The Precipice trail-Acadia

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king tut

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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
 
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Thanks KT, this brings back very fond memories of that trail and the park... what a gorgeous place. Thanks!
 
Awesome pictures! I was at Acadia over the weekend and did the Precipice Trail for the first time....it was foggy so I really saw nothing....now I can see what I missed! I have to say this is the most intimidating trail I have ever been on.

-MEB
 
sapblatt said:
Wow - that hike is probably not for me, but very, very cool!! Awesome pics.

It is definitely not for me. If I were walking along that ledge on photo #4, I would have peed myself, made the trail wet, slipped and plunged to my death :eek: ;)
 
Precipice, a favorite place earlier in my life

Thank You King Tut for the TR and Pics!

Almost like being there!

At one time in my life ( 30 years ago) Precipice was my "go to" hike whenever I was bothered or stressed or needed to find me, myself, and I.

My family expected me to die on the east face of Champlain at an early age! My parents hated that I would head there alone and thought for sure I'd not have contact with another soul. LOL on them, when the trail is open, it is not possible to BE Alone, except within your personal space.

I always loved the trip, there are mental and physical challenges all the way. Doing the whole traverse to the Beehive in those days ( late 1970's if you want to count the decades) one would routinely encounter more than a few folks skinny-bathing on the smooth rock ledges of the glacial pond I knew as The Tarn. What a perfect spot for refreshment, picnic before doing the Beehive!

I would not approach Precipice Trail in wet weather. I'd equally pass on all of Acadia's Jewels in wet weather. Lichens love that granite stuff and today's Bangor Daily News tells the tale

http://bangornews.com/news/t/hancock.aspx?articleid=168271&zoneid=178



Breeze
 
I did the trail a few years ago and what he posted for pics aren't even the worst on the trail.

I doubt I'll do it again...but I am glad I did it the one time.

It's not unsafe, there are rungs and handholds everywhere, I just don't like heights.
 
I am not a big fan of heights, but most of the trail does not bother me too much. The straight up vertical iron rung climbs were fine, it was the walking along the ledges part that I hate. My feet are big and clunky, my shoulders are broad, and when i walk across these narrow areas, I feel like there is just not enough room for someone like me. I scooted across the ledge section in the picture above on my hands and knees as it was a bit wet and narrow. I think the girl behind me was laughing at the tall wuss in front of her.

There is also one last ledge section right near the top that has iron hand holds welded into the cliff parallel to your feet and about 2 or 2 and 1/2 feet off the ground. If you are above 5 and a half feet tall, you have to squat the whole way around the ledge in order to hold onto the iron rungs. I love the hike though, I think I have done it 4 or 5 times now.
 
Wow, thanks for posting this report - great pics too. When I was at Acadia this past June with a large group, a few of us did the Beehive, which was "exciting" enough for me. I was a little disappointed that the Precipice was closed because of the nesting Peregrine Falcons. After seeing these pics, though, I'm not so disappointed that I missed it! ;)
 
that looks "supah fun". always wanted to get over there. was trying to plan a september long weekend but the lady and i decided to do Asheville North Carolina in November instead.
 
mookie said:
that looks "supah fun". always wanted to get over there. was trying to plan a september long weekend but the lady and i decided to do Asheville North Carolina in November instead.
Still keep it in the list!
We went there for a long weekend last September , the week after Labor day and so technically already "off-season"... the park was practically empty. Since I did the Precipice on Friday when we got there, I saw maybe 10 people on it.
Acadia is a very cool place. :)
 
It's hard to believe it's nearly 3 years since we had our mini-gathering there....

memories
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king tut said:
Definitely visit Acadia in the fall during foliage season. The park is empty of the hordes of tourists and is an awesome place to be.

Good to hear that the fall season is still quiet on "the Island," which was our favorite time to visit when I was a grad student at UMO. The rock climbing on the cliffs south of the Precipice Trail is outstanding, as is the climbing at Otter Cliffs. One time we hiked the Precipice Trail without touching any iron, which was a real challenge in places! :D
 
I LOVE ANP but that Precepice Trail reminds me of the Via Ferrata.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK6JbSTiJrE
I like it in the spring the the Peregrin Falcons are nesting and they close it to hiking. I don't have to spend valuable time trying to convince myself that I should at the very least try it just once. I hate sheer dropoffs. They terrify me. :eek:
Your pics are beautiful.
 
Dr. Dasypodidae said:
Good to hear that the fall season is still quiet on "the Island," which was our favorite time to visit when I was a grad student at UMO. The rock climbing on the cliffs south of the Precipice Trail is outstanding, as is the climbing at Otter Cliffs. One time we hiked the Precipice Trail without touching any iron, which was a real challenge in places! :D
It was very quiet for the Oct 2005 vftt Acadia trip.

I also did Precipice as a "no aid" hike/climb many years ago. When we did it on the vftt trip, I couldn't figure out how I had done it without the aid...

Also climbed south of Precipice and at Otter Cliffs--both nice climbing areas.

Doug
 
DougPaul said:
I also did Precipice as a "no aid" hike/climb many years ago. When we did it on the vftt trip, I couldn't figure out how I had done it without the aid...

My guess is that I would wonder the same if I were to go back now after all of these years. :)
 
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