Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
good views in all directions. Several alternative trails without the lad-
ders are available for descent.
TAKE NOTE:
In most years the Precipice is closed
until late August to allow for endangered peregrine
falcons nesting there to fledge their young undis-
turbed.
The elevation gain is nearly 1,000 feet. The flat-land distance is only
about a mile. Very strenuous.
Ship's Harbor Nature Trail, Acadia National Park
: Ship Harbor is
an easy and fun walk for people of all abilities. It is comparatively level
and has numerous numbered nature exhibits that are explained with the
help of a booklet available from the park. A figure-eight loop of under two
miles is possible. The trail begins at the well-marked parking area on
Route 102A not far from Bass Harbor Head Light and heads east to the
rocky ocean shore. For a time it runs along the edge of Ship Harbor.
INTERESTING FACT:
Ship Harbor was the scene
of a tragic shipwreck in 1739 when a vessel full of set-
tlers mistook the dead-end harbor for a river mouth
and went aground. This is how the harbor got its
name.
Mountain Biking
Although bicycling is prohibited on Acadia's 150 miles of hiking trails
and off-road trails, there are an endless number of bicycle trips possible
both on the park's 22-mile Park Loop Road, as well as the 50 miles of
groomed gravel carriage roads and on dirt fire roads on Mount Desert Is-
land's western side. One company based out of Bar Harbor also offers Ca-
dillac Mountain Downhill rides. First, participants watch the sunrise,
then they hop on custom bikes with super disc brakes for the ride down
the three-mile road that twists its way down the mountain. Riders then
change to road-friendlier bikes to continue a guided trip.
Carriage Roads
: The carriage roads were built largely through the lar-
gess of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who was upset when the Maine legisla-
ture voted to allow motor vehicles into Bar Harbor in 1913 and onto the
rest of Mount Desert Island in 1915.
