Baxter State Park has closed the Abol trail for at least the rest of this year.
Park Director Jensen Bissell blames a rock slide in late winter.
"The conditions are exceptionally unsafe especially for any climber or hiker that would be below someone up above because of the instability of a lot of rocks in the trail," he says. "Sometime late this spring, maybe in April during a heavy rain event, with a lot of snow on the trail there was a great deal of material that moved down the hill — rocks, large rocks, house-sized and car-sized rocks — and left a lot of material that obliterated the current trail location."
Abol is the shortest and steepest trail to the summit of Mount Katahdin. Bissell says park officials will look at options to either correct this issue or to find another suitable long-term option.
