ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – The mystery path at Acadia National Park is open once again.

From the top of a long path of granite steps, hikers now can gaze at an unobstructed view of Strawberry Hill and Great Meadow in the national park.

Acadia National Park and Friends of Acadia officials on Wednesday morning formally reopened the Homans Path, an abandoned trail that begins at Sieur de Monts spring, with a ribbon cutting and a hike.

“It’s the crown jewel of the restoration” being done on trails throughout the park, Stephanie Clement, a Friends of Acadia member, said before the hike started.

National Park Service crews restored the path in two 11-week periods in the falls of 2001 and 2002 under the direction of project supervisors Keith Johnston and Gary Stellpflug. The restoration was a part of the Acadia Trails Forever initiative, a major fund-raising campaign designed to improve park trails.

The trail was constructed in 1915 and named in honor of Eliza Homans, who donated large tracts of land that became part of Acadia National Park.

For some unknown reason, the path was closed in 1941. Park officials also don’t know why it first was built and why it ends so abruptly.

“There’s a lot of mystery of how this thing went together,” Johnston said, while a group of Friends hiked the path.

The restoration crews rebuilt 50 granite steps and removed 5,000-pound boulders from the trail with a system of pulleys. The trail, which is two-tenths of a mile long, has about 360 granite steps, which make up most of the walkway with a few gravel areas. No iron pins, commonly found in the stonework on other park trails, were used to build the stonework on the Homans Path.

“It’s still a pretty good trail” after 88 years, Johnston said.

The original crew working in 1915 did not stack granite slabs on top of each other to make the steps, Johnston said. Instead part of the top part of each rock was cut off, leaving a rock belly to lock behind the previous stair.

“It was a very strong way to set these rocks,” Johnston said. “The frost can’t push them apart this way.”

The first major repair of the path was the rebuilding of a retaining wall used to keep hikers on the trail, located part way up the path. An overhead lintel was placed over the rock wall creating a cave, one of two created by the original building crew.

“It wasn’t all about getting to the summit,” Johnston said. “They said, ‘Let’s create neat places for the climbers on the way up.'”

The reconstruction crew also used a pulley system to rebuild the retaining wall, as well as other equipment, such as stone dogs, used by the original crew. A stone dog looks like giant ice tongs and is used to move the rock into position, Johnston explained.

The stairs at the end of the Homans Path stop in the middle of an open ledge. The reconstruction team left this part of the trail untouched and reconnected the path at a lower point to another switchback trail, called the Dorr East Face, creating a loop for walkers.

Through the Acadia Trails Forever initiative, the park and private donors raised $13 million to aid in the restoration and maintenance of all 130 miles of park trails, including the Homans Path, according to Ken Olson, Friends president.

Now that the Homans Path has been finished, the reconstruction crews will concentrate on maintaining existing trails, such as the North Jordan Cliffs, Jordan Pond, Acadia Mountain, Beech Mountain and Andrew Murray Young Memorial trails.

According to Johnston, local hikers have used the Homans Path on a daily basis before its official opening. Park officials expect hikers to discover the path slowly or at the same rate they have discovered its connector, the Dorr East Face Trail.

“There are no new maps made that document the trail yet,” he said. “I expect that most won’t know it is a restored path.”