Climbing the Beehive
Maine Week Travelog #7
Acadia National Park - Wednesday, 16 Jun 2021, 12pm.
"Let's get up early and beat the crowds at The Beehive," we agreed yesterday. "Let's try to be on the trail by 9 if not earlier."
Well, we had a slow morning, hampered no doubt by staying up until after midnight for no good reason. We didn't get underway at the trail until nearly 11. Oops. And it was crowded.
The Beehive is a popular hiking trail at Acadia National Park and for good reason. The rock monolith towers 500' over Sand Beach and affords views in all directions. Plus, the trail up the front face is challenging, with iron rungs and rails anchored in the rock for hikers to scramble up. Yes, that's an enticement!
In the picture above you can see how steep the face of the Beehive is. And you can barely make out some hikers ascending near the top. Here's a zoom picture of the top as we started up the trail from the bottom:
Hoo, boy, it's a traffic jam up there! A traffic jam of people climbing the rock like mountain goats!
The trail gets steeper in increments. First there are upward slopes. Then stone stair steps like in the picture above. Then come the iron rungs....
Looking up and seeing people's backsides was, alas, very common on a busy day like today. Of course, today's only a Wednesday. I dread thinking about what a madhouse this place will be on ordinary weekends this summer, let alone on holiday weekends.
I was behind a slow moving family with young children. At some point I was able to pass them- when the trail was wide enough!- but quickly I got trapped behind another slow moving group.
Waiting for people to figure out how to climb the obstacles didn't totally suck. There were awesome views like this to help while I was waiting!
This is one of the more intimidating climbs on the trail. It's also one of the last.
For those who are afraid of heights, suffer vertigo, or don't have the physical ability to climb with hands and feet on iron rungs, there's an easier trail around the back. Hawk took the not-iron rungs trail and agreed to meet me at the top.
Reunited! And she got there about 10 minutes ahead of me, taking the longer route. "I was stuck in traffic," I explained.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/73808.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]
Acadia National Park - Wednesday, 16 Jun 2021, 12pm.
"Let's get up early and beat the crowds at The Beehive," we agreed yesterday. "Let's try to be on the trail by 9 if not earlier."
Well, we had a slow morning, hampered no doubt by staying up until after midnight for no good reason. We didn't get underway at the trail until nearly 11. Oops. And it was crowded.
The Beehive is a popular hiking trail at Acadia National Park and for good reason. The rock monolith towers 500' over Sand Beach and affords views in all directions. Plus, the trail up the front face is challenging, with iron rungs and rails anchored in the rock for hikers to scramble up. Yes, that's an enticement!
In the picture above you can see how steep the face of the Beehive is. And you can barely make out some hikers ascending near the top. Here's a zoom picture of the top as we started up the trail from the bottom:
Hoo, boy, it's a traffic jam up there! A traffic jam of people climbing the rock like mountain goats!
The trail gets steeper in increments. First there are upward slopes. Then stone stair steps like in the picture above. Then come the iron rungs....
Looking up and seeing people's backsides was, alas, very common on a busy day like today. Of course, today's only a Wednesday. I dread thinking about what a madhouse this place will be on ordinary weekends this summer, let alone on holiday weekends.
I was behind a slow moving family with young children. At some point I was able to pass them- when the trail was wide enough!- but quickly I got trapped behind another slow moving group.
Waiting for people to figure out how to climb the obstacles didn't totally suck. There were awesome views like this to help while I was waiting!
This is one of the more intimidating climbs on the trail. It's also one of the last.
For those who are afraid of heights, suffer vertigo, or don't have the physical ability to climb with hands and feet on iron rungs, there's an easier trail around the back. Hawk took the not-iron rungs trail and agreed to meet me at the top.
Reunited! And she got there about 10 minutes ahead of me, taking the longer route. "I was stuck in traffic," I explained.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/73808.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]