7.1 mi of trail, end to end · Three Ponds Trailhead: 5.3 mi loop in the Service's write-up · about 1,200 ft of climbing · 1,329 ft–2,354 ft · native material surface · trail No. 32224 · trail class 3 · typical grade 12-20% · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, bike
Backcountry camps
Along the wayThree Ponds Shelter
TrailheadThree Ponds Trailhead 1,343 ft Drive there
Three Ponds Trailhead 5.3 mi loop · the Forest Service's write-up
The Three Ponds Trailhead offers many opportunities. Most popular is an easy 2.2 mile walk to the scenic middle pond and Three Ponds shelter. From this point an easy to moderate 5.3 mile loop back to the trailhead is possible via Donkey Hill Cut-off and the Kineo Trail. The Three Ponds trailhead is also the eastern access of the Carr Mountain trail. An interpretive panel of the area is available in the trailhead kiosk.
The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.
