TRIP REPORT - The Hanging Steps (Acadia)

     When I first learned of The Hanging Steps, I had no idea what to expect. It was nothing more than a couple words on an old map but something labeled The Hanging Steps was something I needed to see. So like I did with The Great Cave the year before, I set out to find them, no matter what it took. There was a vague description a local explorer (JR 'Thirdstone' Libby) was able to give me and after months and miles of searching, I finally found the steps, five minutes off the park loop road. They are incredible and even after standing on them, I can’t quite figure out how Rudolph Brunnow got them to stay there.

    To get to The Hanging Steps, park just a few car lengths down from the Precipice parking lot. An unmarked yet clearly worn path leads into the woods on the right side of the road. Near the start of the path you’ll notice a wooden register box in front of an enormous boulder. This is actually a rock climbers trail that runs along the base of the imposing ledges. This is their trail so be sure to stay out of their way and watch out for their belongings at the foot of the cliff.

  

     The path is easy to follow and runs right along the bottom of the rock wall after going up a few log steps. The roots and rocks get a little larger as you start going up but you’ll be leaving the path before it gets too steep. Look for the old gnarled birch tree growing along the edge of the cliff. There’ll be a few boulders you have to climb up here, one that requires tight roping along its pointy top but the branches offer good support. And if you’re not up for it, you can take a few extra steps around it. Once you’ve passed between the remarkable branches of the creepy looking tree, veer to the right after the giant boulder balancing atop some other smaller boulders.

     There’s a break in the cliff here where a rockslide has torn through it. If you look closely you’ll realize some of those rocks aren’t random, it’s a stairway going up the rockslide which makes things much easier. If you look up to your right, on top of the cliff you’ll notice a metal railing that appears rather out of place. That railing is at the top of the stairs, a sort of viewing area. Just keep following those stone stairs up the rockslide, they’ll lead you straight to the Hanging Steps.

    So what are they exactly? Well, Brunnow was the master of putting steps on mountainsides in order to make the unclimbable, climbable. So he placed large blocks of granite on top of one another, leaned against a flat faced boulder that leans against the vertical cliff. What you get is a steep stairway, a sort of ladder made out of rocks. Iron pins are used to hold the steps up, as well as strategically placed rocks beneath them to create a retaining wall. I would have to say this is the most interesting of all of his unbelievable stone stairways. At the top it takes you through a crack in the ledge, creating walls and giving you something to hold onto. Let me tell you, walking up an uneven flight of stairs with no railing and a pretty long fall on either side of you is just a tad bit scary, but don’t worry, its not too far down.


At the top of the stairway, the trail goes to the left, but to the right is the iron railing and a small lookout area worth the couple extra steps. Unfortunately time has taken its toll on the railing and one side is bent out of place and hanging off the ledge but its still easy enough to get out to the viewing area, or you crawl under the big rock which is even more fun, as long as you don’t mind getting a little dirty. The view is spectacular, looking up at the imposing headwall, the rockslide beneath it, the southern shoulder of Champlain Mountain, Great Head just above Sand Beach and the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island from Schoodic Point. Not bad considering its just the top of a staircase.

    You’ll notice that the last few steps you came up are not granite blocks but rather natural steps carved into the cliff. I believe that at one point, most of the stairway was actually carved out the same way but over time eroded. Brunnow noticed that and decided that in order to preserve what was being lost, he used chunks of granite that had fallen off the rock cliff to rebuild the natural staircase. A hundred years later and what he built still remains, sturdy as ever.

    If you follow the well worn trail at the top of the stairs it will take you around the corner to another rock wall that the climbers use. At the base of that wall is an interesting free standing slab of rock known as ‘the tombstone’. It appears to have broken off the ledges, slid down, crashed into the boulders below without breaking and now stands vertically just a few feet from the cliff. It is actually quite impressive.

    Just past the tombstone the trail seems to disappear into the trees, sheer ledges, boulders. There are a few talus caves in the boulders you can climb up or down into and even pop out the other side if you don’t mind some crawling and shimmying, and lots of porcupine poop. If you were to continue on, in just over a tenth of a mile you’d find yourself on the lower part of The Precipice trail at the very first iron rungs shortly before the rockslide portion of the path. But keep in mind, that’s a 150 foot drop beside you so be very careful if you do choose to continue on.

    Back at the bottom of the Hanging Steps, you probably noticed the cool looking circular chasm on one side and what appears to be a cave at the corner of the cliff on the other. Both are worth checking out. We’ll start with the cave in the corner. You can crawl down into the small chamber but during wetter weather there’ll be a puddle at the bottom. Opposite the puddle, there is actually another crevice you could conceivably crawl into but it only goes a few feet before getting too small for an adult to fit. Still neat nonetheless.


    Onto the giant pothole on the other side of the staircase. It is filled with boulders, surrounded by boulders, a small boulder even hangs overhead in the far corner, wedged between the cliff and you guessed it, another boulder. There’s a few ways into the circular chasm, it just depends on what you’re more comfortable with, climbing down into it, climbing up into it beneath the dangling boulder, or crawling on your belly through a tight little cave. No matter what you choose, they’re all fun and I definitely recommend exploring the rocky pothole beneath the stone staircase.



    Its hard to believe something so incredible is just a few minute walk from the road and the park doesn’t advertise it. With any luck, this book will bring lost destinations like this to their attention so they can be cared for and preserved before they fall to the hands of time and nature like so many other parts of this great park already have.

For more abandoned trails and forgotten places in Acadia National Park be sure to check out The Acadia You Haven't Seen, available now on Amazon in E-Book and Black & White format or http://www.matthewmarchon.weebly.com for your color copy today. Over 50 destinations including many you won't find anywhere online.