Hiking and Biking Trails on Maine's Mt. Agamenticus

At an elevation of just under 700 feet, Maine's Mt. Agamenticus is not among the taller peaks in New England. But its location, hard by the Maine coast and with a line of sight to New Hampshire's White Mountain range, gives visitors unparalleled views. And the trade off for height is accessibility, meaning Mt. Agamenticus offers those hiking or biking ample opportunity to explore its slopes and the surrounding wilderness.

The 10,000-acre Mt. Agamenticus Conservation Region is located a short distance across the Maine border, by the town of York. It's the largest area of undeveloped land along the Atlantic Coast between Acadia National Park and New Jersey's Pine Barrens. Owned and managed by a cooperative group of public and private landowners and conservation groups, the area achieves a balance between preservation and recreation.

The enormous wilderness preserve is crisscrossed by 40 miles of hiking and biking trails of various levels of difficulty.

If you're bound for the top of Mt. Agamenticus, you may want to start with the Ring Trail, which will take you halfway up the mountain. The mile-and-a-half trail will take you approximately 40 minutes on foot, less if you're biking. The trail crosses some of the ski runs from the now-closed Big A ski area, which operated on the mountain from the 1960s through the mid-1970s. The western half of the circling trail is the easier of the two, with gradual inclines and some rocky areas. The eastern half is more difficult, and includes some steep, rocky portions better suited for hiking than mountain bikes.

From the Ring Trail, your choices for ascending Mt. Agamenticus depend in some part on your desired views. The Witch Hazel trail is an easy 10-minute trip in each direction for those either hiking or biking, and offers views of the ocean to the south and east. Vulture's View is a significantly more difficult trail, to be traveled only on foot. But from here, on the northwest side of the mountain, there are spectacular views that - on clear days - extend all the way to Mt. Washington, 90 miles away and the tallest peak in the northeastern United States.

Hiking and biking the trails at Mt. Agamenticus is a great family activity for those seeking something a bit different in their Maine summer vacation. Nowhere else on the east coast can you get this kind of combination of mountain and ocean recreation. But the region is at its most spectacular in the fall, when the famed New England foliage turns the region into an explosion of color. The days are warm - but not so hot as to be uncomfortable. The combination of evergreen forests, vibrant red, orange and yellow hardwood leaves, and the crystal blue of the Gulf of Maine make for a vision you'll never forget.

Access to Mt. Agamenticus is from Mountain Road in York, Maine, less than 10 miles from the state border with New Hampshire and less than four miles off Interstate 95.