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Waldron's Warriors Battle On
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| A Bates cairn on the Champlain Mountain Bear Brook Trail |
Maintaining the system of cairns that
mark the hiking trails in Acadia
National Park has often been
described as a losing battle. Uninformed visitors
tinker with these valuable piles of stones,
either adding more until they become unstable
and topple on their own or, in some
instances, knocking them over deliberately.
And then there are those who cannot seem
to resist constructing their own cairns, often
confusing hikers or directing them off the
beaten trail into more environmentally-sensitive
areas.
Trail crews and volunteers are constantly
repairing damaged cairns and removing illegal
ones.
Along with the friendly painted blue blazes,
and the occasional tin marker on trees, cairns
are the main method used by hikers for route
finding, particularly on open ledges and summits
where other landmarks are few and far
between. There is no set pattern to cairn
placement. When asked by a volunteer how
far apart to set them, one trail foreman
replied, "Imagine you're from the big city, it's
your first hike, it's foggy and getting dark.
How far apart do you want them?"
Long before Acadia adopted the familiar
conical shape for cairns, trail pathfinder
Waldron Bates, who laid out many of the
paths on the island's eastern side, specified
a unique marking system. It consisted of a
pair of large base stones spaced a foot or two
apart and spanned horizontally by a narrow,
flat stone, not unlike a small table. In the
center of the flat stone an oblong "indicator" rock was placed with the idea that the
point of the rock indicated the direction of
the trail.
Over the past few years, ANP recreation
specialist Charlie Jacobi has instituted a program
to replace conical cairns with Bates
markers on trails where they were originally
used - on the eastern side of Mount
Desert Island. Some of the trails include
Dorr Mountain (south ridge), the Bear Brook
Trail up the north ridge of Champlain,
Gorham Mountain, Cadillac South Ridge,
Upper Beachcroft Trail (Huguenot Head),
and Penobscot Mountain.
This summer crews worked on Cadillac
North Ridge, the Gorge Path (the upper section
at Cadillac Summit) and the reopened
Sargent East Cliffs Trail.
With plenty of work to do related to the
Acadia Trails Forever effort initiated by
Friends of Acadia, the park's paid trail crew
has no shortage of projects. Still, they have
managed to install Bates cairns on several
trails. One area where they can use some
assistance, however, is monitoring those
trails to see if unwitting visitors have damaged
or replaced the cairns.
That's where Jacobi got the idea for
Waldron's Warriors.
For three years now he has called on a
dedicated group of hikers to volunteer to
hike the trails to look for damage and make
minor repairs. Each Warrior is asked to hike
a particular trail every couple of weeks in
the spring and fall before seasonal crews are
in place. The volunteers make note of any
problems, replace a missing or fallen indicator
stone, and remove unauthorized additions.
Traditionally Warriors swap off for the
second half of the season to prevent them
from getting bored hiking the same trail over
and over.
By having the volunteers regularly check
on the cairns, Jacobi can see if any patterns
emerge and plan appropriate measures. And,
by ensuring that the majority of hikers see
only correctly placed and constructed cairns,
temptation to tinker with them is reduced.
Charlie Jacobi's crews include this summer's
Friends of Acadia Ridge Runners -
Jesse Kucenic, Pete Berquist, Pat Mahoney,
Jessi Graff, and Catie Carter - as well as
local volunteers including Julia Schloss, Jen
Drew, Doug Monteith, Mike Hays, Bill Ames,
and Laura Scholtz. Vesta Kowalski recently
retired from the Waldron's Warriors cadre.
Over time, Jacobi hopes people will come
to understand and appreciate the effort to
integrate both the cultural and natural landscape
at Acadia. "Bates cairns are easier to
build and maintain," he explains. "They
have reestablished an important part of the
historic character of the island hiking trail
system."
Earl Brechlin is the editor of the Mount
Desert Islander and a member of Waldron's
Warriors.
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