Acadia News

The carriage road system in Acadia National Park will be closed to all users until the roads thaw sufficiently to allow use without causing damage. The closure began on April 6, 2009, and is expected to last at least two weeks.Spring thawing causes the carriage roads to become soft. Walking or bicycling on them under these conditions can cause significant damage that is costly to repair.The Park Loop Road is scheduled to open to vehicles on April 15, so while the carriage roads are closed, take advantage of bicycling or walking the loop road without cars.

Officials at Acadia National Park have closed hiking trails on and around the Precipice Cliff to protect peregrine falcons that have been showing pre-nesting behavior.The closure of the popular Precipice Trail on the side of Champlain Mountain is expected to last until late July or early August. That's about five weeks after the newborn peregrine chicks are expected to take their first flights.

About a dozen people braved gusting winds and frigid weather Thursday morning to watch the sun rise on the first day of 2009 from the top of Cadillac Mountain. Most of the people were prepared for the cold, but a few were not, and they kept park rangers busy early on New Year’s Day.

More than an hour's drive from the bustle of Bar Harbor and the well-trodden trails of Mount Desert Island lies a secluded part of Acadia National Park. Here, the loudest sound is the surf as it crashes against the craggy granite rocks of the Schoodic Peninsula. To the north, a 3,200-acre expanse of private land can be seen from the panoramic overlook at Schoodic Head. Blanketed in jack pines and spruce, it is the center of an escalating conflict between real estate developers and the national park.

As I peered into the future last spring, I realized that I might match my obligation (and privilege) to write the "Perspectives" column appearing each month at the end of the magazine with my plan to spend a few weeks on the island that is home to Acadia National Park.

Park rangers received the call at about 5 p.m. reporting an injured hiker on the West Face Trail that runs from Bubble Pond to the summit of Cadillac. The trail is rugged and steep and can be treacherous, according to Ranger Richard Rechholtz.

As of Tuesday, both the U.S. House and Senate had passed a continuing resolution to fund most federal government agencies from Oct. 1, the beginning of the 2009 fiscal year, through March 5. A continuing resolution allows government agencies to operate at the same levels as in the previous year. For the resolution to be effective, it must be signed by the president.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), designed by Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal to provide relief from the Great Depression. The CCC employed over two million young men to work in America’s parks and forests, creating and renovating roads, trails, campsites, social halls, amphitheaters and visitor centers.

The National Park Service has begun its investigation into allegations that a ranger used excessive force last week when dealing with a large party of hikers atop Day Mountain, according to an official with the agency.

Just by looking at Tim Wild, it’s easy to tell that something happened to him. Wild, a waiter at the Jordan Pond House in this scenic park on Mount Desert Island, has a large purple bruise under his left eye and the left side of his face is swollen. A black contusion marks his left shoulder, where he was thrown to the ground while handcuffed, he said. Red scratches on his right wrist, he said, were caused by the police handcuffs he was wearing.

Hikers who perch atop a nearly 100-foot rock cliff that plunges to the crashing surf below are greeted by a spectacular vista with no signs of civilization, perhaps the same scene that caught the eyes of European explorers who passed by these shores 400 years ago. From Pulpit Rock, we gazed up and down the coast for miles in both directions, onto a landscape unchanged through time: no buildings, no boats, not even another person. "To look down the coast and not see anything -- it's amazing," said Lindsay McMahon, the local ranger for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Acadia was the first National Park to be created east of the Mississippi river and despite being relatively small (around 40,000 acres) it's one of the most visited of all the National Parks. Not too surprising since it's the only National Park in New England and it's within a day's drive for over 50 million people. It receives over 2 million visitors each year. Yellowstone National Park gets 3 million visitors, but at over 2 million acres it's 50 times as big.

The deluge of rainfall that has made Vacationland feel more like Waterworld this summer has done more than ruin vacation plans. It's damaged trails used for hiking, biking and horseback riding throughout the state -- so much so that some parks are beginning to restrict their use.

Friends of mine from New York have taken their two boys, 8 and 11, out of school for a year to travel the world. Since their dad is the former publisher of National Geographic Kids, they have a pretty wonderful itinerary. I’m pleased to say that Acadia National Park was their second stop, and after two days younger son Stefan asked his parents if they could just stay on Mount Desert Island for the rest of the year.

WINTER HARBOR — Acadia National Park Superintendent Sheridan Steele will speak at the “2nd Saturday” lecture series at the Moore Auditorium on the campus of the Schoodic Education and Research Center on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. The title of Steele’s presentation is “Mother Nature Knows Best: No Child Left Inside.” Steele will discuss the variety of reasons that children are not playing outdoors much, and the implications that this will have on the mental, physical and spiritual health of future generations.