Acadia is strange. It is absolutely gorgeous, but there just aren't many hiking options, particularly any serious hikes. That was just fine for our purposes (a fun labor day camping trip with my childhood friends and my roommate and her boyfriend), but I had expected I'd want to come back to do more hiking--no. It was hard enough to find enough to fill the 2 days in which we had allotted for hiking, which I had not expected. There aren't even trail maps available anywhere... very odd. The majesty of the park is partially just the juxtaposition of beautiful cliffs and mountains right next to the beach, since it's located on a peninsula, so I guess hiking is just not what people intend to do when they come to Acadia, which is fine. But I digress. Here are the hikes that we did:
Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail
I picked this hike because it was the longest one I could find in the park, plus it originated from our campground. You can pick up the trail either at loop A or loop B from Blackwoods campground. There's only one trail that goes up this way, and it's very well-marked with blue blazes and cairns at a few parts.
The hike is lovely, if a little boring at times. You start in a forest, and gradually the trail opens up til you're on rock slabs. The elevation change is incredible gentle, since it occurs over the course of 4.2 miles. The summit is a little nuts (it's huge and crowded) because there's a road that allows people to drive essentially right to the top. We disucssed how desirable it would be to institute a system in which you needed to prove that you were physically unable to hike in order to be able to drive to the top, but this seems unlikely.
Overall, I'd do this hike again because the view from the top is really lovely (lots of great coast), and it's the longest hike in the park!
8.4 miles if you start at Loop A
+1300 feet
4 hours
Precipice Trail
This hike was the highlight of our time in Acadia. It's super challenging (although a bit short) and just so so fun. There are a lot of warning signs posted because you're ascending on essentially iron rungs and ladders, and some crazy rock scrambles are involved. But so fun! It's definitely plenty safe if you're not an idiot, despite all of the "WARNING PEOPLE DIE"-type signs. Basically, the trail is the way to ascend the eastern face of Mt. Champlain. Honestly, the views are nice but not particularly spectacular-- but it's the hike itself that's the main attraction here.
I think it's only a little over a mile, but the climbing takes a while-- we spent probably 90 minutes on it. You can descend the same way, but we opted to go down a different way (can't recall the trail name, but it's obvious when you're at the top). Only downside is you have to walk about a mile along the road to your car, but this wasn't a huge deal.
Great Head Trail
We sort of happened upon this trail by accident, while intending to do more of a "beachside walk," but we ended up on a trail and we were all wearing hiking boots, so why not. You can pick up the trail at Sand Beach-- just go down the stairs from the restrooms, and you'll walk across a stretch of beach and walk up another set of stairs where the trail starts. We didn't do the whole loop, but it's a fairly easy walk with a few rock scrambles, and lovely views of the shoreline and some of the rock islands in the harbor.
Aaaaand... with that Acadia trip, that makes 8 national parks this summer. Two that I had been to previously, plus six new ones. Probably not gonna be able to do that for awhile, or ever again...
Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail
I picked this hike because it was the longest one I could find in the park, plus it originated from our campground. You can pick up the trail either at loop A or loop B from Blackwoods campground. There's only one trail that goes up this way, and it's very well-marked with blue blazes and cairns at a few parts.
The hike is lovely, if a little boring at times. You start in a forest, and gradually the trail opens up til you're on rock slabs. The elevation change is incredible gentle, since it occurs over the course of 4.2 miles. The summit is a little nuts (it's huge and crowded) because there's a road that allows people to drive essentially right to the top. We disucssed how desirable it would be to institute a system in which you needed to prove that you were physically unable to hike in order to be able to drive to the top, but this seems unlikely.
Overall, I'd do this hike again because the view from the top is really lovely (lots of great coast), and it's the longest hike in the park!
8.4 miles if you start at Loop A
+1300 feet
4 hours
Precipice Trail
This hike was the highlight of our time in Acadia. It's super challenging (although a bit short) and just so so fun. There are a lot of warning signs posted because you're ascending on essentially iron rungs and ladders, and some crazy rock scrambles are involved. But so fun! It's definitely plenty safe if you're not an idiot, despite all of the "WARNING PEOPLE DIE"-type signs. Basically, the trail is the way to ascend the eastern face of Mt. Champlain. Honestly, the views are nice but not particularly spectacular-- but it's the hike itself that's the main attraction here.
I think it's only a little over a mile, but the climbing takes a while-- we spent probably 90 minutes on it. You can descend the same way, but we opted to go down a different way (can't recall the trail name, but it's obvious when you're at the top). Only downside is you have to walk about a mile along the road to your car, but this wasn't a huge deal.
Great Head Trail
We sort of happened upon this trail by accident, while intending to do more of a "beachside walk," but we ended up on a trail and we were all wearing hiking boots, so why not. You can pick up the trail at Sand Beach-- just go down the stairs from the restrooms, and you'll walk across a stretch of beach and walk up another set of stairs where the trail starts. We didn't do the whole loop, but it's a fairly easy walk with a few rock scrambles, and lovely views of the shoreline and some of the rock islands in the harbor.
Aaaaand... with that Acadia trip, that makes 8 national parks this summer. Two that I had been to previously, plus six new ones. Probably not gonna be able to do that for awhile, or ever again...
No comments:
Post a Comment