BLOG - Last Trip For Acadia One's Revisions

Had a minor hive flareup last night but didn't let the remnants stop me, it was off to Acadia today to finish up the last maps needed for The Acadia You Haven't Seen Volume One REVISED EDITION, plus a few extra pics to brighten up the book a little. Started my day with a return trip to Brewer Mountain, hoping to map some of the old quarry roads, which meant a quick stop at the Stone Tower. There was a lot of new blowdown along the old road since the last time I was here, this past winter was a wild one.

Found a few old roads but too faint to bother mapping, I did stumble across a couple unofficial trails on Brewer Mountain I didn't find last time though. They both led right to the summit on almost the exact same route I took back in October 2016, and even offered a few new views I hadn't seen before including Cadillac and The Whitecap as well as McFarland and Youngs Mountains. Had to update the Summiting Acadia hiking guide too after that one.

Onto the Park Loop Road where Jaime accompanied me along the Red & Black Brigham Path, the first abandoned trail we had discovered back in 2015 while searching the side of Champlain Mountain for the Hanging Steps. Back then I didn't have a gps unit so I more or less guessed where we were on the mountainside, today we finally mapped it using my own directions from The Acadia You Haven't Seen. We found it with no trouble at all. Jaime stopped at the shimmering waterfall ledge after crawling through the boulder cave while I continued along the trail all the way to Enoch Mountain. I'd always lost the trail in the rockslide but today followed it all the way, skirting the base of multiple cliffs, one of which had a balanced boulder perched atop.

Followed the trail right into the saddle between Enoch Mountain's upper and lower summits. Enoch was actually the next destination on my list so this negated the need to make my way up The Bowl Trail, I needed some photos that weren't washed out with blindingly bright sunlight. Got what I needed before the wind practically blew me off the mountaintop, had a little trouble holding the camera steady.

Made quick work of the abandoned trail on my way back to Jaime and we walked back to the car for some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, already pretty sore and it'd only been 4 miles of hiking. But we set out on the Great Head Trail, stopping to check out the view over Sand Beach. It never recovered from the winter storms that wreaked havoc on the shoreline, shifting the boulders to the base of the staricase and the stram now runs along the upper part of the beach before cutting down the center of it. Well, I guess all those people online who were saying it does this every year and will reset before the park opens were proven wrong. I've seen Sand Beach in the winter before but it had never been altered that much before so I had my doubts it would return to normal.

Continued along the trail to the tip of Great Head where I carefully shuffled along the unofficial path that travels along the top of the cliffs. I knew I wasn't going all the way down to the sea cave that became the cover of The Acadia You Haven't Seen but I wanted the gps tracks for the route down. Whoa, okay, I remember it being an intense journey but this was worse than I thought.

And okay, that's far enough, this is definitely not safe. I can't belive I directed people here. But I made it to the teetering boulder that marks the route down. I did not climb down though, I'll have to take my own word for it that it's climbable without ropes and harnesses. We decided to leave the cave in the book since it is the cover after all but marked it as dangerous. The teetering boulder is located directly in the center of the photo but is hard to see due to it being the same color as the cliff.

After finishing the loop I scooted up the 350 foot long herd path to the Peak of Otter for the map and for some more pictures. Last time I was there was during sunset so the photos left something to be desired. Not that there's much to see from the wooded summit other than a few remnants of the old Naval watch tower.

Off to the other side of the island for some pictures of Fernald Cove for the Jesuit Spring chapter. All my pictures were centered around the spring itself with no photos of the cove, the marsh pond across the street or the little water spout that drains into the cove. It was even low tide.

Then onto something new to end the day before losing the sun. I had recently noticed a trail on an old map that climbed Saint Sauveur Mountain. After some research I figured out what it was, the Slide Trail, emanating from a now non existent road that branched off Fernald Point Rd. So I made my way up the Valley PEak Trail before starting my bushwhack. Within a few hundred I came across a giant rock slab with a cairn at the top and bottom, right where I thought it'd be. There were some fantastic views from the open ledges.

Followed the abandoned Slide Trail all the way down to the road where a long portion of it travels along the ANP property boundary line, what I believe to be the old road corridor. Lovely trail you can tell is still traveled by locals. This one will probably end up in a website exclusive book of trails and destinations that didn't make it into The Acadia You Haven't Seen.

And that marked the end of the day. I successfully got everything I needed for the revised version of the book. Now it's time to make the last few maps that I finally have gs tracks for. I'm kind of amazed I was able to do an entire book without them the first time around. We tried getting some supper at the nearby grocery store but they closed at 7 so with only a few minutes left open, all the warm food was put away for the night. Man, I was really hoping for that bbq kielbasa I got there before. And mashed potatoes. And mac and cheese. Now you've got me hungry, I'm gonna go eat.

The new revised edition is now available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2X35JS5