BLOG - Second NH Day Trip (Noble Falls)

    Yesterday was supposed to be gorgeous, and this time it actually was, so we decided to make a day trip to NH. We’d been planning on going back since a few weeks ago when two of the places we wanted to eat at were closed for the day. So we got up early and left the house around 7:00. We took the same route as last time to Gorham which takes just over three hours, neither of our stomachs were doing too good so we had to stop for emergency pooping along the way.

    We got some Gatorade at the Gorham Walmart and attempted to find Alpine Cascades but came up empty handed. I know where it is on the map despite its lack of a trail but finding the best way to it is what’s difficult. We can walk along an old railroad bed turned ATV trail if we have to but it's in the direct sunlight for over a mile plus it's all on crushed gravel and dirt which my ankle doesn’t appreciate. I thought I found a more direct, wooded route but we couldn’t find the road we were looking for because there were no road signs. We were okay with that because it was really freakin’ hot and being out in the open sun wasn’t sounding too appealing.

    So we moved on to Littleton to get Jaime’s birthday fudge since they were closed by the time we got there last time. We got a pound and a half which should last us awhile. I went to a consignment shop and a thrift store but the antique place I really wanted to go to wasn’t open, they have old maps and post cards which is actually the best way to find out about abandoned trails.

    From there we went to Lincoln to get lunch at White Mountain Bagel. They’re a bagel place that makes amazing sandwiches with so much meat you can barely fit it in your mouth. Jaime of course told me that I shouldn’t have a problem with it because I love putting big meat in my mouth. We took them to the Fay Wayside picnic area to eat along the river, one of our favorite places to have a picnic.
 

    Not wanting to stray too far from Lincoln since we were determined to eat at Black Mountain Burger for supper, we’d decided on searching for a waterfall on Cannon Mountain but wanted something smaller first while digesting our delicious bagel sandwiches. Since Jaime didn’t go up Waternomee Brook with me a year ago she wanted to do that. It appears to be nothing more than a random brook that passes under the road but just a short ways up are actually a number of stunning cascades. Of course they were much better when I did them in the Spring of last year but it was still fun as hell. Jaime enjoyed climbing up the rocks of the steep brook. The black flies were horrible but that’s to be expected this time of year.

    When I last visited the brook it would have been impossible to climb up it due to the insane amount of water. This time it was low enough to climb up right alongside the falls. I got to scratch another item off my bucket list by sticking my head under a waterfall to cool off. I’ve always wanted to but never really had the right opportunity or safe place to do it. It was as refreshing as I’d always imagined it to be. On our way back down I found a beautiful quartz rock by the waterfall and got some pictures of it posed beneath the fall before taking it home, my only rock of the trip. See, I’m doing much better, only one. The crystals in it are so thick they look like glass.

    The main fall which slides down a steep rock for about thirty feet wasn’t nearly as intense as it had been last time but that gave me the opportunity to explore. I actually got to go up the ledges that the water covered in the Spring which was pretty cool, there was even a view from the top. The brook continues on up the side of Waternomee Mountain but we stopped there since the water level was so low, but I’ll be traveling up it further next Spring. While I was exploring Jaime took off her shoes and stuck her feet in the pool below the falls and relaxed before making our descent.

    It was starting to get late so we scrapped the idea of searching for an abandoned mine and headed for Cannon Mountain. What was once an extensive bushwhack to a recently rediscovered waterfall  has turned into a short hike along a trail after a photographer realized the locals had a path leading to the forgotten Nobel Falls. The directions were right, you would never imagine there was a maintained path there. I think it's used by skiers during the winter months but it makes for an excellent hiking trail that leads directly to the falls.

    Noble Falls, now known as Bridesmaid Falls to the backcountry skiers, has got to be one of the most majestic I have ever seen. The fact it isn’t on any maps or trail guides is astonishing. Even in the low water it was incredible. Out of nowhere the small stream pours over an enormous rock cliff. The ledge is so high its not really possible to capture it all in a picture. Not only that, there’s actually two waterfalls, one on each end of the cliff. I got to touch it, both of them, but wasn’t able to wet my head like I did at Waternomee. The sandy pool at the bottom would be perfect to splash around in though. I’m still amazed at how incredible Noble Falls is, just wow.

    Through research I’d learned that there was actually another waterfall just a tenth of a mile or so downstream, so downstream I went in search of Plimpton Falls. But first there were some really cool rock formations along the riverbed I had to check out. At one point a slab of rock jutted out over the brook like a plank on a pirate ship. I can’t wait to see these lower falls in the Spring or after a heavy rain.

