FAWN WOODS ROAD

I named this area of the woods Fawn Woods and for good reason, on almost any day you can walk through these quiet woods and spot deer, some times up to six or seven, and some times with their new born baby fawns, in fact some of my best deet photos were taken here. There are traces of old roads that criss cross these woods but the main road is well defined and easy to follow. Drive up West Street Extension and park by the entrance to Acadia National Park. Walk along the left hand side of the road a short ways and you will see a old dirt road down the banking, it does a wide loop through the forest, rejoining the Park road further up the hill.

As your walking along the road, you will see where another road once ran off to the left through a field, there are usually deer in that field. Just beyond that, on the right, is another road, more defined, which runs through an opening and up onto a high section of branite where a very large bolt is bolted into the granite, with a very large piece of chain in it, have no idea what that was used for. Further along, on the right, is signs of one or two more roads and for some reason the ground has been built up here with a large amount of small stones, and towering over this flat open area is a small hill of towering granite, the tallest section has the remains of either an old foundation or a built up area of many stones on both sides of the towering granite, yet the top section of the hill is small, most likely too small for even a small size house – could this area have been a support for a section of flume that might of run from there over to the Eagle Lake Road?

From there the road beings a right hand turn, with the remains of a road heading left toward private property. The road makes its right hand turn and now you can begin to see a good number of tire ruts where most likely truck

tires sank down into the muddy ground. The road goes up hill a bit and levels off and once again you can now see the other side of that hill of granite with the built up section made up of many stones., lining the hill side as neat as a tall wall, and right there, running up along the wall of stones and making its way to the top of the granite hill, a well worn path. From the top, looking out toward Bar Harbor you are treated to some nice views, but beware, there are drop offs all around, one wrong step could result in a very nasty fall. Beyond you can follow a path along the top of the granite hill, to where you come out at a drop off directly across from the Duck Brook Road, with a path to the left leading down to the road, or you can go back down the path you came up and continue to follow the old road to where it does a deep drop downward before leveling out and making its way toward the Park Road.

Back before West Street Ext. was built, when the entrance to the park from town was off of the Bloomfield Road, this upper section of dirt road would of run over toward that abandoned entrance road, andf the first section of dirt road would of run over to one end of the nearby Bloomfield Road.. Because of all the deer traffic this section of woods and fields are sure to be ripe with ticks, just keep that in mind.

It is worth noting that one old map I saw years ago showed a Great Hill Path to the summit that began by the corner of Cleftstone and West Street Ext, and ran right up through this area, and it is interesting that both sides of the hill further back from the road, with built up sides of stones, might of played a role in that old Great Hill path.

path to top of hill with built up rock wall to right

UPDATE;

I was out looking for deer the other day, following what I like to call the Fawn Woods Road, simply because of all the great deer photos I have taken in that area, when I ran into two individuals who were also walking the old dirt road.  They had some new information on exactly what those remains are of up on a small hill along the road, it was once a tea house.  This makes sense because old maps show a path leading from about where the corner of West Street Extension and Cleftstone Road are today, and making its way to Great Hill and the summit.  Back in the late 1800's and early 1900's it was popular to place these tea houses along hiking trails, and one was planned for Newport Mountain (today named Champlain Mountain),  and one was located along the Schooner Head Road over by Great Head.  People today don't realize how important of a role Great Hill played on the path system in this area of the park, but once many trails either began or ended at Great Hill, trails like the Fern Trail, The Royal Fern Trail, the Bracken Trail, Fawn Pond Trail, the Duck Brook Trail, with several once official trails along the base of Great Hill and up to its twin peaks.   According to one old article plans were in the works for extending the Carriage Road system up over Great Hill, with the new section of carriage road running down along where West Street Extention is today, but those plans were never carried out.