Three Ponds Trail

Beautiful day with spikes

Cold day, but that meant frozen ground and very little mud. As someone said before, hidden gem of a trail. Moderate because of length maybe, but not difficult. There is a shelter about halfway around with a fire pit if needed. Lots of cascading water falls, and the ponds are beautiful. Spikes not needed, but they help with footing in some places. Does not seem to be a well travelled trail, we only saw 2 other people, and there were not many tracks on the trail. This makes watching the map and markers important, as there are a couple places where the trail is not very obvious. No real danger of getting lost but we had to backtrack a couple times.

Fairly icy but doable and still beautiful. Didn’t use or need spikes. Some frozen muddy spots.

What a great hidden gem. Only saw one person on the trail. great streams and waterfalls along the trail. Given the recent rain it was one big swamp but the dogs loved it!

Only did a short portion of the loop today up to the pond adjacent to the lean to and back as we were pressed for time. First cold day of the season...about 18-20F up there. Beautiful with a fresh light coating of snow and no one else there. There is a significant blow down blocking the trail about a 1/4 mile before reaching the lean to.....very fresh, as my wife ran the loop over the last weekend and said it was not there. Love this trail for the gentle hills and the beautiful babbling book that runs along much of the trail section we were on. I uploaded a pic of the blowdown....will definitely require chainsaw work to clear, as it involves multiple trees.

Hiked here in June, and the trail was dry, and the streams were dry or had small flows. Returned mid Nov after a few days of rain and the trail was very muddy over many portions of the first half (if you go clockwise up to the shelter and ponds first) and streams running strong. No bugs in Nov (there were in June). Advise bringing some hiking poles. They help you move along the trails with roots, mud, and leaves now over the trail. I had enough time to do the loop shown (in from parking lot, left onto 3 Ponds Trail up to the shelter, by the ponds to Donkey Hill Cutoff and back on Mt. Kineo trail back to parking). Didn’t have time to take 3 Ponds Trail (after you pass the shelter and pass the largest pond) up to other ponds and Mt. Carr (3471’). Might return one day and check that out. Much of your elevation gain is at the beginning of the rail off the parking lot. The lot held about 10 cars (with some creating spaces parking on the loop around the lot). There does seem to be several places the snow mobile trail intersects Stinson Lake Road (the dirt road past the parking lot) which might provide additional parking of needed. Ohers also just parked on Stinson Lake Road. There were about a dozen cars when I hiked on a weekend mid Nov. Be aware if you take the loop I (and most) take; when you come to the intersection with Mt. Kineo sign pointing straight (on snowmobile path), and to the left (into the woods); take the left to return to the parking lot with the kiosk. Going straight will intersect Stinson Lake Rd (just 1/3-1/2 mile away from the main parking lot with the kiosk). There is a pic posted of the sign you'll see. Take the path back to the lot on the Mt. Kineo trail with some light left to spare. Found the tree markings weren’t as frequent, harder to see at sunset (as you really needed some light to tell where the trail was through the woods, with all the new leaf coverage, and the Nov 4:30pm sunsets). All in all, a nice trail especially around the ponds. Allow a little more time than usual to get around all the mud on the trail (it does slow you down substantially).

Great trail with a bit of everything. It had waterfalls, brooks, meadows and woods. It's pretty easy but there are a few brook/stream crossings. So if you arent comfortable rock hopping that would be the trickiest part. The rest of the trail is pretty easy. We enjoyed this one as its not as busy as other areas in the whites.

Stop at the kiosk before starting this hike to get a good picture of the trail and what to expect. There are so many side trails on which to get lost. We ended up doing a different loop and not making it to all the ponds. We thought we were returning on Mt. Kineo, but actually ended up on a different trail that followed Brown Brook and brought us out to the main road. The brook was pretty spectacular just before the road. We wouldn't have seen it if we didn't get lost.

Beautiful trail. Not too hard. Did the almost 6 mile loop. Not super well marked. Dogs helped me Stay on track. Took my time and chatted with two groups that I saw along the way. Otherwise I was out there alone. Would highly recommend. The water all along the route is beautiful. And it was super fun to skip all over stones.

Good hike. Tricky in spots and not well marked. Some interesting mushrooms growing on trees. I would do this hike again though.

Enjoyable trail run with some mud in the beginning, which made for a slower pace and wetter shoes. We ran this loop clockwise and saw few people overall. One of the highlights was a lovely waterfall near the end of the trail, which would be ideal for swimming in super hot weather.

Great hike in nature! Lots of leaves on the ground and beautiful views by the ponds, but the markings are very confusing. If you are going clockwise, make sure you take the trail towards the shelter or you can totally miss the water!

It’s a very pretty trail, with a good path to follow. At the beginning of the trail it’s steep, but I believe most people can handle it.

went clockwise up the the ponds. continued doing the loop but first made an accidental turn and went too far on the 3ponds trail and did some extra elevation. probably should have just finished to the top of that trail but didn't. had we not done that whole thing the trip would have been better as not much was up that way. back on the correct trail heading back east/south you follow some babbling brooks. water was super low so the falls and pool were really low. but would be nice to do that when there's more water. overall I would give it more stars had we not got lost. it's not completely the trail blazes/marks fault, but they def were a little confusing (especially with all the snowmobile trails you cut through)

Best part was seeing a young moose!