Is This the Most Dangerous Hike in a National Park?

Countrywide Parks may come to feel tame, but hike the steep and craggy Precipice Trail in Maine’s Acadia Countrywide Park and you’re certain to get the adrenaline kick you’re searching for.

Situated on the east deal with of Champlain Mountain, the stroll is extensively deemed the most dangerous hike of Acadia. While it is not a specialized climb, the steep vertical drops and exposed cliffs make it really dangerous. (The hike is no joke—a 22-12 months-previous woman fell to her dying right here.)

In some cases the only way to continue to be on the hike is to grasp a primitive iron ring or pull on your own up a metal ladder jutting out from the sharp granite. Tackle this trek, and you are going to appear at Countrywide Parks in a full new way.

The stats: one,058 feet last elevation, one.six miles spherical-trip, spending budget three hrs, no dogs, and small children beneath five-feet two-inches tall may not be in a position to do this hike.

Getting there: From Bar Harbor, Maine, follow the Park Loop Road together the japanese facet of Mount Desert Island—while the Countrywide Park entrance is technically farther down the road, you are going to need to have a park move to use the Precipice parking space. The trailhead sits clearly at the edge of the parking great deal.

What to convey: Strong mountaineering boots, temperature-correct mountaineering clothing, a hat, sunglasses, a smaller pack with a great deal of water and food, a digital camera, a smaller very first help kit, and a mobile telephone.

When to go: Severe Maine winters make this path far too dangerous throughout the wintertime and early spring seasons, and a great deal of the spring and early summertime the path is closed off to safeguard nesting Peregrine falcons and their chicks. Phone a park business office to discover out when the path opens up, usually in early August.

What to be expecting: The path kicks off with a steep, flat boulder that demands you to rely on your boots and depend on friction to cross—a great deterrent for considerably less-in a position hikers and a flavor of what to be expecting afterwards in the hike. From there, you are going to follow the clearly marked path by way of the woods, up a number of rock scrambles, and to your very first established of rungs. The path emerges on to a steep ledge that winds back and forth up the mountain, with some ladders and extended rungs peppered in together the way. The best of the mountain delivers a great deal of gorgeous vantage details and lunch places. You are allowed to follow the path back the way you came, but we advise generating it a loop for a safer expertise.

Do: Pluck a wild Maine blueberry to snack on towards the best of your hike.

Really don’t: Lose your harmony or get your palms off the metal rungs for a photo unless you’re protected. If you get a tumble, it may be your previous.

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