11/11/2021
I’m so happy I went to Acadia National Park today. I decided to do the Precipice trail up to the top of Champlain Mountain. I think this was the most challenging hike I’ve ever done. It started climbing over and under a bunch of boulders. I then started to scale the side of the mountain. About half way up is where it started getting more dangerous. The path got narrower, steeper, and the rail system started.
The last 100 or so feet were the most dangerous, but not the hardest. This was all ladder work and climbing straight up. When I got to the summit I had climbed 1000 ft in .9 miles. The first 2/3 was the most strenuous. I had to stop fairly frequently. This hike is not for the short, clumsy, afraid of heights, or out of shape.
The way down started off easy going. It felt like a stroll down a hill after the hike up. That was until I found out I was on the wrong trail. I busted out the google maps and did some back woods hiking to get back to the correct trail. This was the only place where is got tripped up. Since I wasn’t on a trail My boot got caught between a couple of covered rocks and I lost my balance. Don’t worry I only scraped my leg. I made my way to the correct trail and started going down. This was pretty easy going. I came to a split. One way went down to the road and back to the parking area. The other was the Orange Black trail that hooked up with the Precipice trail above the parking area.
I was feeling manly at this point and went for the Orange Black trail. In hind sight this may not have been the best idea with how wobbly and thirsty I was. I found out that is trail cut straight across the side of the mountain. It wasn’t downhill for most of it. I was either going back up or across for most of this trail. This trail had tons of tiny rock steps to deal with. Once I got close to the Precipice trail I had to go underneath some huge boulders that was kinda neat.
The whole hike took about 3.5 hours. I was completely wiped out when I got back to the van. My legs were shredded. With the daylight that I had left I checked out some of the other attractions in the park. First was Thunder Hole, a couple of overlooks, and I went up to the visitors center. Unfortunately, the visitors center was closed for the season so I couldn’t get a sticker.
