Thirteen trails and paths in or near Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island have been designated as “among the best walks in the world” by the bimonthly guide “Great Walks.”

Walks so designated “must have smooth, gently graded trails, must offer interesting and beautiful scenery and must be easily walked in less than a day,” according to “Great Walks” publisher John K. Whitney.

The Mount Desert trails selected include the Shore Path in Bar Harbor; the Ocean Path along the national park’s loop road; a loop trail on Great Head near Sand Beach; the Asticou Terraces, the Thuya Garden and the Asticou Azalea Garden, all in Northeast Harbor; and Little Long Pond in Seal Harbor.

Also selected were trails on Acadia, Beech, Cadillac, Champlain and Gorham mountains, as well as trails to Beech Cliff above Echo Lake, to Conners Nubble above Eagle Lake and to the twin peaks of the Bubbles on the northern edge of Jordan Pond – all of which are in the national park.

All the walks are described and illustrated in the September-October issue of “Great Walks,” which is for sale in area stores.

The guide lavishes praise on Mount Desert Island.

“A fortuitous combination of natural and manmade circumstances make the walking on Mount Desert some of the best in the world,” it says.

“First, the island is small and Acadia National Park is even smaller – only 58 square miles.

But the island has 13 Great Walks – one of the greatest concentrations of any place on earth. All the Great Walks on Mount Desert are therefore just a short drive minutes from your hotel or campground.

“Nowhere else can you get so many Great Walks in so little time and with so little effort,” the guide said.

Second, “Mount Desert is a miniature New England, a kind of natural theme park in which the most beautiful elements of the landscape – ledge-topped mountains, forested lakes, rockribbed, island-dotted seacoast are seemingly placed side by side for the enjoyment of vacationers. On Mount Desert the perennial question of, “Shall we go to the mountains, the lakes or the ocean?” does not apply. On Mount Desert, you have it all.”

Copies of the guide may be ordered directly from the publisher at Box 410, Goffstown, N.H. 03045 or telephone 1-800-444-5383. Copies are $5.95 each.