TRIP REPORT - Grotto Cave above Beech Hill Pond (Otis, ME)

    This one is a little outside of my usual Acadia or White Mountains explorations but I figured I should post it because it’s a place not many people know about. I love caves so I’m always trying to find any information I can on them and this one is quite elusive. I first read about it on the Northeast caver website but they don’t give any information other than the fact that such a place exists. I was able to find it on a geological website which has since disappeared but they did give its size and a good description of it. Unfortunately they didn’t say how to get there.

    After studying some maps and getting bits of information from the locals I finally figured out where the cave is located. Don’t get your hopes up thinking this is a real cave, its just a talus cave but its pretty cool nonetheless. The geological site referred to it as Grotto Cave and its known by the locals as Glacier Rock or the Bear Caves. It is located on top of Grotto Hill in Otis Maine, just outside of Ellsworth along the southern shore of Beech Hill Pond.

    There is no trail to the cave, or to Grotto Hill for that matter, but there are old jeep roads and atv trails that lead you almost to it. While traveling along Rte 180, also known as the Mariaville Road, almost across the street form Beech Hill School is a dirt road with multiple names. The street sign has it listed as the Gary Moore Rd. Follow it for a quarter of a mile until you reach another road with a row of mail boxes out front, this is the West Shore Rd. Bear right onto the West Shore Rd and follow it for 1.4 miles past a multitude of camps where you’ll come to the Beech Hill Pond boat landing.

    I recommend doing this in the off season or the boat landing will be a popular place with possibly nowhere to park. Walk along the road for a house or two and across the street from 307 you’ll see a small shed with a gravel road beside it that looks like a driveway. The shed is posted as private property and the land might be as well but there is only that one sign, so just be respectful of other people’s property and move across it quickly. Follow the gravel road up past an old tarped over abandoned boat house that was never finished. After the boat house the gravel gives way to grass but remains a wide road not fit for most vehicles. The grassy road brings you uphill for 0.3 mile where you’ll reach the edge of a swamp. The beavers have made quite the home here, submerging the road beneath a few feet of water. You’ll have to tightrope across the beaver dam for a little over a hundred feet.

    Once you’ve made it across the dam and back onto the dry dirt road, you’re going to leave the road and make your way into the woods. They’re quite open and pleasant for bushwhacking despite a couple wet and steep sections. There are multiple atv trails cutting through the woods but your best bet is to just ignore them and make your way uphill, the trails will take you all over the place, eventually bringing you to the summit but in a very roundabout way. Just simply keep going up until you can’t anymore. It’s roughly a 0.3 mile bushwhack up the ridgeline of the hill.

    You’ll find yourself at a small open grassy area at the top. To your right are the ledges overlooking Beech Hill Pond as well as Graham Lake. Be careful around the edge because the cliff is made up of a rather smooth stone and it slopes downward to a pretty big drop off, anywhere between 20 and 40 feet depending on where you’re standing. Beech Hill Pond is the one right in front of you, Graham Lake is to the right. Above Graham Lake you’ll see a ridge of mountains including Peaked, Black, Tunk, Catherine and Schoodic Mountain. Its quite an impressive view that seems to come from out of nowhere.

    Once you’re done taking in the view from Grotto Hill, its time to explore the cave, which is located directly beneath you at the bottom of the rock cliff. The cave is pretty much in the middle of the cliff so it doesn’t matter which way you go to get down. Slightly to your right is a crack in the rock with a few small trees growing out of it that is the most direct way down, its also the most dangerous. If you keep bearing right you’ll find a steep slope going down between two ledges that will take you to the bottom rather quickly but without too much difficulty. There’s even a few small caves along the way that the animals have claimed as their homes.

    Follow the base of the cliff a hundred feet or so to the multiple entrances of Grotto Cave. The first one is a large oval shaped hole in the cliff that apparently had steps leading up to it long ago. Unfortunately those steps are no longer there which makes getting into the cave nearly impossible. The rocks are too smooth to grab onto so there’s nothing to pull yourself up by. If you’re determined to get into that first chamber then I recommend dragging a log to the mouth of the cave and climbing up that. Its only four feet up or so, its only the angle of the ledges that make it difficult.

    The next entrance is just on the other side of the giant slab that’s broken off from the main cliff. It’s a tight squeeze but if you’re willing to crawl through some mud it’ll bring you around the backside of the slab and into the main chamber of the cave. There is also a break in the cliff to your right which also requires some crawling but if you’re small enough you’ll be able to enter the small room and climb up towards the light through a chimney like crevice. My shoulders and hips were too broad to allow me clearance but someone a little smaller could certainly make it through.

    Just past the second entrance is a third one, the easiest to get into. It looks almost like a natural doorway leading into a hall. The hallway is a few feet wide and tall enough to comfortably stand up in. It leads to an open room with sunlight pouring in, directly beneath the ledges you were standing on earlier. There’s really no need for flashlights unless you plan on squeezing up through the chimney, plenty of sunlight finds its way in between the fallen boulders.

    If you climb up the jumble of rocks you’ll find yourself at the top of the dark chimney crevice, where again if you’re small enough, you could climb down through the chimney. You can also make your way onto the top of the flat boulder in front of you and peer down into the main entrance of the cave but be careful because it’s a long drop down.

    Although not a true cave, just a huge pile of large talus, Grotto Cave is a really cool experience. The journey is worth it just to see the expansive view from the top of Grotto Hill. With no hiking trail to it, its really only seen by locals out riding the atv trails, and most of them don’t realize there’s a cave beneath the cliff. I think what makes the crevices so impressive is the fact that they’re not comprised of small boulders but rather huge chunks of the cliff that dislodged over time, breaking away from the main ledge but not crumbling into your average rockslide found beneath unstable rock cliffs. The enormous slabs have formed some interesting caves that are certainly worth checking out if you’re ever in the Ellsworth/Otis/Mariaville area.