BLOG - Winter Solstice Waterfalls In Acadia

With 1.25" of rain yesterday, on top of the snow and ice that was already coating Acadia's landscape, the streams were at their peak. Perfect timing since I had to go to Bar Harbor anyway to pick up a half priced park pass for 2019, unfortunately it's the shortest day of the year which meant I had to move quickly to get everything done. But first I stopped at Mardens on my way through Ellsworth to check out the toy section, picked up a couple WWE Retro series 3 figures since they'd be closed by the time I came back through. Then it was off to Breakneck Road which wasn't so much a road as it was a river. Breakneck Falls were raging, possibly the fullest I've ever seen it.

But the objective was actually a return visit to Fawn Falls, on my first visit, a year and a half ago, the sun was too bright, resulting in some less than stellar photos that won't make the book. The abandoned roads were about 90% water which meant tight roping on tiny strips of soggy land with numerous stream crossings that turned my hiking sneakers into watershoes.

Rather than go the way I'd gone last time, I decided to check out a nearby brook that I'd been meaning to visit. Its roar was audible from a quarter mile away. I can't believe I'd waited so long, at the head of a steep, tree covered ravine was a 25 foot cascade crashing over boulders, followed by two more ten foot drops directly above it. And still another drop a stone's throw upstream where the brook fanned out over ledges at the foot of marsh.

From there I followed the brook to Lake Wood which was iced over with a couple inches of water resting on the ice, creating some beautiful scenery. The temperature held around 55 degrees for most of the day with the sun attempting to peek through the clouds.

Around the shore of the lake, I could hear Fawn Falls long before I could see it, pouring down the final leg of its descent. The small stream overflowed its banks, creating a rock slab cascade beside the regular falls. The climb up the steep hillside was wet and close to impossible so unfortunately I couldn't get all the angles I'd wanted but the falls were quite impressive.

After a quick trip to Fawn Pond and back to the car, I got a pistachio muffin at the Hull's Cove general store and took a quick walk along the coast behind the Bar Harbor motels. I was searching for a seaside cascade I swore was there but I only remember it from my childhood so I may be a bit off, no waterfall, just a brook. I hit up the Chamber Of Commerce for a half priced park pass, luckily I had some cash because with the government shutdown, they didn't have the ability to accept cards.

The abandoned Huguenot Falls Trail wasn't running any higher than the last time I was there so I called it quits early on and made my way over to the Jordan Pond House. I planned on walking the loop road, closed for the season, to Bubble Pond for some unnamed falls. But last minute decided to scrap those plans and take the carriage around Jordan Pond. The temperature began to drop as I made my way through the low hanging clouds, moving as fast as I could with only 2 hours of sunlight and over 6 miles ahead of me.

The first objective was Deer Brook, which gets overlooked as one of the famous carriage road cascades but is just as impressive in its own right. I'd been to the falls five years ago but it was in the middle of summer when the brook was barely running, still, I could tell the falls would be impressive, especially upstream from the bridge. And they did not disappoint.

Down the Deer Brook Trail a short ways, the view of the bridge opens up with a cascade below it.

Above the bridge, the brook falls into a ravine in three separate streams, forming a spectacular amphitheater of waterfalls. For some reason, the trail is on the wrong side of the brook, obstructing the chasm of cascades from view.

I somehow made it to Chasm Brook Falls along the carriage road one hour after leaving the car, making it over 3 miles in one hour with a stop at Deer Brook. This was my first time visiting Chasm Brook as it's a bit of long walk to a typically dry streambed. The falls are incredible and much bigger than I'd expected but the sheer cliffs that border the gorge are too steep to safely make it down. The rain that started to fall didn't help matters any.

On my way back, I stopped at a side stream on a ledge I spotted along the way. The stream was too small to be anything spectacular but while exploring the falls I spotted cairns from the abandoned McFarland Path up Sargent Mountain.

With just enough daylight left, I made it back to Deer Brook in time to explore some of the falls further upstream. Why are these not advertised? They are absolutely stunning.

 

One after another, some visible from the trail, others too far through the trees to be seen.

Unfortunately I ran out of light, and energy, pretty sure I had to manually move my knees by my pant legs in order to get them to go up the wooden steps beside the falls. I tried to jog back as it started to rain on me but my steps were getting shorter until I think I might have been shuffling. And then I went to get into clean clothes in the winter restroom only to realize they're closed due to the government shutdown. Luckily it was dark and if there were any peeping toms around, they had tails and walked on all fours. We went to Dragon Fire Pizza in Ellsworth which was pretty good, loved the Cowboy Cheese Fries, then hit up a few more stores in search of toys, didn't find anything. Body's a little sore, feet are killing me from these messed up shoes, but man that was one hell of a day. Now that's how you send off the 2018 hiking season.