.
A short distance later, take a left on the next trail intersection for South Bubble and Bubble Rock, and after 0.2 miles you’ll arrive at the summit of South Bubble.
Follow the trail left to Bubble Rock … It may look underwhelming from a distance, but if you climb down to the boulder, you’ll appreciate it’s size and get that money shot of the boulder hanging off the cliff with the Loop Road below you and the ocean in the distance.
At this point, I went back the way I came to the intersection for North Bubble, but now that I look at my track on the map, I realize I should have kept going a bit farther on the Bubbles Trail to get to the part of South Bubble’s summit that you can see from Jordan Pond.
Retracing your hike back the way you came, you’ll again reach the intersection of North Bubble to your left or your car at the trail head to the right.
Taking a left to North Bubble and coming back will only add about a half mile and 30 minutes to your trip, so do it!
The first part of the trail to North Bubble is steeper and rockier, but after that it’s easy going.
You’ll emerge from the woods onto a big clearing with Pemetic Mountain across from you … Continue into the woods for just a bit longer and you’ll reach the wonderful open summit of North Bubble.
Standing at the top of North Bubble, below you is Jordan Pond. Look closely and you can see Jordan Pond House and the lawn in front of it. To the left is Pemetic Mountain. To the right is Penobscot and Sargent Mountain. Take a break here and enjoy the views.
At this point, you can return to the trail head the way you came, making it a 1.8 mile hike that should take about an hour and a half.
Trail Alternatives
Rather than returning the way you came to the Bubbles Divide trail head, you could continue on the Bubbles Trail and walk along the ridge of North Bubble down to Conners Nubble, then take the carriage road or Eagle Lake Trail back to the trail head for a nice 4.2 mile loop, pictured below.
For a much longer and more challenging hike, you could do the 5.7 mile loop hike described in Greg Westrich’s Hiking Maine.
This loop begins at the Pemetic North Ridge trail head at Bubble Pond and ascends Pemetic Mountain, then descends to the Bubbles Divide trail head where this hike started.
After going to South Bubble and North Bubble, continue down to Conners Nubble, then follow Eagle Lake Trail around Eagle Lake until it ends at the Carriage Road, where you’ll walk another 0.3 miles back to the Pemetic North Ridge trail head at Bubble Pond.
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Check out these other hikes at Acadia and in the Down-East region of Maine:
