Acadia Memorial Weekend Bash - 5-25 to 5-28-12

[DougPaul]

If you looked really closely at the rocks as you went down into the cave, you may have noticed the cut-off bits of steel that used to form a railing that provided a path into the cave.

The railing stanchions (posts made from steel pipe) had already been removed by the early 1970's.

For those who have not been there, a path leads to a fairly clear walkway that had been cut into the rock at some point in the past. However, the start of the path down is not obvious unless you know to look for it.

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

One of the articles that we found about Anemone Cave said that it was taken out of the literature because there had been too many cases of people getting stuck in there when the tide came in and having to be rescued. Having been in there it's hard to see how you wouldn't be able to get out once you saw the water rising. The tides come up fast in Maine, but not THAT fast. Then again, people are dumber than just about anyone

I'd like to think that the reason was actually to reduce impact like Doug said. Pretty fragile area to be getting the kind of traffic that national park tourism creates.

Perhaps both reasons--fortunately they point in the same direction...

Another hazard is that a high (or rogue) wave can wash people out of the cave. The tidal range is ~10--15 ft in that area. (I've sailed pretty much all the way around the island (except, of course, the isthmus connecting to the mainland) and Somes Sound. It is only an island at high tide. ) If you go, make sure the tide is low....

Doug