THE HOMANS TRAIL - LOST NO MORE

DORR MOUNTAIN - HOMANS TRAIL, Acadia National Park

When you think of the Homans Trail up one side of Dorr, it may never occur to you exactly who Homans was or how a majestic little trail in Acadia National Park came to bear the name Homans.  The Park Service does very little, if anything to acknowledge the woman whose name this path bears, and if not for George B. Dorr, today there would not even be a trail with her name on it.  One might even make the argument that if not for Eliza Hiomans, there may not even be a National Park in Maine today, and that is by no means an understatement when you consider what she gave to the people of Maine and the United States.
People like Dorr and Elliott had a vision and they set up a land trust in hopes that one day, that trust would grow and bring their vision to fruit, a National Park  here on the coast of Maine.  It began as a vision and a dream, but it was Eliza Homans who planted the seed that helped set the wheels into motion and bring the dream into reality, as she gave the land trust its first gift, and what a gift it was.
Just take a moment and consider what Acadia National Park would be today if you were to take away the following locations; what if the park service did not have one side of Champlain Mountain, no Bowl, no Beehive, no Stage Cave, No Anemone Cave,  no Great Head and no Sand Beach, because without that first gift, they would not of had those major attractions and those now treasured lands very well might of been broken up and sold off as house lots.  So the first gift to the land trust may of very well been the most important gift, because it set the wheels in motion for others to step forward and give to the trust.   Yet for one short trail, put in place after her death by George B. Dorr, you will not find much on her in the park, other than a trail head that bears her last name and is almost hidden from the public.

VIEW FROM DORR MOUNTAIN - HOMANS TRAIL, Acadia National Park

Somehow the National Park Service "Lost" this trail after the Great Fire and for 50 years had no idea where it was located, which is pretty astounding when you consider that it is a mere country stones throw away from the Nature Center and Wild Gardens.  The trail was built in 1915, and in 1992 the lost trail was rediscovered by Tom St. Germain, who happened to be in search of abandoned trails at the time.
When I began my own quest to locate abandoned trails, I had no idea that Tom St. Germain had already relocated it, and I began my own search for this trail a few years after he made his discovery.  I used the same approach I still employ today, an old map or two, and on site detective work.  Knowing the trail made its way up the side of Dorr Mountain, I came to the conclusion that the best approach to locate this trail was to begin by the main trail up Dorr mountain, located behind the spring house.  From that point we slowly made our way along the base of the mountain along a line that we knew stone steps would have to have been used.  On our first try we failed to locate the trail, but on a follow up visit, we did the exact same approach, but this time we followed the base of the mountain slightly higher up, and this time we were able to locate stone steps.  From the day we located the trail until the park service reopened the trail in 2003, me and my kids hiked that trail a number of times each year, and we were not alone, as footprints showed.

I have over the years read with interest stories put out by the National Park Service and others concerning the Homan Trail and I believe it is a myth that the trail suddenly ended at a flat area.  The Park Service and others have stated this, suggesting either funds for constructing the trail simply might of ran out or George B. Dorr simply abandoned the construction of the trail, leaving it unfinished.  Some have claimed the Homan Trail never connected to the official trail up Dorr Mountain and say no old maps show it connecting, but those who make such claims are wrong, at least one old map does show the trail connecting and not ending at a dead end as others have claimed.

The Park Service then did double damage to this great historic path by adding to to its growing list of abandoned trails...say what!  Of all the trails up Dorr Mountain, none is more memorable or pleasant to climb, and for a good number of years they abandoned it and over time, as one park worker stated, forgot where the trail was located, an interesting statement since the Wild Gardens loom in the trails shadows.

I did see the trail on old maps and since I make abandoned trails my business, set out to locate it, I did this by beginning at the base of Dorr Mountain and following the base, looking for signs of stone steps, and found them.  For a number of years I was convinced it was I who rediscovered this once lost trail, then I read a piece in the paper where St. Germain and a friend say they rediscovered the lost trail in 1992, a year prior to my finding it, but even after it was rediscovered it remained an abandoned trail for some time, with me and my family hiking it several times each year.

Besides an old map showing the Homan Trail connecting to the official trail up Dorr Mountain, we have the evidence on the ground, as seen when I frst hiked it as an abandoned trail, when I reached the flat area at the top and was clear the path turned to the left and continued a short ways to the official trail, there was no dead end and Dorr never "abandoned" the trail.  When the Park Service finally came to their senses and reopened the trail back up again, they say they added the short section at the top of the trail so it just didn't end at a dead end, which it never did to begin with.

THE PASSAGE - HOMANS TRAIL - Acadia National Park

If you have never experienced hiking this trail, you have got to add it to your bucket list because it is a short but amazing trail.  In one area along the trail you have to bend down to pass through a hole in the boulders, which my kids came to call the Donut Hole.  Further along you come to an amazing narrow stairway leading upward between two towering walls of granite and it is said that Mr. Dorr had a large section of granite lifted into place above the two walls to give you the feel you are passing through a cave, my kids came to call this the Passage or Passage Way.  once the path comes to the woods at the top it turns left and makes its way to an intercetion of the Kurt Diedrich climb and the Emery Trail.

THE DONUT HOLE - HOMANS TRAIL - Acadia National Park

 At this point you can go right, where the trail makes its way at a slight upward angle till it exits the woods, here the trail continues along a fairly long flat section before making a hard right, where it follows a series of stone steps upward between granite walls, coming to a small flat observation deck of sorts.  At this small falt look out area you have great views of Jackson Lab and the ocean, and off to one side, if you look downward at the ground, you will find a hole with some stone steps leading downward into the hole, this is the Dorr mountain Crevice Cave, and the stone steps clearly suggest this cave was once a part of the official trail.
To locate the Homans Trail, from Sieur De Monts Spring and the wild gardens, follow the Jesup Trail.  It will come to an intersection where the Jesup Trail becomes a board walk, don't take the board walk, instead turn left and about two car lengths away - on the left, is a sign that is easy to miss that marks the start of the Homans Trail.

OLD MAP OF HOMANS TRAIL - Acadia National Park

View From the Homans Trail - Acadia National Park

THE HOMANS TRAIL, DORR MOUNTAIN - Acadia National Park

THE FIRST GIFT

Dorr has his mountain,
and Champlain  his,
while Brunnows name
is etched across the precipice
Brewer, Mcfarland, Young
stand tall in the sun,
yet  no peak
bears the name Homans.
From Anemone Cave
to Sand Beach
and the Beehive which
to the heavens reach
these are the gifts
Eliza  homans bestowed
upon you and me,
Great head was hers
as was Stage Cave
and high sea cliffs
where salty breezes lift
to hiking trails
millions have braved
she simply gave
it all away
never once asking
that her family name
mark some  beach
or mountain peak,
her gift  lay way
so that all might seek
the beauty of
this picturesque  place
we call Acadia.

Eliza Homans -
remember the name,
for it was she that gave
the park its first gift,
from sunlit hills
to shinning sea
to the shores of
eternity - the wealth
of which we can not behold
in an hour or a day,
her gift included
one side of Champlain
and the glacial pond
known as the bowl,
not until after
she had passed away
did Dorr have a path
built to honor her name,
a short path
compared to most,
with a rock donut hole
and a granite passage way
that path is there
if you can find the way,
the start of which
is nearly hidden today
her first gift marked
the seed of a park
which grew over time
to what we have today
a park like none other
from gifts stitched together.

By J.R. Libby

Published Bar Harbor Times
Sept. 27,  2018