Tag Archives: orange-and-black-path

Hidden gem in Acadia National Park just off Kane Path

Gary Stellpflug says he is not sure when he first noticed the flat-topped granite rock off Kane Path in Acadia National Park, but he knew right away that it was not just any other boulder and more likely an undiscovered hidden gem in Acadia National Park.

People on granite bench off Kane Path in Acadia National Park

We were thrilled to discover the Kane Path granite bench, a hidden gem in Acadia National Park, with Gary Stellpflug, seated on the left, and Terese Miller, standing on the right, as our guides.

“I remember walking by it, and saying, ‘Gee, that’s a bench’,” said Stellpflug, who retired from the National Park Service in 2022 after more than 35 years as foreman of the Acadia trails crew and now volunteers for the park.

Stellpflug said the stone bench was “unquestionably constructed,” likely hoisted out of a nearby boulder field more than a century ago by trail builders using a winch.

The Kane Path granite bench, roughly triangular-shaped with each side about 42 inches, is directly off a popular, maintained hiking trail. It’s very visible, but few people know of the bench’s existence and over the ages, countless visitors have probably walked by without noticing it. Or, if they did see it, they likely didn’t identify it as a bench and a hidden gem in Acadia National Park.

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Peregrine falcons cap great year at Acadia National Park

A biologist with Acadia National Park said it was “a great year” for nesting peregrine falcons at the park.

Park wildlife biologist, Bruce Connery, holds a peregrine chick that has just been lowered from its scrape, or nest, for banding. Acadia National Park photo and caption.

Bruce Connery said peregrine falcons raised chicks that fledged at four sites including Jordan Cliffs, the precipice on the east face of Champlain Mountain, Valley Cove cliffs above Somes Sound and privately-owned Ironbound Island in Frenchman Bay, an island where the park holds a conservation easement.

“It’s great to have that kind of recruitment into the overall Maine population,” Connery said. “We had a great year. We have to be thankful for that.”

Connery attributed the success to a spring with low amounts of rain or snow. Damp or wet springs can be a problem for the eggs of birds that nest early including falcons and eagles, he said.

It might be the first time that particular combination of four sites was home to peregrine fledglings, he added.

“It seems to vary year by year,” he said. Continue reading →

School spirit and the Orange and Black Path in Acadia National Park

First in a series of historic hiking trail highlights leading up to the Acadia Centennial

Update on Feb. 15, 2022 with biographical info on Rudolph Brunnow provided by his great-granddaughter. She also debunks a legend that Brunnow’s death from pneumonia came after he fell while hiking.

When Princeton professor Rudolph E. Brunnow designed this intricate path up the east face of Champlain in the early 1900s, he was apparently as passionate about the trail as his university, since he named it after his school’s colors.

Orange & Black Path in Acadia National Park

A hiker ascends the Orange and Black Path in Acadia National Park.

In honor of Brunnow and today’s trail crew, why not share a photo of yourself on the Orange and Black Path with a caption of your school colors on our Facebook page? Thanks to our friend Maureen, a Georgetown alum who took a picture of a couple of “blue and grays” on the Orange and Black, for inspiring this idea.

Our favorite part of the path is the recently reopened historic section leading from Schooner Head Road, up to a terraced area where you can sit on granite slabs to rest, take in the views or strike up a conversation. That’s about 0.5 mile one-way.

If the rest of the path to the Precipice Trail is closed for peregrine falcon nesting season (mid-May through mid-August), you can take a spur to the Champlain North Ridge Trail instead. Get spectacular views of Frenchman Bay from the 1,058-foot summit of Champlain. Continue reading →