A Sky Island of Pitch Pines on Kebo Mountain, Acadia National Park

If you’re exploring Acadia National Park and looking for a mountain to summit that is a bit easier than a scrambler, Kebo Mountain is a fantastic option. Located close to the popular Wild Gardens of Acadia and nearby flatland trails, this mountain, which is the second smallest mountain the park, boasts easy access but is still moderately long and steep enough to detract the majority of the crowds you will see in the valleys. Many sections of the trail are still fairly steep and are very rocky, so make sure you’re wearing adequate hiking footwear that can grip the surfaces well, and consider bringing hiking poles if you’re unsteady on rocky surfaces.

The trail runs in a single line from Park Loop Road to the busier Hemlock Trail. If you approach the mountain from the south, you will encounter what may appear to be the summit and temporarily start descending, but this is a bit misleading because you will soon start ascending again until you reach the pitch pine forest at the top of the mountain, which reaches 407 feet above sea level. When you do finally reach this spot, you will see a wooden summit sign.

There’s no real break in the treeline at the summit, so while you will get peaks through the trees at nearby hills, your view will be fairly obscured by the Pitch Pines that thrive on the peaks of these smaller mountains. Pitch Pines are a hardy species that thrive in rocky or thinly soiled areas, so they tend to dominate the tops of mountains, an environment in which other species rarely thrive. They are also considered a pioneer species, often dominating recently cleared milder regions and until slower growing species take over. They somewhat resemble the Ponderosa Pines seen out west with their gnarly structure but have a bit of a greener hue to them. An interesting map of the variation in forest listed online by the Schoodic Institute demonstrates that this peak’s forest composition may be unique in the region. Pitch pines are only shown to dominate the small peak area of Kebo, while at the larger Dorr Mountain nearby, the Pitch Pines appear to quickly give way to exposed rock faces where no soil is available for any vegetation. This map is a quite old historical map, however, so it’s possible the area would be classified differently today. I did not personally hike up Dorr Mountain, but images of the peak suggest that Pitch Pine forest may surround the barren peak. Because Pitch Pine is a species that primarily extends to regions south of Acadia, it’s possible that the warmer temperatures induced by climate change have produced more favorable conditions for the pitch pines beyond the stand we see on Kebo Mountain.

Like other Acadia mountains, you will encounter large slabs of ancient volcanic granite at the summit, leaving plenty of space to explore the pitch pines and look for peaking views. Erosion of softer rocks via rivers and glaciers over millions of years around this tough granite formed these peaks and valleys that we see today.

You can reach the Kebo Mountain Trail by parking at the aforementioned Wild Gardens, but keep in mind that this is a busy area so parking may fill up quickly. There are many pulls offs from Park Loop Road where you can also access the system of trails that connects to Kebo Mountain Trail. One such pull off exists at the entrance to the Jesup Path from Park Loop Road, shown on the map below: