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Precipice Trail

Trail in Acadia NP near Bar Harbor, ME

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Length

¾mi

Surface

Rocky

Allows Hiking

Yes

Rudolph Brunnow was the person who designed the Precipice Trail, which a number of sites have labeled one of the most dangerous trails in New England. A number of people over the years have fallen to their death from the trails narrow ledges and if you are afraid of heights at all you should avoid this trail, which is actually a climb. Hand rails and iron ladders help get climbers from one ledge to the next and large signs along the way warn climbers that people have been seriously injured and died on this climb.

When the Precipice trail was first built there was not many other trails in the area so Rudolph Brunnow set to work to create other paths that would lead people to the precipice trail, including the Orange and Black trail (one half of this trail with the famous Hanging steps was abandoned by the Park Service) the Beehive (the second most dangerous climb in the park) and the red path (today named the Schooner Head trail).

Still, Rudolph Brunnow saw a need for an attraction of sorts to help lure more people to the Precipice trail and having knowledge of a large cave on the mountain side, he set to work building what became known as the Great Cave loop, which began lower down the precipice trail by a boulder field and entered the woods above. From there a dirt trail led to the openning of the Great cave. To one side of the cave, nearly hidden from view, is a long stairway leading up and above the large cave, the steps coming to a path which leads to a metal bridge which leads to the upper section of the Precipice trail.

Today you need a map and a gps to locate the great cave because the park Service abandoned the Great Cave Loop - the map I created shows how to locate this once popular attraction.