    Getting down to Plimpton Falls was easier said than done. Tenth of a mile doesn’t sound so bad on paper but when its straight down with no trail whatsoever, it gets a little tricky. I could tell there was something special down there because I stood at the top of it and watched the water disappear over the edge. Using fallen trees and their comrades who had yet to succumb to gravity,  I carefully lowered myself down the steep ravine, catching glimpses of the falls from beside it.

   

    Although not a sheer drop off a ledge like Noble Falls, the water cascaded down steps, one after another after another for what must be a hundred feet or more. Its hard to believe there can be two such unique waterfalls just a few hundred feet from each other with no real trail to them. Its really a shame more people don’t get to see these. The mosquitoes were swarming me so I didn’t stay long but I did manage to get some good pictures of me with the falls using the timer on my camera. Not wanting to leave Jaime waiting I hurried back up the impossibly steep slope. Every step was bringing me back two, sliding down the dead leaves and loose dirt beneath them. So instead I leapt from tree to tree, holding on tight, getting my footing, and then launching myself up to the next one. It worked but man did that tire me out. I think I almost passed out at one point but couldn’t let myself because Jaime was still up ahead of me and if I fell it would have been a long way down. I made it up rather quickly and stopped for a drink, then proceeded to swallow a fly during all my huffing and puffing. I hope he died a slow and painful death for discomfort he caused me.

  

  We certainly earned our supper at Black Mountain Burger, which was delicious like always. I got a new one this time, a Thai burger with peanut slaw on it, it was certainly interesting. Jaime got the Brie and Bacon with maple mayonaise, one of our favorites. The buffalo mac and cheese balls were incredible as well.

    Before heading out we stopped at GH Pizza so I could get a Souvlaki to go which I had tonight after work, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I also stopped at Price Chopper to see if they had anything good to bring back with me, I only got a package of blueberry muffin tops, the place looked pretty well picked over after the holiday weekend. We ended up leaving town at 8:00, made it down the Kancamagus before it got completely dark, oh and Jaime saw a moose along the way, and were home just after midnight. No rain at all so despite the construction areas on the way back it was smooth sailing, nothing like last time. Jaime even slept a bit on the highway. I wanted to but waited until we got home. Another amazing day that only makes me want to move there more.

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.

BLOG - Exploring Grotto Cave in Otis Maine

    Yesterday was Jaime’s birthday so today continued her four day celebration. We got together with her father for lobsters and some exploration. A few years ago I read about a cave near his house, where Jaime grew up, but he had never heard of it. He had been to the area it was located though, in fact right on top of it but never knew there was a cave down below. I copied the information into a word document which is good because the geological website it was featured on appears to be gone. With no real directions on how to get there I did some research on Google Earth and got a pretty good idea where to start. Today was the day to begin the search.

    With my research and Jaime’s dad’s knowledge of the area, as well as a couple firsthand accounts he’d heard from local friends, we knew we were heading in the right direction. Boy is it nice to do these sorts of things with a local, we parked at the boat launch and Dicky knew the guy who was washing his truck and we got some directions from him which pretty much matched up to what I had gathered from my research. He referred to the cave as ‘the bear caves’. So we headed up a gravel road that looked like nothing more than a driveway. He told us we’d get a little wet by the swamp this time of year which seemed about right because I knew we had to follow the road to the edge of a swamp before cutting uphill through the trees.

    Sure enough we came to the swamp which was dammed up pretty good by beavers. The road was under a few feet of water with the dam running right along the side of it. We skirted around the first dam, crossing a small brook, but came to another much longer dam that we couldn’t easily walk around. So we tight roped a hundred feet or so across it. We got a little wet but no one fell in. The dam brought us up close and personal with the beaver hut but there was no activity.

    On the other side of the dam we made our way into the woods and off the muddy jeep road. All we knew was that we needed to get to the top of the hill so we made our way up, crossing multiple atv trails along the way. Luckily it was kind of chilly today which prevented the sweat from pouring as we wandered through the woods, eventually making it to the top of the ridge. We followed the ridgeline for a couple minutes before spotting a clearing up ahead. Jaime and I stopped to watch a couple of snakes sun bathing while Dicky made his way through the clearing, yelling back that we’d made it to the top and there was one hell of a view.

