Hiking the Beachcroft Trail, Acadia National Park

Yesterday, I got to choose the hike we took and after reading the indispensible guidebook on Acadia National Park that we bought a few years ago, I chose this one. It’s the Beachcroft Trail that leads to the top of Champlain Mountain and it begins at the parking lot on Rte. 3 by The Tarn just south of Bar Harbor. The trails in the park are rated from very easy to strenuous. Click {here} for a guide, if you so desire.

This one was rated strenuous. But I am an eternal optimist.

I chose this trail because it affords the same view as you would get if you were hiking the Precipice Trail, the most challenging trail in the park and only for the very fit who have no fear of heights. The Precipice Trail is an exposed, almost vertical ascent of 1,000 feet. It’s worse (to me, anyway) than the dreaded Beehive. My guidebook stated that, in comparison, the Beachcroft was a walk in the park.

The trail begins as a gentle climb on stone slab steps.

If you have a fear of heights, this trail probably is not for you as some of it is open.

It was the perfect day for a hike, just a tad bit chilly with beautiful blue skies. And I was totally loving this trail.

There is a multitude of exquisite stone steps that lead up the western side of the mountain and I marveled at the amount of work that had been put into creating not only this, but every trail in this park.

There were lots of wide-open views and little rest stops along the way. That’s Rte. 3 you can see there, heading south towards Seal Harbor.

Then it got a little dicey. This was the first section of really rugged terrain. Not good if you have knees like mine but I did it anyway because hey (I’m in Maine). And if you’re worried about George climbing over this ~ he was amazing. He just scampered up. As did my husband. Damnit.

At one point, I was breathing heavy, my fingers holding for dear life in the crevice of a rock only to look up and see an elderly woman gently coming down. She could see I was having just a little trouble but assured me that this was the steepest part of the trail and not to worry, I was almost there.

I was later to find out, through another couple we met a the top who had spoken with her, that she’d lived on the island all of her life and had hiked every single trail in the park except this one, which she decided to do that morning. Interesting.

After the harrowing climb up the boulders, there was a section of this where we followed the cairns (the piles of stones used as markers to lead the way). It was a little steep but better than those boulders.

And at the top was our reward ~ a spectacular view. That’s the Schoodic Peninsula in front of us. We stayed at the top for a nice long time, laying on the rocks in the sunshine. George took a little siesta, too.

The hike down was surprisingly easy, although I ripped my hiking pants sliding down some rocks. A trip to Bar Harbor to pick up some sandwiches came next and we drove to a scenic location to eat our picnic lunch.

All in all, the Beachcroft is a great trail. Today we’re taking it easy. Took a small hike over on the Schoodic Peninsula, a much lesser-used portion of Acadia National Park. We hiked both the Schoodic Head Trail and the Anvil Trail and then came home and went kayaking.

Love. Love. Love it here.

Your friend,