Champlain South Ridge Trail, Acadia National Park, Hancock County, ME

The Champlain South Ridge Trail (ACAD #9) is one of the oldest trails in the Acadia National Park system. The Champlain Mountain south ridge land was near the homestead of William Lynam, who settled on Mount Desert Island at Schooner Head in 1790, having moved from from St. Augustine, Florida. The Lynam family ran a sawmill near the shore next to their house, and cut timber on the lot (‘History of Bar Harbor’ by Eben Hamor, 1896, in the Jesup Memorial Library Collection). In 1844, the artist and founding member of the Hudson River School of Art, Thomas Cole, stayed with the Lynam family while he explored and sketched the landscape. The Lynam family provided guide service to Frederick Church, a member of the Hudson River School of Art and friend of Cole, who also spent time at the Lynam home in the 1850s, visited the Bowl on Champlain Mountain and named it Loch Anna (“Rambles On Mount Desert”, B.F. DeCosta, 1871).

On a map sketch of the Champlain Mountain area, formerly Newport Mountain, by postmaster A. L. Higgins illustrating landscape features during the time period of 1855 to 1865, there is a path shown from the Champlain Mountain summit leading south and then descending on the east side of the mountain to Schooner Head Road at the home of William Lynam, which was near by the present day Schooner Head Overlook. In an 1874 guidebook by Clara Barnes Martin, she mentioned hiking the Champlain Mountain ridge to the Bowl on “Newport Mountain”, followed by a “tough scramble” down to the “Newport Beach”. B. F. DeCosta described hiking the Champlain Mountain ridge to the Bowl in his 1871 guidebook "Rambles on Mount Desert."

In 1868, four Boston families--George Hale, Charles Francis, Lincoln Brigham, and Charles Dalton--purchased the shorefront Lynam property. In 1879 Daniel Brewer sold the eastern side and south ridge of Champlain Mountain to the four Boston families (Hancock County Registry of Deeds). Charles Francis’s son-in-law was Boston architect Herbert Jaques. In the 1890s, Jaques became a member of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association (BHVIA) and served as the chairman for the committee on roads and paths. Jaques designed a color-coded trail system for the Champlain Mountain trails to help identify existing paths and new paths as they were created by the BHVIA. In 1896 Jaques wrote a trail guide and, along with Waldron Bates and Edward Rand, produced a path map. The Champlain South Ridge Trail, #9, was considered part of the Black path and traveled south to the Bowl pond. A short distance south of the Champlain Mountain summit, the now abandoned Red and White Path led hikers down the east slope of the mountain to the former Lynam home.

In 1892 the BHVIA created two new trails that led from the southern end of the Black Path at the Bowl. The Green and White Path led to the Otter Creek Road, while the Brown Path and the Yellow and White Path led hikers around the south of Beehive Mountain towards the Schooner Head Road. "Mr. J. Biddle Porter has taken executive charge of this work, hitherto conducted by Mr. F. H. Peabody” (BHVIA Annual Report, 1892). In 1901 a new path, the Green and Black Path, was built to connect the Black Path with the entrance to the new Canon Brook Trail, #19. The Green and Black Path began a short distance before the Bowl and descended west from the Black Path and ended on the Otter Creek Road. Following the Fire of 1947, the last portion of the Champlain South Ridge Trail to the Bowl was rerouted. The trail now uses the upper portion of the old Green and Black Trail to lead to the Bowl.

1.6 miles

The Champlain South Ridge Trail begins at the Champlain Mountain summit and travels south1.6 miles to the Bowl.

44.357

-68.197

The historic trail system of Acadia National Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized for its national significance and ties to the history of Mount Desert Island and establishment of the park. The system's period of significance starts in 1844 and ends in 1942. The listing encompasses 109 trails traversing 117 miles on Mount Desert Island (some extending outside the park) and includes 18 memorial plaques, 12 viewpoints, and unique engineering features.

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Microsoft Access database used in preparation of report Pathmakers: Cultural Landscape Report for the Historic Hiking Trail System of Mount Desert Island by Coffin Brown, Margaret, Jim Vekasi, et. al. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Washington, DC (2006); accessed June 2024. Entry for Bear Brook Trail extensively revised by Gary Stellpflug and Terese Miller (January 2026) to create Champlain North Ridge and Champlain South Ridge trail entries.