king tut
New member
Acadia National Park is one of my favorite places. I am not alone in this though, as I read a fact that said that it is the 2nd most visited US national park after Shenandoah. It is an absolutely beautiful area, and I am happy to have spent the last (soggy) week there with my relatives.
My parents rented a nice house in Southwest Harbor, and while it rained every single day of the week, there were several moments like this that made the monsoon season not seem so bad.
We had the house Saturday to Saturday, and the one day with no rain in the forecast turned out to be Tuesday. Everyone had a full day of plans for this day, as every other day was forecast to be possible flash flooding. Did Noah sail his ark during his vacation week as well? Oh well, you have to make the most out of what you have.
We gathered a coalition of the willing to hike the Precipice trail in the morning. The motley crew consisted of me, my brother, my dad, my cousin's husband Kyle, and his father Pete. We parked over at the overlook to the left of the park entrance booth to Sand Beach. I believe it is called Schoonic Over look or something similar to that.... no map in front of me and I am too lazy to go look for one right now.
So we hiked back up the park loop road and started to ascend the Precipice trail. It is about a 1,000 foot elevation gain up iron rungs and ladders with some boulders here and there to go up, over, and under sometimes. It is the most difficult hike on the island, and it is even more difficult when it has been raining for several days in a row and the ledges are slick....
The lower part of the trail meanders up and down the ledges with railings in place, and always plenty of views of the nearby ocean.
After about a half mile, the trail ascends sharply UP the cliffs for the last half mile up Mt Champlain. This pic shows my dad, Peter, Kyle, and my brother ascending the steepest ladder section prior to the ledge.
After climbing up these ladders, there is a narrow ledge to cross.
There are a few more tricky sections to climb after this, but this is the toughest section of the trail. After a mile of climbing, you top out on the summit of Mt Champlain with great views of Frenchman's Bay.
From the top of Champlain, the trail descends at a gentle slope to the top of The Beehive. The Beehive is The Precipice's little brother. It is about 600 vertical feet of iron rungs, ladders, and rocks. We descended The Beehive and then walked over to Sand Beach. Sand Beach is a great big beautiful beach on the Atlantic Ocean. If you have seen the movie "Cider House Rules", there is a scene that is actually filmed on this beach.
We ran into some more relatives on the beach and then headed to the north end of the beach and went up the Great Head trails. These trails are a little over a mile long and have great views of the ocean and also The Beehive.
The trail empties out into the ...... Great Head Parking Lot. There is a trail sign for this parking lot. No one seemed to notice that this could be a funny trail sign.
From here it is about a 1/2 mile back to our parking spot via the road. I believe the entire walk is about 6 or 7 miles over the most scenic area that one can walk across. More pictures can be found here.
pics
My parents rented a nice house in Southwest Harbor, and while it rained every single day of the week, there were several moments like this that made the monsoon season not seem so bad.
We had the house Saturday to Saturday, and the one day with no rain in the forecast turned out to be Tuesday. Everyone had a full day of plans for this day, as every other day was forecast to be possible flash flooding. Did Noah sail his ark during his vacation week as well? Oh well, you have to make the most out of what you have.
We gathered a coalition of the willing to hike the Precipice trail in the morning. The motley crew consisted of me, my brother, my dad, my cousin's husband Kyle, and his father Pete. We parked over at the overlook to the left of the park entrance booth to Sand Beach. I believe it is called Schoonic Over look or something similar to that.... no map in front of me and I am too lazy to go look for one right now.
So we hiked back up the park loop road and started to ascend the Precipice trail. It is about a 1,000 foot elevation gain up iron rungs and ladders with some boulders here and there to go up, over, and under sometimes. It is the most difficult hike on the island, and it is even more difficult when it has been raining for several days in a row and the ledges are slick....
The lower part of the trail meanders up and down the ledges with railings in place, and always plenty of views of the nearby ocean.
After about a half mile, the trail ascends sharply UP the cliffs for the last half mile up Mt Champlain. This pic shows my dad, Peter, Kyle, and my brother ascending the steepest ladder section prior to the ledge.
After climbing up these ladders, there is a narrow ledge to cross.
There are a few more tricky sections to climb after this, but this is the toughest section of the trail. After a mile of climbing, you top out on the summit of Mt Champlain with great views of Frenchman's Bay.
From the top of Champlain, the trail descends at a gentle slope to the top of The Beehive. The Beehive is The Precipice's little brother. It is about 600 vertical feet of iron rungs, ladders, and rocks. We descended The Beehive and then walked over to Sand Beach. Sand Beach is a great big beautiful beach on the Atlantic Ocean. If you have seen the movie "Cider House Rules", there is a scene that is actually filmed on this beach.
We ran into some more relatives on the beach and then headed to the north end of the beach and went up the Great Head trails. These trails are a little over a mile long and have great views of the ocean and also The Beehive.
The trail empties out into the ...... Great Head Parking Lot. There is a trail sign for this parking lot. No one seemed to notice that this could be a funny trail sign.
From here it is about a 1/2 mile back to our parking spot via the road. I believe the entire walk is about 6 or 7 miles over the most scenic area that one can walk across. More pictures can be found here.
pics
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