ABANDONED DUCK BROOK TRAIL

The Duck Brook Trail, or path as they were once called, dates back to the 1800's.  If you have ever hiked up the length of Duck Brook, as I have a number of times, than you are aware of just how rough some sections of the hike can be today.  In fact attempting to walk along either side of the brook the entire distance can be a slow process and in many sections nearly impassible, but that was not always the case.  Old maps do not paint an accurate picture of the Duck Brook Path as old maps show the path running along one entire side of the brook.  In reality,the path criss crossed the brook in several places by means of wooden rustic foot bridges, many with roofs over them and wide enough to accompany wooden benches where hikers could sit and relax above the rushing waters of the brook below them.  Over time, the land exchanged hands, the foot bridges fell into disrepair and were eventfully taken down.  And as years passed, dams were built along the brook at different places and later removed, replaced with beaver dams, which helped raise the level of the water along the old path.  A system of stepping stones had been placed along the side of the brook, but today those stepping stones are below the water level.
It is true, if you are able to follow the difficult terrain, you will come across small stretches of the old Duck Brook Path along the way, still well worn and in good shape in sections, and if your lucky enough to have access to the brook during a long dry spell, as we did, a hike right up the center of the brook is by far the easiest way to traverse the terrain.

Duck Brook Trail - Acadia National Park

Though I have never been able to prove it, it is my thought that back in the day, a rustic foot bridge was used to connect the Gurnee Trail with the Duck Brook Trail, as both paths began by the bridge along Eden Street.

Duck Brook Trail - over grown and in rough shape

Here is a short piece Martin's Guidebook wrote on the Duck brook Path;
"The real attraction of the walk is the ramble along the brook, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, and not seldom in the bed of the brook itself.  The gentleman to whom the estate of the brook now belongs  has constructed a path with rustic seats and bridges for quite a distance, so that both the waterfalls may be reached with no great difficulty.  Beyond however, the walk becomes a scramble, for which one must have not only stout boots but well trained boots."  This piece was found in the book Pathmakers.

view of the second arch from down by the brook

Pathmakers also says that in 1890 Duck Brook Path went from Eden Street all the way to the Eagle Lake Road, which means it must of crossed some really rough sections of ground.

start of trail moving left, below bridge

It is hard to imagine the trail continued through this location, as there is really no place to walk along, and further up along the brook, as you make your way toward the Duck Brook Bridge by the Carrage Roads, you encounter Duck Brook Falls where white water racings down into the brook below.    You don't have to see it, one can hear its roar from the Duck Brook Road up above the Brook. 

Duck Brook - Acadia National Park

As far as arriving at Duck brook, there is three ways to do so on this end of the brook.  The first is to walk down the banking to the brook from Eden Street and follow the brook from there.  The second approach is by way of the towering triple arch bridge you come to shortly after leaving the visitors Center.  Park and find a way down below the bridge you feel comfortable with.  The waters of Duck Brook pass beneath the center arch and so does the old trail, though for a stretch you need to poke along through brush and woods before arriving at worn sections of the trail by the waters edge.  Even the waters of the brook beneath the bridge are something to behold. 
The other approach is from near the start of the Water Pipe Trail, there are a few places not far down the path where you can safely get down below to the edge of the brook. 

Here Witch Hole Brook joins Duck Brook

So why is the path in the area  below the stone bridge so destroyed?  The answer is a pretty simple one, during the years that the Duck Brook Path was popular, there was no National Park and no bridge.  After the park came into being, the bridge was built, and a large section of the trail was destroyed in and around the area of the bridge.
I found it interesting when I read in Pathmakers that in 1923 that two new flights of steps had been built from Duck Brook to Witch Hole Pond trail, not sure where those were located.  It goes on to say that 68 stepping stones had been added by the brook.

Abandoned Duck Brook Trail

Duck Brook - Acadia National Park

Duck Brook - Acadia National Park

THE FALLS - DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Hard to believe, but this photo was taken from the center of the falls where fast moving white water is usually found, check out the video further up and you will see how powerful the water usually is blasting through here.  To our surprise, due to a long stretch of very dry weather, we got to walk right up the center of Duck Brook, for the first time seeing sections of the old path that have lay hidden for many long years.

DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

This is just behind the falls, at almost any other time you could not cross this area of the brook, it was just amazing to be able to walk up the center of this.

RUINED STAIRWAY - DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

The photo above was first marked as one of the two stone stairways that once led from the brook, but after reading an old article, it stated the area along the brook where many blocks of granite line the hillside is the spot where the Bar Harbor Water Company Flume crossed the brook, the blocks once being part of the support system for the flume.

STEPPING STONES - DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

In the above photo we came upon a rare but beautiful find, a stretch of old stepping stones which once helped people hike along the edge of the brook.  Today, due to the waters of the brook being somewhat higher, these stepping stones remain under water and unseen, we found a number of places like this one along the way.  It is worth noting here that even when the waters of the brook were not as high, and even with the rustic foot bridges, at times the water level would rise and this main path was difficult to follow until the water levels fell, so a second Duck Brook Path was built higher up the banking.  I believe the first water pipes that were laid followed that second path, and later became named the water pipe path.

One year we found a six pack of beer floating in the waters of Duck Brook, but a bag of rocks?  It made no sense why someone would place a bag of rocks in the center of the brook, that is, it didn't make sense until we saw the note inside the bag - which could not be seen before we picked the bag up.  It says this belongs to the National Park and contains a water level monitor in it, and sure enough we saw some tiny device in with the rocks.  It also said not to remove the bag, so we placed the bag back into the small pool of water as we had found it.

DUCK BROOK TRAIL - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

In the above photo, as we got closer to the Duck Brook Bridge by the Carriage Roads, we began to come across a few sections of built up trail bed, it is clear to see that back in the day, this was a pretty nice trail at one time.

A crazy scene from War of the World?  I have not a clue what these are or why they were bolted to a large rock by the brook, they do not appear to be very old and clearly they are used by the Park Service in one way or another.

DUCK BROOK APPROACHING DUCK BROOK BRIDGE CY CARRIAGE ROADS

The old Bar Harbor Water Pipe runs along the bank of the brook here. This is a section of the first water pipe, made of cast iron.

In this photo you can see a few of those 68 granite stepping stones the park had placed along the brook many years ago.  Each block has cut marks, and we must of located close to 45 of the 68 blocks.  The perfectly square granite blocks can be found all along the brook.

DUCK BROOK BRIDGE - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

DUCK BROOK BRIDGE

My son trying to figure out where all the water disappeared to.......

DUCK BROOK ARCHES - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

ABANDONED TRAILS - DUCK BROOK BRIDGE - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

This was an amazing hike along a stretch of the brook you normally can't get access to. 

WHERE FLUME CROSSED DUCK BROOK
Acadia National Park

From here the Bar Harbor Water Company Flume would of crossed over the brook and ran along one side of Great Hill to a granite reservoir, with the final  reservoir being located on Scott's Hill or what is today called Schoolhouse Hill.  I have a blog on this explaining how I discovered the location of Scott's Hill, so why has no one ever been able to locate the remains of that last reservoir?  The answer was found in an old newspaper, while the reservoir by Great Hill was of granite, the one on Scott's Hill was constructed of wood.

BLOG ON SCOTT'S HILL