Day 5
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
I couldn’t get three nights at the Kimball Terrace Inn, so I packed up the room at dawn, grabbed a coffee from the lobby and set out for my day. It may not sound like much, but all I had on tap was a two and a half mile loop trail.
The previous day, after tackling the Beehive/Bowl Loop, I asked a park ranger about the Precipice Trail and how it compared. He described it as “three times more of everything.” He was right.
The parking lot was full when I pulled in. The sign by the park road said parking in the right travel lane was allowed. A line of parked cars was already stacking up. In the time it took me to get out of the car, sort myself out and lock up, two people had already parked in front of me.
I found the trailhead and started up. After the first brief flight of stone stairs, things started getting interesting. There were enough blue blazes painted on the rocks to follow the trail upwards, but it was slow going. A few times I had to stop and contemplate where exactly to step and where I needed to grab to hoist myself up.
There were plenty of things I knew to expect from this trail. Going underneath a few huge boulders wasn’t one of them.
Eventually, I came to the first set of steel rungs embedded in the rock. The guy in front was having a hard time getting up top. So, the couple behind gave him a boost. He then turned around and offered a hand to the two of them to get up. The last guy in the group waited for me, then offered me his hand. I gladly accepted.
There's a crack in the well worn rock to the left, but it was a bit of a stretch to use it efficiently. I’m not sure how I would have gotten over this without an extended hand for support.
Eventually, I would come to the first trail juncture. Two tenths of a mile may not sound like much, but I was already feeling it. The guidebook suggested making this a loop trail that would have me going back down that short stretch of trail. Fortunately, there were options.
To get to the Champlain Peak, it was .5 miles further. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it. Well, sometimes the pictures tell the story better than words can. At this point, I put the camera into my pack, and didn't bring it back out until I reached the top. At least my phone I could easily slip in and out of a pocket.
Eventually, I did make it to the top. In hindsight, I’m glad I did this, but wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it again. It’s .9 miles that you definitely earn. Of course, now you have to get back down. The Precipice Trail is strictly one way for good reason. The guide book suggested a loop that would include that first .2 miles. That didn't exactly sound appealing to me, Instead I took a cutoff that would bring me back to the park road. The yellow is the suggested path.
The view from atop Champlain's summit.
To the Park Service's credit, there were plenty of blue blazes painted on the rocks and every trail juncture was clearly marked. It made for an easy to follow trail all the way down.
The Champlain North trail was all rocks and easy to follow, with a nice view of Bar Harbor off in the distance. The view on the way down...
There were only a couple of times where I had to stop and carefully step down, otherwise it was just walking down rocks. These were rough enough to provide easy traction, even on the steeper segments.
Finally, the intersection with the Orange and Black Trail.
The trail down wasn't too bad, at least at first...
To avoid that initial .2 miles of mayhem, I took the cutoff trail back down to the park road. This part was mostly uneven stone stairs, and lots of them. As always, best to be going down.
Eventually, I did work my way back down to the park road. From there, it was perhaps a ten minute walk back to the car. Parked cars were stacked even deeper by this point. The shoulder was wide enough here so they didn’t have to park in the road. However, they did make it impassable to walk, unless I wanted to walk in shallow mud in the ditch.
So, I walked in the right lane of traffic. When I heard cars, I stepped between the parked ones until it was clear again. It took a while, but I was back at the car. As you might suspect, by this point everything hurt. I was grateful not to have any other hikes on tap for the day.
If I had ever earned a big lunch and a couple of cold ones, it was today. Parking as still a problem in Bar Harbor, but I did manage to snag a spot. A few minutes later, they were pouring me a pint in a place called Geddy’s. Some of you will get this.
I left Bar Harbor around 3P. I was booked in an uninspiring, but clean Motel 6 on the western side of Bangor. A sunset from the motel walkway, a hot shower and I called it a day.
Coming Up,
You Can Get Anything You Want...
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