    When he was a kid he’d been camping there before, right on top of the hill with a beautiful view looking out over Beech Hill Pond and Graham Lake as well as a few ridgelines of nearby mountains. We hadn’t expected such a spectacular view, figuring trees would surely obscure it, but there was a long ledge we were standing on that towered over most of the trees. We knew we were on top of the cave, we just needed a way down. A safe way down, the way I found was direct but something only a fool would do. Yes I would have done it but opted to find a safer way everyone felt comfortable with.

    While traveling along the band of ledges looking for a safe way down I spotted a hole in the cliff, one of the chimney entrances into the cave I had read about. We found it. Right around here we found a good way down that brought us beside a small cave in the ledges where we assume a porcupine lived, the entire entrance to it was covered with porcupine poop, not even an inch of ground being visible. The cliffs we were just on top of were a lot higher up than we thought, between 30 and 40 feet. We were right in our decision to not get too close to the edge.

    Following the base of the cliff we came to the multiple entrances to the cave I had read about. The main entrance no longer had any steps leading up to it, just an old rotted log that was no longer useable. The cliff walls were too smooth for me to get a good enough grip to climb my way into the crevice so we carried on, finding other ways in. Everything was a little wet from the recent rain but we found a nice dry opening that required a little climbing but no crawling in the mud. That entrance ended up being the only one we could really get into but it was pretty cool.

     I did some more climbing and made it into another chamber but couldn’t squeeze my broad shoulders down into a tight squeeze that lead to another portion of the cave. I explored a bit, figuring out where the different cracks and crevices lead to. It’s a neat little talus cave system, nothing I would consider to be a real cave though. Only one tiny portion really required a flashlight and it was just a little too small for me to fit into. Jaime offered to help me carry over a log so I could climb into the main chamber but it wasn’t really necessary as I had seen it from above and knew which chamber it lead to. It was cool how they were all connected though.

     We bushwhacked our way back down, aiming for the road so we could avoid tight roping across the beaver damn but we came out right at the swamp anyway. This time we picked our way over rocks and logs on the lower side of the dam thinking it might be easier. Turns out it wasn’t but luckily nothing too strenuous. We explored an abandoned boat house along the jeep road we passed on our way out and made it back to the truck with lots of scrapes but no major injuries. Although the scratch a branch had left on the back of my knee was still burning hours later, I realized after my shower that a sliver of the branch was actually jammed in the cut. A pair of tweezers pulled it right out and it still hurts but not nearly as much as it did when the piece of wood was in my skin.

    After our successful adventure we headed into town to pick up supper. We each had a lobster, some corn on the cob and shared a few pounds of clams. Everything was incredible. It more than made up for the disgusting mussels we had a week ago that we ended up throwing out. Dicky’s looking forward to joining us on some of our Acadia excursions this summer.

    We were shocked to have actually found the cave on our first try considering we had no real directions and weren’t even sure if we were searching on the right hill. I figured it would take a few trips to find. Now that I’m looking at the information I took down about the cave off the geological website, there is no question we found it. Everything matches up exactly to their diagram. But I still can’t find any information on it whatsoever online, no pictures, nothing, so it looks like this will be the first.

TRIP REPORT - Eagle Cascade & Eagle Lake Arches (Acadia)

     If you’ve ever been around Eagle Lake on the carriage road then you’ve probably unknowingly passed by an off trail waterfall I’ve nicknamed Eagle Cascade. You might have even heard its roar after a heavy rain as it sits only a hundred feet or so off the carriage path. Just up the carriage road a little ways lies something else you’ve probably passed by without realizing it; the abandoned ruins of Eagle Lake we’re going to call the Eagle Lake Arches.

    The most direct route would appear to be the carriage path but if you’re like me and hate walking on carriage roads, there’s actually a shorter, more direct and scenic route. On the park loop road not even a half mile past the road up Cadillac Mountain you’ll come to a scenic pull off just after a couple of cascades pass under the road. This is the stream that flows into Eagle Lake that you’ll be following. The parking area is on the right side of the road and has room for about four cars but most people are only there for a minute or two to take in the view of the largest lake on the island. The woods are nice and open which makes bushwhacking easy and quite enjoyable. The embankment looks steep but you’re cutting diagonally across it down to the stream so it isn’t bad at all.

    The Cadillac Mountain runoff winds its way through the pine forest, flowing over rock ledges and even roots at times of high water. Normally it won’t be flowing too strong which makes it possible to safely rock hop downstream. Its only 0.2 mile to Eagle Cascade but there’s a number of picturesque rapids and falls along the way, twice, because two streams travel side by side before joining forces just above the falls.

