Precipice Trail reopening?

Has anyone heard if the precipice trail will be reopening this year?

Precipice Trail reopening?

I haven%26#39;t heard. But they can%26#39;t even work on it until the peregrine falcons nest and the young ones fledge which is July or August. I don%26#39;t see it opening any time soon.

Precipice Trail reopening?

I stopped in at park HQ about a month ago. They were unable to do anything on the three seriously damaged trials last autumn except to assess the damage (there are photos on their web site).

They had not set any schedule then, as far as I could tell. As Bonniemaev noted, work on Precipice probably won%26#39;t begin until after the peregrine chicks fledge---late July/early August. From the way the ranger was talking and the photos on their site, I wouldn%26#39;t count on Precipice being open in 2007.

From the little I%26#39;ve heard, East Face may be a lost cause. My guess is that they will work on removing the two large boulders from Homans Path and re-hab that one first.

Thanks for the tip on the photos on the NPS site. Looking at the twisted railings along the Precipice Trail brings things to reality. As many times as I have been up there, I just cant believe the damage. Sure is a good thing the big quake happened later in the year and at night (I think it was at night, anyway). Cant imagine what it would have been like during the middle of summer on a nice day. I certainly hope they can get her fixed up though, it is one of my favorite trails to hike.

By the way, was there any damage to the trails going up Cadillac - particularly the steep one coming from the Bubble Pond (West Face?)?

Thanks for the info.

Mike

All reports indicate that there was no damage to any of the Cadillac trails. Other than the two on Champlain (Precipice, East Face) and Homans on Dorr, damage was negligible. The Ladder Trail on Dorr took some minor damage but was reopened last autumn. Beachcroft (Hugenot Head) had a few displaced rocks but when we hiked it later, I couldn%26#39;t see any damage.

I hiked up the Bear Brook trail and down the Beachcroft trail with a friend on 3/31 and noticed just slight rock slide damage on the Beachcroft trail. Nothing too major, because it was mainly off the trail, so it didn%26#39;t make hiking down difficult at all. I did however notice that there is a new sign at the top of Champlain that states that the Bear Brook trail is now know as Champlain North Ridge Trail. Does anyone know how recent of a change this is?

mdigirl: '; I did however notice that there is a new sign at the top of Champlain that states that the Bear Brook trail is now know as Champlain North Ridge Trail. Does anyone know how recent of a change this is? ';

Very recent, i.e., last year, I%26#39;m sure. The description of Bear Brook Trail in %26lt;Pathmakers%26gt; (published in 2006) notes that the ANP trails crew was proposing to change the name of the trail to Champlain North Ridge and Champlain South Ridge to be consistent with other ridge-trail names in the park.

By the way, I heartily recommend Pathmakers to anyone interested in the trails of the park---their characteristics, construction, and history. It is published by the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation (National Park Service) and was partially funded by the Friends of Acadia.

It is available at the visitor%26#39;s center (this time of year, park HQ has the copies) as well as through the Government Printing Office. Last year, Sherman%26#39;s stocked it--I suspect that they will this year as well. At least, I%26#39;m going to nag them about it.

Thanks cwvoigt...It sounds like a great book to have. I am now planning on heading to Sherman%26#39;s soon to pick it up!