WEST BRANCH BRIDGE

The Bridge with the Tall and Narrow Arch:

Completing the Around-Mountain loop, the West Branch Bridge is located just west of the Jordan Pond House along the carriage road that winds around the south side of Penobscot Mountain. Despite being 115 feet in length, the bridge is rather understated with a single narrow arch above the usually dry streambed.

To visit West Branch Bridge, walk the carriage roads from the Jordan Pond House north to junction 14, then head west for roughly a quarter of a mile. (Nearby Cliffside Bridge is another half mile down the road.) If you are hiking up Penobscot Mountain via the Spring Trail or via the more strenuous and explosed Jordan Cliffs Trail, you can tie in a visit to both of these bridges.

To navigate the trails and carriage roads of Acadia and find the classic stone bridges, get a copy of the wonderful Map Adventures Acadia National Park Trail Map or Diane Abrell's Carriage Roads of Acadia: A Pocket Guide. And for more in depth information on the construction and history of the bridges, please see Robert Thayer's Acadia's Carriage Roads book.