    You’ll hear Eagle Cascade before you see it disappearing over the ledge. It’s only about a ten foot drop but due to the fact that it tumbles over a sheer ledge it makes it a rather impressive waterfall even when there isn’t much water. Now after a heavy rain you wouldn’t even recognize it because of the velocity it pours over at. If you have the opportunity this is one you definitely need to see when the water is raging but truly is gorgeous either way.

    Through the trees a hundred feet or so you’ll see the carriage road. If you follow the stream you’ll pop out right at the little bridge most people think nothing of. Take a right on the carriage path and continue on it for 0.2 mile, crossing over four tiny runoffs, most of which will be bone dry. At the fifth and biggest drainage ditch of the bunch, also the flattest with the possibility of a trickle of water, look to the left. There will be evidence of a path here leading towards the lake which won’t be visible through the trees. It’s easy to follow and only about 200 feet long before you come to the ruins.

    Little to nothing is known about the remains of what appears to be the foundation of a lakeside house. I’ve read that after construction was started, new laws were put in place that prevented houses from being built that close to the town’s drinking supply. I’ve also heard that it had something to do with the island’s water filtration system much like the Stone Tower on Duck Brook located just a mile or two away, which seems unlikely to me but who knows.

    On my trip to the ruins on April 22 of 2016 my wife and I found what might be a clue as to what the curious structure is and why it’s there. Folded up tightly and shoved in between two of the stones was an old piece of paper. On the weatherworn sheet of moldy paper was a poem that reads…Here beneath the arches old, lie the remains of Mary Rinemold. Who built this shrine to mourn, a lover lost on the night of a harvest moon. To this day the locals believe he turned into a loon and you can hear him sing if you sleep beneath these arches… If the paper is legit then from what I gather Mary Rinemold was building this house in memory of her deceased lover but died before its completion and was buried beneath the stone arches. Of course I’m not sure of the validity of the poem and I haven’t been able to find anyone by the name of Mary Rinemold or any Rinemold in the area. Then again, why anyone would make up such a story and then hide it from sight is beyond me.

    Whatever the reason the stone arches were placed here, they certainly are intriguingly beautiful. The elements have taken their toll on the stone ruins but everything is still standing and actually pretty sturdy. I don’t recommend walking across the arches but have admittedly done it myself. Some of the stones are loose but the structure is surprisingly solid. The views over Eagle Lake are amazing with Connor’s Nubble and Sargent Mountain directly across the water and the Bubbles to the left. There’s some rocks just off the shore you can hop onto that offer a full view of the arches. If you explore the area around the ruins you can make out where there was most likely a boat launch as well as either the driveway or possibly the remains of an old road before the carriage path was built. We may not know much about the mysterious arches but there certainly is a different feel here, a feeling that makes me question if maybe the story is true. You’ll understand once you get there.

  
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.

First Acadia Trip Of The Year

    It was originally supposed to rain today like it always does on my days off but the showers ended up getting pushed back until tonight so we made our first trip of the year to Acadia. The park loop road just opened a week ago as did the carriage roads which opens up all of our hiking options.

    I woke up at 8:30 and started getting ready, loading up my pack and all that good stuff. Along the way we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for Jaime to get her ‘happy juice’ and we got to see a little woodchuck beside the drive-thru, then Shaws to pick up some lobster rolls. We gassed up at Irving in Holden hoping for some broccoli and cheddar bites but like always they were out. Luckily the Ellsworth one didn’t let me down, they’re usually pretty well stocked there, and I also got a BBQ rib sandwich and some onion rings. We like to stop at Mardens and eat in the parking lot there like we used to do on Jaime’s lunches back when it was Walmart.

      Our first stop of the day was to an off-trail waterfall I went to last year that we’ll call Eagle Cascade. Its not even a tenth of a mile off the carriage road around Eagle Lake but its not quite visible from the path so its rarely visited. But we hate walking along carriage roads so we parked at a viewing area and followed the stream downhill which is a bit more difficult but actually a lot shorter in distance, and much prettier. There are tons of small waterfalls along the way, giving it a very serene atmosphere. During times of low water, like right now, its fun to rock hop down the stream.


    Unfortunately, Eagle Cascade isn’t much to look at during times of low water. I was hoping to make it there during the snow runoff when it would be a raging torrent but with most of the park closed until late April and the fact that the snow melted months ago, no such luck. We’re going to try to make it after a heavy rain one day so we can see it at its full potential. But it was beautiful nonetheless. Its only about ten feet high but the water pours right over a sheer rock face making it a true waterfall.

