THE GURNEE TRAIL

Some of the very first paths on Mount Desert Island where what was known as Village Connector Path and were usually built because of the danger back than of walking along often narrow dirt roads, which was the case with Eden Street back in the day.  It was a very narrow dirt road with a narrow bridge crossing over Duck Brook.  A rough side walk ran up along Eden street all the way to Duck Brook, as is the case today, but from Duck Brook onward to Hulls Cove, you were pretty much on your own.

THE GURNEE TRAIL - Acadia National Park

People in both Hulls Cove and in Bar Harbor began to voice that they would like to see a Village Connector Path built, from Duck Brook Bridge to a brook in Hulls Cove..  Before any money could go into such a venture, the town of Bar Harbor wanted to know a few things, was such a connector trail needed, and once built would people use it.  The answer to both questions proved to be a sound yes, and money was set aside for such a connector path.
The Village Connector Path was built, so what became of the path that became known as the Gurnee path?

THE GURNEE TRAIL
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

The simply answer is that it was abandoned, but unlike many of the trails the National Park Service would abandoned without any rhyme or reason, the Gurnee trail actually had a very sound reason for abandoning it, large sections of the trail were beinjg eaten away over time.
That's right, eaten away - each time improvements were made to Eden Street and route 3, those improvements cut into sections of the Gurnee Path.  When it came time to widen route 3 and build a new and wider bridge, it left sections of the old trail cut up in places, and dangerously close to the edge of the ledges along the Bluffs.  Following a park report that studied the connector path, the report came to the conclusion that the trail could be reopened, but at significant cost, with a bulk of the cost being at the area known as the Bluff.  Recommendation, the path would not be reopened.

THE GURNEE PATH
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

I have to admit, I was curious as to just how close to the edge of the Bluff the path came, remember, a few different times over the years the road below was widened, and each time it brought the Gurnee Path closer and closer to the edge of the Bluff.

GURNEE PATH APPROACHING THE BLUFFS
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

I made my way to the start of the path where it began to cross the Bluff, and sure enough, the path runs right up along the side of the Bluff for a short ways, enough so as to make it very dangerous due to how close to the edge it came and due to loose rocks and gravel.  And as the Park report stated, it would cost a bunch of George Washington's to fix the problem, since to your immediate right is the edge of the Bluff, and to your left is a tall wall of solid granite, the passage way through is set in stone, as they say.  In my opinion they would have to blast in some areas, and use jack hammers in others, so I do not see this path ever being reopened.

GURNEE PATH
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

And now, we have just gone through one more widening of route 3, my guess is the path along the section of the Bluff is totally gone now, and how much damage might of been done to other areas of the Gurnee Path is unknown, but I do plan on going in and seeing how much of the path remains in tact.
The amazing thing is that if you were simply wandering through the woods and came upon sections of the Gurnee Path, you would swear you had come to an official hiking trail, so good is the shape of some sections of the old trail.  Locating a long section of the trail still in very good shape is as simple as 1, 2, 3
1;  walk along Eden Street (route 3) past the College of the Atlantic, past the Ferry Terminal, and continue until just before a curve in the road,
2;  just before the curve look for signs of an old dirt driveway on the left and follow that driveway to a set of steps (see photo)
3;  walk up the steps and continue straight ahead up the hillside about four car lengths and you will be at the trail.

STONE STEPS ALONG DRIVEWAY
GURNEE PATH - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Once at the good section of the Gurnee Trail, going right will find pine trees growing up in the center of the path in places and some areas of brush before you reach what appears to be the end by a drop off area and a wall of solid granite.  Just before that, to the left, is a gully I followed upward and made my way past that dead end, than made my way back down to the other side of the trail, which quickly takes you to sheer drop offs as the trail continues toward the Bluffs, this is one of the danger areas of the old trail, beyond this the trail moves upward and away from those drop offs and the trail forward is very well defined and worn.

At the trail, if you go left, the trail is pretty open and easy to follow,  It reaches an area where telephone poles cross the trail, and it appears the trail ends there, which it kind of does today.  From the telephone pole area, the path turns left and heads toward route 3 - Eden Street, but quickly ends at a sheer drop off where the widening of route 3 destroyed  a section of the trail.

Above is a photo of the path near a drop off with a pine tree growing up in the center of the path, to one side of path is the drop off, to the other side is a wall of granite and rock.

VIDEO OF THE GURNEE PATH

Start of old driveway along rt. 3 Eden Street
latitude       44 24' 14" N
longitude    68 14' 3" W

stone steps
latitude       44 24' 15" N
longitude    68 14' 4" W

Worn Gurnee Trail
latitude       44 24' 15" N
longitude    68 14' 5" W