THE RAGING WATERS OF DUCK BROOK

Today was a rain day, one of those days when most people chose to stay inside and watch a movie or play a game.  Today We headed out the door with cameras in hand, heading for the waters of Duck Brook.  If you have ever gone to Duck Brook Bridge and walked down the stone stairway to the brook below the bridge, than you already know the waters of Duck Brook are pretty restless.

DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

  But if you have ever walked aimlessly through the forest surrounding the Brook, and came upon its high banks furthur down stream, than you know the brook takes on a different life, one where the waters foam white and long stretches of the brook are turned into rapids.
As we made our way down through the tree's, we could see flashes of white from the section of falls where the raging waters pour down into the brook below and we drew closer it was easy to see why at one time or another several dams were constructed along this brook.

DUCK BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Of course we had some fair amount of rain this past week and the waters before us bore this out well.  I have been here before when there was no recent rains and even than you could sense the power of the Brook, which in many other places these waters would be labeled a stream.  We took some video's and shot some photos,  and as we have done many times before, stared out across to the other side of the brook.  We were looking for any signs of where the old Fern Trail once ran, and could only find a nimber of perfectly cut square granite blocks here and there along the brook.

DUCK BROOK FALLS - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Somewhere along these banks we know a footbridge of some type helped get people from one side of the brook to the other.  And I read with interest Matt's find the other day where he he was on the other side, higher up, and came across the remains of some stone steps.  Matt's website is Leave The World Below and over the past couple years he has made some pretty big finds while exploring in the park, the biggest being the Great Cave.  I had researched, wrote about and even searched for the Great Cave for years, but it was Matt who found it, and made it possible for all of us to go there and enjoy what once was one of the Parks biggest kept secrets.
So when I read his blog and saw that he had found the remains of those steps, I knew he had located a section of the old Fern trail.  From where we were today and from where Matt's find was, I believe there was some distance and we tried to see down stream as best as we could hoping to see where maybe a bridge once crossed, but with no luck.  I told my son that I thought the key might be to get over to the other side of the Brook and explore some on that side, but the waters of the brook were raging and that just wasn't going to happeN.

This type of exploring can be dangerous, especially  in these conditions.  You have a very steep banking, wet dead leaves  cover wet slippery granite, and we both managed to take a tumble on this trip, thankfully neither of us were  hurt.  It would of been much smarter to have done this trip after the rain stopped and the ground had a chance to dry out, but as a local photographer once said, some of the best photos are taken in bad weather.

DUCK BROOK FALLS - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Once we returned back up to the Duck Brook Bridge road, the section blocked off, we came out by the sharp curve, and walked down the roadway a bit toward Duck Brook Bridge.  We looked down the extremely steep sides of the road at the brook below, and as far as you could see the entire brook seemed to be white as snow from the raging waters.  Yeah, I know, a photo would of been good, but by that time we were soaked clean through, my camera bags were soaked, and my cameras were packed in plastic bags in my back pack, so we walked back to the house with the rain falling.  Funny thing is, as soon as we approached the house, the rain stopped, ain't that just like Mother Nature.
So anyways, we did get some video of the brook and I will put up a couple links below in case  you want to check them out.


DUCK BROOK IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

 DUCK BROOK FALLS - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK