THE CAVES OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Over the years I have been asked a number of time, are there caves in Acadia National Park and where are they.  The quick and simple answer is yes, there are indeed caves in the park, but locateing them is another thing, and one can only come to the conclusion that the people running the National Park here have a serious problem when it comes to caves.  To put it bluntly, they don't want you to find them.  Bu8t that wasn't always the case, at one time the park service took great pride in some of the caves located in the park, such as the Day Mountain Cave, Anemone Cave and the Great Cave.  Even the Bear's Den appears on older maps and the Dorr Mountain Crevice Cave even has stone steps leading down into it.  Than there is the cave of Bald Porcupine Island, a cave where a very rare moss grows which has a brillant glow to it, and one scientist said that once you laid eyes on it you would never forget the sight of it.
Exploration of some of these caves comes with the risk to life, as people have been killed exploring some of these caves.  The cave at Great head is one case in point, a teenager was attempting to enter the mouth of the cave when a large wave swept up from the ocean and washed him out to sea.  A memorial plaque was placed around the spot where the young man's body was washed away.  Than there is the very tragic death of Douglas Rose, who became trapped in Anemone Cave by an approaching storm which stirred up the sea with waves so powerful he could not escape the cave.  Books and articles state that others have become trapped in the sea cave and drown as well, though the only official account of a drowning there was of Douglas Rose who was only nineteen years old.  In the mid 1800's two 12 year old girls fell from a cliff near Great Cave, one of the girls was killed.  Below are just some of the caves located within Acadia National Park.

The Great Cave - I have a blog on the history of the Great Cave and this is one of the once official caves that once had signs leading you to it.  It is located on an abandoned Great Cave Loop along the Precipice Trail.  If walking along the edge of sheer ledges is not your cup of tea, I suggest hiking up to the cave and returning back down the way you came, as following the second half of that loop will lead to sheer cliffs.

THE GREAT CAVE - photo by David Schortmann

THE GREAT CAVE BLOG



THE DEVIL'S OVEN - Another cave that was once an official cave with signs leading you to it along with railings to help you reach the mouth of the cave today is named Anemone Cave.  But it was not always named that, old newspaper accounts of the cave state its name as The Devil's Oven, and people have become trapped in the cave by rising tides and drowned.   Though they don't say this, I believe the tragic death of Douglas Rose may of played a role in the Park Service abandoning this cave.  There are a number of photos and maps to this cave online, simply follow the Schooner Head Road until you come to a four way intersection, turn left and at the parking lot look for a narrow paved path that leads through the woods.  When the path reaches the cliff, you are standing on the roof of the cave.  This cave can only be entered at low tide and the floor of the cave is extremely slippery.

ANEMONE CAVE, The Devils Oven - Acadia National Park

ANEMONE CAVE BLOG



Dorr Mountain Crevice Cave - When a video on Youtube discribed the location of this cave I knew exactly where it was located, but in all my trips up Dorr Mountain I had never seen the entrance to the cave - which is how the park likes it.  On my blog on this cave I give the GPS info, but you want to either go up the Homans Trail (my favorite trail on Dorr Mountain) or up the Dorr Mountain Trail behind the spring house at Sieur de Monts Spring area by the Wild Gardens.  Follow either trail until you come to a four way intersection.  Continue to follow the trail up the mountain, which does a slow climb.  Ahead you will come to a long flat area of trail, follow it until you come to a hard right and stone steps leading upward with towering granite walls to your left and right.  The steps turn right and end at a small flat area that almost looks like a small observation area.  Here you are only a few feet from the mouth of the Dorr Mountain Crevice Cave.  As your looking outward at the stunning view, the mouth of the cave is to the far left, you have to almost walk right up to it before you see it.  Look down at the ground for the opening to the cave with stone steps - if you don't look down at the ground you will not see the opening to the cave.  The stone steps clearly suggest this was once a main feature of this trail but later abandoned by the Park Service.

DORR MOUNTAIN CREVICE CAVE BLOG


The Bear's Den - This old bear's den dates back to the 1800's and once had a trail that led from bar Harbor up to the den.  I had searched for this den for some time but one evening my oldest son Wesley came home with news that he had located the cave.  This is very easy to locate but when you first see it don't be fooled, this cave or den goes sideways into the side of the mountain.  To reach this old bear's den simply turn onto the One Way section of the Park Loop road and drive until you come to a good size pond on the right hand side of the road, its the only pond that comes right up next to the roadway so you can't miss it.  Continue past the pond and park at a pull over up ahead at the curve in the road.  Cross the road and walk along the right hand side of the road, heading in the same direction as the traffic.  The rock ledge to your right will slowly drop and you will come to a wooded area.  From the side of the road look into the wooded area and you will see a large black area in the woods, that is the mouth of the bear's den - a worn path down the banking leads to the den.

BEAR'S DEN - INSIDE LOOKING OUT
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

BEAR DEN BLOG



 ‎Hagornot Head - referred to as Picket Mountain on old maps, there once was three trails that led to the summit of  ‎Hagornot Head, yet today not a single trail goes to the actual summit.  The Beechcroft trail skirts around and below the summit and one has to ask, what became of those trails that went to the summit?  They were all abandoned by the National Park Service and information I came across at a Caving Site may hold the answer as to why no trails go to the actual summit today.  According to the Caving Site, there is a large Crevice Cave located somewhere on  ‎Hagornot Head and this cave has not been documented as far as I know, even the caving site does not give instructions to the cave.

The Great Hill Cave - I believe Matt, in his book "The Acadia You Haven't seen" refers to this cave as the road side cave, and for good reason, it is right beside the road.  From Eagle Lake (route 233) turn into the park by the stone arched bridge.  At the Park Loop road turn right, and just around the corner park at the pull over area.  Directly across the road is a granite ledge, make your way to the top of the ledge and look for an opening into a small cave.

Schistostega Cave - You will have to find a way to reach Bald Porcupine Island if you want to locate this cave and I do not know of its exact location other than it is located somewhere below the high Precipice on Bald Island.  The cave is sometimes refereed to as Goblins Gold Cave because of the extremely rare moss that grows inside the cave.  In fact this moss is so rare that it only grows in a few places in Maine.  Scientists have gone out to the cave to gather up some of the mysterious glowing moss from the cave.  Some have used ropes to reach the mouth of the cave, but it is said it is much easier to reach from coming at the cave from below.  How deep is the cave - no one knows.  Scientists had children go as deep into the cave as they could go and shine bright flashlights down into the cave and they could not see the end of the cave, but the problem is the further into the cave you go, the smaller the cave inside of the cave becomes.  I have a nice blog on this cave with a large newspaper article on it.

Schistostega Cave Blog

Day Mountain Caves - there are a number of well documented caves on Day Mountain with some instruction as to their locations, but one of those caves was at one time an official Cave with its own official Park Path leading to it.  This cave was at one time smaller than it is today, the Park Service had the inside of the cave enlarged and put in place iron rungs which served as a ladder to help you reach the mouth of the cave which is on the face of a granite wall.  When the Park Service decided to abandoned the Cave they had the iron rungs cut from the face of the cliff.  In Matt's book "The Acadia You Haven't Seen he gives instructions on how to locate this cave, as well as another nearby cave, but since the Park Service removed the iron rungs there is no way up to the cave today.
DAY MOUNTAIN CAVES

The Secret Flying Mountain Cave - this cave may not be everyone's cup of tea as it begins under water before going upward and out of the water into the side of flying Mountain.  This cave is said to have four rooms in it and a source of fresh water runs down through the cave to one side of it.  The Indians were the first to locate and make use of the cave, seeking out its safety when they felt they might be in danger.  Later the French Jesuits were shown the location of the cave and they also made use of it from time to time when they felt threatened.  Later a smuggler learned of the cave and when he smuggled goods from Canada to Boston, from time to time he found the law in pursuit of him, steered his vessel up somes Sound and sought out the cave to escape justice.  In more recent times two boys lobster fishing in the Sound came upon the cave and told their parents and others of the large cave with its under water opening, but no one believed the boys story.
Now you might think this to be a wild tale, but consider who is telling the tale, non other than the Rev. Oliver H. Fernald, who in his time was looked up to as a historian of the island.  The entrance to the cave, he wrote, is located where Flying Mountain "juts into Somes Sound," and at its boldest shore - at low tide the water there gurgles and swirls as if swallowed up in some unseen well-hole, only to be rolled out again with a new impluse.  He writes that the entrance is five feet below the low tide mark and that the passageway arches upward up into the mountain and once up in the mountain the cave opens into four chambers.


THE OVENS AND THE CATHEDRAL
Your walking along the shoreline when you come to a series of cave-like structures thatv resemble ovens, further ahead is a massive area of towering granite known as the Cathedral, and than you come to a ten foot high opening in solid rock, a tunnel were countless people over the decades have stood before and posed for a photo, well if you have stumbled upon just such a place, than you have located an area known as The Ovens.

THE OVENS BLOG




The Boulder Caves of Champlain Mountain Boulder field - If you have ever ventured up to the Hanging Steps, than you have passed by this huge boulder field.  I have made my way through sections of that boulder field and discovered a number of caves large enough for 7 or 8 persons to seek shelter in.  If you follow the directions in my blog for the Hanging Steps, once you pass under the crooked tree, just on the other side of it, instead of following the trail straight ahead, turn left and just below is a nice large boulder cave.  I have wanted to do a more deeper search of that boulder field for other boulder caves but never found the free time.  Just looking upward at all those much larger boulders and you have to believe there are a number of boulder caves just waiting to be located.

The Gorham Mountain Caves - not much has been written about the Gorham Mountain caves, but I remember many years ago talking to a park ranger who told us there was a number of "Hidden caves" on Gorham Mountain, and none of them could be reached from the main trails.  He had said the caves were either below or above the main trails and that some of the caves were once used by native Americans.  I have never gone searching for these caves nor have I come across anyone who has documented any of them.  The link below takes you to a website that talks about some of the caves and a tunnel on Gorham Mountain, worth checking out.

THE GORHAM MOUNTAIN CAVES


The Cooksie Drive  Cave of Seal Harbor - This cave is mentioned only briefly in part of a sentence;  "They were at work for a couple days at Anemone Cave at Schooner Head, and later at a cave on the Cooksie Drive near Seal Harbor."  This sentence appears in a piece titled Vitagraph Director Delighted With Scenery and appears to be a piece about filming a movie.  No other details of this cave are given.

Cave At Otter Point; 
Bar Harbor Record
May 19, 1887
A new road is being built from Aulick Palmer's residense at Otter Creek, to the end of Otter Point.  A wonderful cave has been discovered on the Western side of the point, and near it is a pit dug by some ancient Otter Creekers in search of the fabled treasuers of Captain Kidd.

(this was the entire piece which appeared in the newspaper back than, no further details.  It sounds like this was the construction of the Otter Cliff road with the cave being somewhere by Otter Point.

THE SPOUTING HORN CAVE

Crowds of people once flocked to the cliffs of Schooner Head to look down at the Spouting Horn Cave as wave after wave crashed into the cave and the rocks around it, throwing up huge plumes of ocean spray.  In the 1800's and early 1900's access to the cliffs was pretty much open to the public, but today I believe the cliffs lie upon private land.  I have no idea if the cave can be entered on foot during low tide, but if it could be, I assume the best approach would be by boat.  In one photo I have been able to locate it shows one woman park way down the cliff, totally crazy and I have no idea how she got there, see photos in blog.

BLOG OF SPOUTING HORN CAVE







THE ROCKEFELLER  CAVE

So  when I came across this old article, I was really excited by its title, because it would seem to suggest that the article was going to talk about many caves, but in fact only one cave is directly mentioned, that being a new cave to me, the Rockefeller Cave.  I don't have any more information on this once old sea cave except what is found in the beginning of the article.

TOM PATTEN AND THE CAVES OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
Bar Harbor Times
Dec. 26, 1923

Tom Patten of Seal Harbor who for years has studied, read and observed the geology of Mount Desert Island writes the following interesting article on the sea made caves of this island.
At several locations on this island in the faces of ledges and at different heigths above sea level;  are found apertures in the form of caves which plainly show the action of the sea in their excavation.
In front of the pinnacle on which is built the summer cottage of John D. Rockefeller, Jr, is one of those most perfectly developed caverns, so nearly alike those which exist at sea level, that it would not require a great stretch of imagineation to observe the fishes gliding along its sides, and one is tempted to look for Barnacles adhering to its walls and Periwinkles in the crevices of its rocky floor;  but time has removed all fossils from those old sea bottoms which were not preserved and covered by an accumulation of marine clay.
When we view this cave at an elevation of nearly two hundred feet above sea level, the question arises, how long ago was the sea at this elevation, and how long a period of time has elapsed since it was confined to its present bounds.
There are several conditions by which to judge this period if a key to the evidence could be found, and the evidence seems to be very conflicting.  In support of the minimum period since the elevation above the water is the fact that the edges and corners of the ledges still present the oval and circular form which the attrition of the glaciers gave to them, and also the granatic ledges have erroded scarcely an inch below the harder and more resistant quartz veins.  And this type of iron bearing Syonite very quickly commences to decay on the surface when civested of its covering of tile which the ice field spread upon it;  but other evidence is to be considered which would seem to place the period of submergence to a time far more remote.  It seems improbable that in the lapse of but twenty thousand years these ledges have gradually uplifted two hundred feet.  This is the time estimated by some geologists since the Champlain submergence.  No noticeable change in elevation  have taken place in historic time.  A sudden rise or uplift or a succession of thses would have displaced and rolled down many delicately poised boulders which were deposited on the crests of ledges when loosened from the melting glaciers.
Also it must have required many thousands of years to have reforested the land from a nucieus which had been driven many hundred miles to the South beyond the icy sheet, especially taking into consideration that the land to be reforested was but a bleak surface of stones and gravel.
The fact is also to be considered that the country was fully clothed with verdure before the dawn of historic time.  It is a question of consideration by those who are interested  in the work of nature, how remote was the period when the islands surrounding Mount Desert were submerged below the sea, and the highest hills  on our own island were a collection of minature islands surrounded by a shallow sea which broke over the tidal ledges of the lesser elevations.
The clothing of the country with forests also has a bearing on the date of occupation of the country with the represntatives of the human family.  It is not probable that the country was inhabited by the aborigines until it could support  and furnish food for the animals on which the savages subsisted.
The time which has elapsed since those sea caves were formed is but as a drop of water in the ocean when compared with the vast eons of the past when our old Azaie floor was laid down, but the age just preceding historic time seems to be especial interest to us.



THE CAVE OF LITTLE DUCK ISLAND

One of the first islands to come into conservation ownership on the coast of Maine,Little Duck is owned primarily by National Audubon. Acadia National Park also holds a conservation easement on a portion of the island.
A newspaper articles dated Feb. 28, 1923 talks about a cave on Little Duck Island where a man made his home in for some time, living mainly off of fish and sea food he caught along the shore.  The article does not state how deep the cave is, but did say that the entrance to the Duck Island Cave was twenty feet long and seven feet high.  It states the cave is located on the easterly side of the island.

LITTLE DUCK ISLAND CAVE GUIDE
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK