Huguenot Head in Acadia National Park

Some people believe by hiking the Beachcroft Trail they are actually hiking over the summit of Huguenot Head as they follow the trail to the summit of Champlain Mountain.  In fact, if you look closely at your map, the Beachcroft Trail does come close to the summit of Huguenot Head, but than turns and skirts below the summit before continuing on to Champlain Mountain.  I had always thought this sudden turn in the trail was a bit strange, and one day after getting into studying old maps, I soon realized that  not one but two trails use to lead up to the actual summit of Huguenot Head.  As it turns out, those trails were abandoned by the Park Service.

One of these trails was labeled as the Black and White Trail,  which begins in an area behind the beaver pond, and followed an old dry brook up between the summits of Huguenot Head to the right, and Champlain Mountain to the left of the pond.  I have hiked this once, many years ago, this section of the Black and White arrives at a well worn stretch of dirt path between the two summits, with the Black and White trail going left up to the summit of Champlain Mountain.  This section of the Black and White trail is not part of the Beachcroft Trail, this is abandoned today, but you can find rock piles on Champlain Mountain which take you down a steep section to the worn dirt path, I have also hiked this section before and was pretty well marked with rock piles.
So where the Black and White path arrives between the two peaks, by following the worn dirt path right, it takes you up to the summit of Champlain Mountain.
If you look at the old map you will not see today's Beachcroft Trail on it, that came about at a later date.  On other old maps that do show the Beachcroft trail, they reveal a hidden secret, at one point there use to be a short section of trail the did take people up to the summit of Huguenot Head, that short section of trail was also abandoned - in other words, there is no official trail to the summit of Huguenot Head today.....why?
I have heard for years that there was a cave up there the park service didn't want people going to.  One site that covers dozens upon dozens of caves in Maine lists a cave on Huguenot head, they have named it the Huguenot Gulch Cave, but give no details about it.  This confirms what I have heard over the years and explains why trails to the actual summit of Huguenot Head were abandoned.
The old map shows another abandoned trail which runs down to route 3, not far from the Dorr mountain Ladder Trail.  I was able to locate this trail as well and hiked most of it from route 3 upwards, though the trail is very hard to locate and for the most part passes over bare granite and is only marked by rock piles.  That section of abandoned trail begins in the woods by a small pull over along route 3...again, the trail leading up the mountain side is not easy to find.
Yet another old trail leads up to Huguenot Head, but this trail does not show up on any maps.  It begins off the old Dorr bike Trail, in the woods directly across from Bear Brook Picnic Area, across from the picnic area to the far left as you enter the area.  You follow a worn path on the other side of the road, which leads to the Beachcroft Trail.  You don't go too far before coming to another, less worn trail going left, and this trail heads up the backside of Huguenot Head, years ago called Picket mountain.
The easiest way to locate the Black and White Trail from this end today is from the top of Champlain Summit, locate the rock piles, and follow them downward to the dirt path between the two summits.  Halfway along that dirt section, as your passing through a section of woods, you will see a worn path leading downward toward the Beaver Pond.  We were able to locate some rock piles, but had to pretty much use the dry brook bed as out guide down to the rear of the pond.  From there we followed the old Dorr bike path out to the Park Loop Road.

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And this from the book, The Mountains Of Maine;
 In the book, THE MOUNTAINS OF MAINE it says Huguenot Head is 720 feet high and was first named Round Hill.  The name was later changed to Peaked Hill, and later was named again to Picket Hill.  So how did it get its current name?  According to the book, George B. Dorr gave it the name Huguenot hill. 
According to the book, Mrs C. Morton Smith of Philadelphia, a summer resident here, financed the building of a steep trail up Huguenot Hill that used 1,482 stone steps.  The trail she paid for was named after her summer cottage, Beachcroft.