Acadia to watch bicyclists> Trails need protection

BAR HARBOR – The DuBois family came to Acadia National Park from Antrim, N.H., with five bicycles strapped to their huge Bronco. They came to Eagle Lake, one of the more popular park areas during peak season, with biking in mind.

Tuesday the park released a three-year study that showed bicyclists, more than any other group, need to be monitored to protect the peace and tranquility of Acadia’s carriage roads. But Tuesday the DuBois family was having the kind of experience the park rangers hope to preserve.

“I love it here,” Keith DuBois said at a packed Eagle Lake parking lot.

DuBois’ sentiments echoed the theme of Acadia recreation specialist Charlie Jacobi’s report: “On the carriage roads, the journey rather than the destination distinguishes the experience.”

Despite an estimated 2,500 peak-season crowd in the park Tuesday, Keith and Alicia DuBois moved at a slow pace with their three young children and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

What the family found is what the study showed most visitors find on the carriage roads – that the roughly 1,500 visitors per day have not spoiled the calm, wilderness experience and that most visitors, even bicyclists, are courteous and well behaved.

A native of New Hampshire, Keith DuBois used to vacation at Acadia as a boy 15 years ago. Now he comes most summers with his own family. He said the park has always been busy – and always dominated by bicyclists.

“I think there are a few nuts out there. You can’t go fast downhill,” Keith DuBois said. “There are some going faster than they ought to. Most are pretty courteous.”

When we got here we didn’t see so many bikes. We went for miles without seeing one for five or 10 minutes.”

When Acadia National Park began to study carriage road use in 1994 it found that crowding and visitor behavior were two areas that needed to be monitored to ensure an enjoyable park experience.

“We started hearing visitors and residents alike complain too many people were out there,” said Jacobi. “We had minor resource concerns to keep an eye on. But mostly, it’s a social issue.”

The study found visitor behavior needs to be closely monitored – especially that of bicyclists. The study determined “a change in the visitor experience is occurring, largely because of the development of the mountain bike.”

Three of four important problems related to user behavior were caused by bicyclists: those passing without warning, those going at excessive speed, and those, who with other visitors, obstruct the carriage roads. The fourth was dogs being let off leashes.

The 56-mile carriage road system, developed in the early 1900s at the direction of John D. Rockefeller, is significant for its state of the art design. The construction reflects the landscape in its stone bridges, and broken stone roads. A carriage road experience is found in a few locations nationwide and in only one other national park unit in the trails that run along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to the Shenandoah Mountains.

The park’s three-year study found the carrying capacity is not yet large enough to threaten the environment or disrupt visitors’ experience. However, among the roughly 1,500 visitors per day in the park, bicyclists need to be watched.

Acadia will continue to monitor crowding through trail counters, direct counts at fixed sights, and periodic visitor surveys. It will continue to try to control behavior problems by education through local bike shops, signs, and maps.

Jacobi said if the crowding conditions would continue to climb, the park would eventually go to permits that limit entrants.

“The visitors were fairly tolerant,” Jacobi said. “Even if we increase the numbers, they are quite a bit more tolerant. You could argue both ways: as you increase the numbers, the population increases so people become more tolerant. Or, as the population increases, peace and quiet means more, so people are less tolerant.”