We did some fun trails in Acadia over the long weekend.

[jrcinnh]

First meet up group camping since before Covid. Now I remember the good and less good of these group events.
On Saturday we decided to find some caves Jen read about in a FB post. All she knew was the Giant Slide trail. So after I bought my coming of age lifetime National Park pass, we took the park bus to Jordan pond, made our way using a park path and carriage road to Amphitheater trail, a very not park like, wet path along a stream to a cool little headwall climb to Cedar swamp mountain. Then found our way to Maple spring trail, which was very neatly cut along a narrow rocky cut, but under reconstruction. We quickly forked off on Giant Slide which follows the tight notch between Bald and Gilmore. Notch is tighter after the trail crosses the carriage road, and then we found the caves. Not unlike a much smaller, shorter version of the Subway or Mahoosuc notch. After the caves we turn up To Sargent, summited and then on to Penobscot and back to Jordan.
We road bikes along the carriage roads Sunday, fog canceled our Monday boat ride, so we took the Gorge path up Cadillac. Wow these guys love to build stairs. Very secluded and beautiful little gorge between Cadillac and Dorr. Took the north ridge trail back to our car. It was mobbed with tourists.
Pictures on public FB post.

 

[jreckard]

Glad to hear about the caves. I had heard of them and tried to find them a few years ago. I went with my leashed dog (no leash = dog gone) up the Giant Slide trail from its trailhead. But we reached a point where Buddy couldn't go any further - probably just below any caves - and we wound up bushwhacking left (east) up to the carriage path. We certainly saw large haphazard boulders in that narrow gorge, but nothing that I remember as a decent cave. I'll have to look again next time.

 

[jrcinnh]

Glad to hear about the caves. I had heard of them and tried to find them a few years ago. I went with my leashed dog (no leash = dog gone) up the Giant Slide trail from its trailhead. But we reached a point where Buddy couldn't go any further - probably just below any caves - and we wound up bushwhacking left (east) up to the carriage path. We certainly saw large haphazard boulders in that narrow gorge, but nothing that I remember as a decent cave. I'll have to look again next time.

The orange is our track. The caves are on the giant slide trail, north of distinctive hairpin in the Carriage road, closer to the sharp turn in our track to go up Sargeant northwest trail.