View from the top of Acadia National Park’s Champlain Mountain
NOTE: The following trail review discusses the slope of the trail, which is called a grade. This is not the angle of the slope, but the calculation of rise (climb in elevation) divided by run (length of horizontal progress) expressed as a percentage ((rise/run) x 100). For example, using feet as the unit of measurement, a 10% grade means that a trail climbs 10 feet for every 100 feet in length. Positive grades are inclines and negative grades are declines; National Park Planner uses positive numbers in all cases, but gives a written indication of whether a slope is uphill or downhill. The grade given for an entire trail is an average, so mountainous trails may have sections with extremely steep grades as well as level areas. For reference:
- A wheelchair accessible trail has a grade of no more than +/-5%
- Most recreational trails are designed to be no more than +/-10%, with a steeper segment every now and then
- Most people agree that a +/-15% grade is where things begin to get really steep
- Stairs in a typical house and the steepest ski slopes have a grade of 60%
- A 45º angle is equal to a grade of 100%
- A stepladder has a grade of 260%
- A wall perpendicular to the ground (straight up) has a grade of infinity
To put Acadia National Park mountain trails into perspective, the average grade from the first Nepal base camp to the summit of Mount Everest is 17%, while the average grade from South Col (final camp) to the summit is 60%. Average grades of many trails in Acadia exceed Everest’s 17%, and short stretches go way beyond 60%. The difference, aside from ice and snow, is that the 60% grade of the South Col to Everest summit hike covers 3,100 vertical feet and lasts for a mile, whereas a 60% grade at Acadia may last a few hundred feet. The tallest mountain in Acadia National Park is only 1,530 feet, so even if the grade was 60% from bottom to top, the hike would still only be half as long as the Everest summit hike.
CHAMPLAIN NORTH RIDGE TRAIL
I hiked a .6-mile segment of the Champlain North Ridge Trail as part of a loop hike to the top of Champlain Mountain via the Precipice Trail. This report describes the second leg of the journey, and it starts at the summit of Champlain Mountain. See the Precipice Trail Loop Hike web page here on National Park Planner for details on the first segment, the hike on the Precipice Trail.
Length: .6 mile
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Strenuous
Precipice Trail Loop Hike map (click to enlarge)
The second segment of the Precipice Trail Loop Hike in Acadia National Park begins at the summit marker for Champlain Mountain. To continue the hike, take the Champlain North Ridge Trail for .6 mile until it intersects with the Orange and Black Path halfway down the mountain.
Champlain Mountain summit marker, Acadia National Park
The Champlain North Ridge Trail immediately begins to runs downhill along a granite surface, so it’s like walking down a steep driveway. While it’s no picnic, it’s not the Precipice Trail either. The average descending grade is 17%, and short segments often have grades between 20-30%. The Precipice Trail, on the other hand, averaged 20%, but had some segments with grades as steep as 140%, and that’s not counting the nearly vertical sections that required rungs and ladders to climb.
Beginning the descent on the Champlain North Ridge Trail in Acadia National Park
The route is marked with blue paint splotches called blazes that are either painted on the rocks or on the trees. These function as Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs, so when in doubt as to which way to go, look for the blazes. In areas where there are no trees, cairns are also used to mark the trail. These are distinct piles of rocks placed on barren surfaces. You typically can see from one blaze or cairn to the next, and if not, you should see one within a few minutes of hiking if you are going in the right direction.
Blue blaze marks the route of the Champlain North Ridge Trail in Acadia National Park
The time spent on the Champlain North Ridge Trail is short, and you’ll be at the intersection with the Orange and Black Path in about twenty minutes. The Champlain North Ridge Trail continues for another .4 mile until dead ending into the Park Loop Road, but this is the end of the journey as far as the Precipice Trail Loop Hike is concerned. See the Orange and Black Path review page here on National Park Planner to read about the next segment of the hike.
Intersection of the Champlain North Ridge Trail and the Orange and Black Path, Acadia National Park
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Last updated on August 15, 2023
