The Beehive

The Beehive, Acadia National Park, Maine (5/12/2009)

This is hike #23 ("The Beehive") in "Chapter 2: Down East" of the book Foghorn Outdoors' Maine Hiking (First Edition). This was the fifth of nine hikes we did in Maine the week of May 10.

This is one of the most popular hikes in all of Acadia, and it's easy to see why. It's so much damned fun ... unless you're afraid of heights. It's, for the most part, a straight climb up. At several points there are rungs thoughtfully secured into the granite of the mountain, allowing easy passage. It's an incredibly well-laid hike. Too bad it's so short! We made it to the top in less than 20 minutes, with frequent stops for photos. The Precipice, just north of the Beehive, is a greater challenge but it was closed because of peregrine falcon activity. After getting to the top we trekked to the Bowl, a pond atop the mountain, where Laura dunked her feet in its very cold water.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)