Rising 525 toes above sea level, Gorham Mountain is compact in comparison to several other mountains in Acadia Nationwide Park, however it is a common hike — for many great explanations.
I recently revisited the mountain with a team of spouse and children and mates. On a sunny Saturday in early April, effectively right before the fast paced vacationer year, we shared the path with just a handful of other groups.
Setting up at the parking large amount for Gorham Mountain Trail, situated off Park Loop Highway, we had two alternatives: We could both hike to the summit and again for a 2-mile hike, or we could increase our trek and full a 4-mile loop.
One cause Gorham Mountain is so well known is its proximity to other popular destinations in just the park. Adhering to the 4-mile loop, you hike up and about Gorham Mountain, then take a look at Sand Beach front, Thunder Hole and Monument Cove. That is what my group resolved to do.
Just two-tenths of a mile into our hike, we arrived to our very first path junction, and there would be a number of more. That’s why it is normally a excellent cause to have a trail map when mountaineering in Acadia. In any other case, you can very easily just take the erroneous switch.
The initial junction was with Cadillac Cliffs Path, which veered off to the correct. Looking at my map, I could see that it reconnected with Gorham Mountain Path about a few-tenths of a mile up the mountain. We determined to look at it out.
Touring along the base of extraordinary cliffs, Cadillac Cliffs Path is rockier and much more challenging than Gorham Mountain Path. It also consists of a small section of steel rungs, like a ladder, generating it inappropriate for puppies. We figured out this the challenging way, given that two dogs have been with us on the hike: Juno and Josey. However, if you’re intrigued in rock formations and modest caves, you don’t want to pass up this small aspect path.
If you’re into background, just ahead of that very first trail junction, embedded in rosy granite, is a bronze plaque in memory of Waldron Bates, 1 of the very first trailbuilders in Acadia Nationwide Park. In the late 1800s, roughly 25 miles of Acadia trails had been included underneath his leadership, including the Gorham Mountain Trail and Cadillac Cliffs Trail.
What is much more, the rock piles that mark the trails in Acadia currently are named “Bates cairns” for the reason that their design was produced by Bates. Each individual cairn capabilities two rocks that serve as toes to a for a longer period table-major rock and on top rated of that is a smaller rock that factors in the route of the path.
Continuing up the mountain, we walked by means of stunning stands of pitch pines, which are some of the most iconic plants in the park. These limited, rugged, spiky conifers are located on many of Acadia’s mountain ridges, nonetheless they are absent throughout most of Maine.
On the trail, I also found a great deal of reduced-bush blueberries, teaberry and sheep laurel. In late spring and early summer months, sheep laurel blooms to display compact pink flowers. Blueberries become ripe in mid-summer season.
A further purpose Gorham is so common is the “bang for your buck” component. For a short hike, hikers enjoy good rewards. Open ledges around Gorham’s summit give gorgeous views of the nearby ocean and neighboring peaks.
At just one of these open regions, we stopped for a consume and snack. We could conveniently discover Sand Beach and the headland over and above named Wonderful Head. We also watched the waves crash on Previous Soaker, a rock ledge off the coast that will help defend Sand Seaside from significant waves.
Other landmarks you can see on the hike contain the south ridge of Cadillac Mountain and Beehive, a close by dome-formed mountain that’s home to a person of the steepest hikes in the park, one crammed with rungs and ladders.
The summit of Gorham Mountain was marked with a wood indication, held up by a massive pile of rocks. The sight of it introduced back content memories.
Gorham Mountain was my late dog Oreo’s first hike. I have a photo of him standing by that summit signal. I try to remember him staying a bit clumsy and hesitant on that hike. He would pause and enjoy me hop from rock to rock, then he’d stick to match. From there, he went on to hike hundreds of trails with me ahead of he handed absent in 2020.
It was awesome to see my new pet Juno adhering to in his footsteps.
From the summit, we descended the north slope of the mountain to Sand Beach. That portion of the hike traveled by the forest and involved a lot of rocks and uneven floor. Along the way, we passed by 3 intersections with trails primary to The Bowl (a attractive pond) and Beehive. We veered proper at each individual intersection to stay on keep track of to Sand Seaside.
A wide arc of tender sand, Sand Seashore is one particular of the most well-known destinations in the park. Dogs are not permitted June 15 as a result of Sept. 8, all through the beach’s busiest time. But in early April, our canine companions were being free of charge to romp in the waves (on leash, for each park policies).
Soon after a sunny sojourn at the seaside, we adopted the easy, stage Ocean Path for seven-tenths of a mile, earlier Thunder Hole and Monument Cove, to shut the loop. That previous stretch of uncomplicated going for walks was the ideal finish to our journey, allowing us to extend our legs and amazing down prior to climbing back again into the car.
For far more data about Acadia National Park, together with how to invest in a park move, take a look at nps.gov/acad/