    From there we walked down the carriage road a couple tenths of a mile to the abandoned ruins on Eagle Lake, a place I’ve visited a couple times, once with my parents and again with Brian and Stephanie, but never with Jaime. Just a couple hundred feet off the carriage road is what remains of a house that was going to be built on the lakeshore. It was never completed but the stone arches and pillars remain of what would have been the foundation. Other than that, nothing else is known about this mysterious location…  

     Until now. Jaime wanted to get some pictures and video of me on top of the arches. I used a small tree to help me climb the wall which is becoming fragile and starting to crumble. After getting some pictures of Jaime popping her head up over the stone wall like a gopher, a rock came loose. Beside the loose stone, I noticed a small crack in the mortar between stones. There was a piece of paper in it, folded up tightly. We figured it was nothing but had to get it out anyway, just to see because we could feel something special. Using a couple small sticks as tweezers, we managed to wiggle the paper out. It was a poem written in ink on old weather worn paper, giving some insight as to why the arches are there, a shrine dedicated to a lost love. This was truly an amazing discovery, though I'm skeptical of its legitimacy as I can't find any records of the names mentioned in the poem. It felt old but could be a geocahing thing perhaps.

   We jogged back along the carriage road and followed the stream uphill back to our car. Originally we were planning on exploring the side of Mt Champlain like we did a few times last year in search of the Hanging Steps. We found so many awesome places along the mountainside we wanted to go back for further exploration but Jaime was kind of beat after our first adventure. So we parked along the road and I took a quick solo trip to the Hanging Steps to make sure they were all still intact after the winter. They were as glorious as ever. I can’t believe we searched and searched for something that was literally right there. But all the cool places we found along the way were well worth it.


    Continuing along the park loop road we stopped at Hunter’s Head, a landmark on old maps that is hardly mentioned today. I first read about it late last year but never made it. After scouring the internet and finding practically nothing except for a couple cool photos, I figured today was as good a day as any to explore. With a rough idea of where to look, we parked at a viewing area and I walked down through the woods towards the ocean. It didn’t take much exploration to find what I was looking for. Beyond a recently fallen tree there was a small rockslide leading into a giant chasm that split the enormous rock cliff in half, the waves of the ocean crashing more than fifty feet below.


     While making a failed attempt at descending the giant chasm down the rockslide and jagged cliffs, I heard voices nearby. A father and his two daughters were exploring the area as well and informed me that it was indeed possible to go down into the giant chasm, they’d just come from there. It was nice to see a family enjoying nature without being glued to their phones. The tide was beginning to come in though so I’d have to hurry.


      A little free-climbing later I was at the base of Hunters Head, looking into the deep chasm. I’ve never been one for rock climbing but lately I’ve found myself doing it more and more in order to get to cool places and jaw dropping views. To get into the gorge required walking across some seaweed that’s submerged during high tide, which I hate doing because its so slippery but it’d been so long since the tide went out that it wasn’t too bad. Using the timer on my camera I was able to get some great shots of me at the mouth of the chasm. I just started using the timer function a week ago while taking pictures of my closet shelving system and I’m really enjoying it, it beats the hell out of selfies. The giant crack in the cliff was completely dry at the end of it where the water hadn’t touched in hours but with the tide rolling in I didn’t hang around too long. Its an otherworldly, rugged placed, kind of like Thunder Hole on steroids.

I found an easier way up the cliff, no free-climbing this time around, the way the family I met told me to go. Hey, I would have but I was short on time so took the most direct route. The ledges that make up Hunters Head are much more jagged and weather worn than the rest of the Acadia shoreline, giving it a more wild feel. I’d actually always wanted to explore that area after seeing it from Little Hunter’s Beach but being a kid at the time, it was a little too far for me to wander off to. After hearing about it Jaime decided she had to see it too. We took the easier way but while sliding down the jagged rocks she ended up with quite the hole in the butt of her pants. We joked about her butt-hole being torn the rest of the day. She didn’t quite make it inside of the chasm but got to see it from the outside and from above.
  
    Rather than drive through Bar Harbor, which probably would have been pretty quiet anyway, we did the rest of the loop road and got to see a couple deer along the way. One of them stopped by our car and posed for us so Jaime got some good pictures. I went to Mardens on our way through Ellsworth and got some snacks. And after smelling the ocean air all day Jaime decided she had to have steamers for supper so we picked up three pounds just before the seafood counter closed. Well, not ‘we’, I did, Jaime's pants had a huge hole in the butt that wouldn’t be appropriate to show off in the grocery store. We’re both a bit sore now but it was well worth it. A great way to kick off the hiking season.