By now, the big day has come and gone, the surprises have all been revealed. You finally know if the Jolly Old Elf in the red, performance-fabric parka left anything that you could cross off that outdoor Christmas wish list.

You’ve found the list and sorted out the newly received gifts, a day-pack, maybe, or snowshoes, if your pre-holiday thoughts included expanding your hiking activities to that magical fourth season, winter. Now, you’re impatient and anxious to get out in the backyard to duplicate actual conditions for testing those winter-related gifts before setting off in the backcountry.

But, somehow, the yard seems hemmed in by the outside walls of the neighbors’ homes. You feel as if you’re in a fish bowl because the leafless trees no longer block their view of you. Even if they’re not watching from next door, the thought of setting up camp in partial view of the street just doesn’t seem to be a real test. If you’re looking for that place that’s close to home and offers a true shake down of any of your new fourth season gifts, then Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island could be just the spot.

You can test everything there from items as simple as wool mitts and hats to technical gear like crampons and ice axes. The features that make the Park on the island so ideal for trying out equipment are the variety of terrain and the rapidly changing conditions. There is something for everyone, from the purely recreational skier to the hard-core mountaineer. Even if all you want to do is set up the new tent and car camp overnight, there’s a place in the Park.

You can start your excursion at the Winter Information Center on Route 233 three miles west of Bar Harbor. It’s open every day from Nov. 1 to May 1, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for winter information like trail maps. From there, it depends on what you prepared and loaded for your trip. If a half-day snowshoe or ski trip is a part of the plan and the snow has piled up you can leave the Winter Center and turn right to the Eagle Lake parking area and one entrance for the Carriage Road.

Once you’re on your chosen mode of travel, be it snowshoes or skis, head for the bridge, which crosses the Carriage Road. A left takes you under the bridge and around Eagle Lake for a distance of about five miles, the east side of which is on snowmobile trail. However, for a trip of about four miles, round trip, but without using snowmobile trails, turn right at the bridge. The sign points to Witch Hole Pond.

The terrain ranges from flat, for most of the distance, to a short steep uphill near the end, topping off on Paradise Hill with a view of Hull’s Cove and the Schoodic Peninsula across Frenchman Bay. It’s just the locale for trying out a new pair of binoculars. Along the way there are a number of possible loops to take back to the parking lot with another bridge on one of them, this one over Duck Brook. It makes a great snack spot and you can shake down that new daypack for accessibility. Heading back to the car there’s a great view of Cadillac and Dorr Mountain usually covered in wind packed snow.

The area near Eagle Lake isn’t the only place for snow shoeing or skiing. There are 48 miles of Carriage Road open for those activities only, which are closed to snowmobiles. The snowmobiles only are allowed on the 41 miles of closed Park roads across and around the eastern side of the island of Mount Desert and those two miles of Carriage Road on the east shore of Eagle Lake. The other entrances to the Carriage road are at the south end of Jordan Pond out of Seal Harbor and on Route 198 north of Northeast Harbor.

Now that you’ve worked out the kinks of all your day use equipment, pack, snowshoes, skis, or even if it was only an insulated water bottle parka, maybe you’re ready to try out the winter camping gear. The only campground where camping is allowed in the park during winter is Blackwoods Campground. It’s located on Route 3, about 5.5 miles south of Bar Harbor. There’s no fee from Nov. 1 to May 1 and you’re required to self-register on the campground entrance porch. There are maintained sites with fire rings, a pit toilet and pumped water. It’s a great spot for testing the performance of gear like stoves, in cold temperatures and probably, breezy wind conditions.

If you were gifted with a new insulating sleeping pad, now is the time to find out if it’s R-value is all that it’s rated to be. If you’re a beginning winter camper, you’ll also find out how fumble proof your equipment is, because you’ll be handling all that stuff after dark for most of the time, and for the first time. Between November and January it starts to get dark between 4 and 5 p.m. Even with a new headlamp, the predominate element of winter, after cold of course, is darkness. Beyond the beam of the brightest headlamp the winter night is long and dark. Before the night is over you’ll probably cook in the dark, walk in the dark and open zippers to find stuff in the dark.

In the morning try out the new Plexiglas French press coffee maker, then load up your daypack and take a trail hike, if you’re experienced in winter hiking. Load up the pack with a lunch and leave the campground for the south ridge trail that leads you up Cadillac Mountain. The trail starts across the road from the entrance to the campground.

You’ll need either snowshoes with crampons or crampons alone because you are sure to encounter ice. The mountains in the park are known for their sheer ice covering the trails. The south ridge trail is typical of many of the them in the amount of ice you could encounter, although it’s not as steep as most of the other trails, especially those with west facing slopes. There’s a great view of Champlain Mountain from an outcropping called Eagle Crag about a mile up the trail, so you can give those binoculars one last test before heading down.

When it’s all been tested thoroughly by your visit to the island it’ll time to pack it all up, and with all those mental notes made about how well it worked together with your particular style, head for home.

Maybe next year you’ll be calibrating a new GPS at 150 feet above sea level in Acadia National Park.

Brad Viles is an avid hiker and backpacker.