D
Dark Pork
Guest
Spectacular day in Acadia (yes again!) last week.
After Meadow Loop, we headed toward the Nature Center and it was quite swampy and wet, but passable.
Champlain and Dorr were steep and free of ice. Champlain was fabulous. Dorr was hard!! Great challenge for a small peak.
From Dorr we went down to a notch and right back up Cadillac, which was great. A nice challenge again after Dorr but slightly less cruel! Sme fun scrambles.
We descended Cadillac's South Ridge, which looks less-traveled but had awesome ocean views and was in good shape maintenance wise. This really is a wonderful trail and my buddy and I were both agreeing that this was the highlight.
The gentle descent brought us past a lovely pond and along a waterfall through some unique rock formations. This trail got better and better...
We then hiked across the East (?) face of Dorr and to the Gorge (? I think) trail which very vaguely reminded me of Mahoosuc Notch. Same pile-o-boulders formations but much less intense and had more of a path through it. I only got hit with a snowball once, thanks to my darling and gleeful companion, but there was snow/ice in all the crevices -- enough for quite a skirmish had I decided to fight back.
If I recall correctly, the Gorge turned into another trail that I can't remember the name of, and went along a stream, still in the crook between mountains. Stream/rock hopping was a little scary on legs that have already done like 11 miles on mountains, but all ankles and knees somehow remained intact. Ice still around, since the area was deeply shaded by trees/cliffs, but the trail was quite free of it.
Had to put in about .75 mile of road walk before reconnecting with Meadow Loop. Altogether it was 13 or 14 miles of great hiking. Definitely I would recommend this particular loop to those who want to get a nice workout and nice views from the smaller peaks of this gorgeous area.
f r e t l e s s @gmail dot com - and crossing fingers that someone will member-ize me!
Peace!
After Meadow Loop, we headed toward the Nature Center and it was quite swampy and wet, but passable.
Champlain and Dorr were steep and free of ice. Champlain was fabulous. Dorr was hard!! Great challenge for a small peak.
From Dorr we went down to a notch and right back up Cadillac, which was great. A nice challenge again after Dorr but slightly less cruel! Sme fun scrambles.
We descended Cadillac's South Ridge, which looks less-traveled but had awesome ocean views and was in good shape maintenance wise. This really is a wonderful trail and my buddy and I were both agreeing that this was the highlight.
The gentle descent brought us past a lovely pond and along a waterfall through some unique rock formations. This trail got better and better...
We then hiked across the East (?) face of Dorr and to the Gorge (? I think) trail which very vaguely reminded me of Mahoosuc Notch. Same pile-o-boulders formations but much less intense and had more of a path through it. I only got hit with a snowball once, thanks to my darling and gleeful companion, but there was snow/ice in all the crevices -- enough for quite a skirmish had I decided to fight back.
If I recall correctly, the Gorge turned into another trail that I can't remember the name of, and went along a stream, still in the crook between mountains. Stream/rock hopping was a little scary on legs that have already done like 11 miles on mountains, but all ankles and knees somehow remained intact. Ice still around, since the area was deeply shaded by trees/cliffs, but the trail was quite free of it.
Had to put in about .75 mile of road walk before reconnecting with Meadow Loop. Altogether it was 13 or 14 miles of great hiking. Definitely I would recommend this particular loop to those who want to get a nice workout and nice views from the smaller peaks of this gorgeous area.
f r e t l e s s @gmail dot com - and crossing fingers that someone will member-ize me!
Peace!
