The Lake in the Sky

Up Jordan Cliffs to Penobscot Mountain Peak: Hiking in the Rain

Are you into extreme hiking?

We thought we'd give it a go on our last trip to Acadia. It rained a few days during our vacation and we were really itching to get back on the trail. One day we just decided to go for it. It had pretty much stopped raining, but because it had been raining so much, there was a lot of runoff everywhere we looked.

Our hike of choice: The Jordan Cliffs Trail. Yes, we are danger seekers.

Like the trail name says, the first half of the trail is a pretty steep, rocky climb up the face of Penobscot Mountain. Rain and rocks generally don't mix, but we figured, "why not?" So we began our ascent.

As we climbed, we had to walk right through waterfalls cascading down the rock face that normally wouldn't have been there. It was gorgeous and treacherous at the same time.

At one point, we lost the trail completely... only to find that there was a large tree lying across the path. The only way around the tree and back on to the trail was to climb down another tree about 6 or 7 feet down. It was actually one of the most fun hikes we'd ever been on.

At the top of Penobscot Mountain, we were searching for a good place to eat lunch and rest our aching limbs when I found this huge lake. It was probably only about one foot deep but it was really warm because the sun had been baking it for a couple of hours. It was all just collected rain water.

We probably wasted about an hour wading around in the rain water lake. It was fabulous! What a great reward that was for trudging through the damp gloom in the first part of the hike.

~Jenn

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