Gloves grip down a single strand of bright yellow nylon rope. It tightens and finds itself dancing in the grip of a nervous rappel. As right just before, it had been chucked down 100ft to the battered granite where ocean sprays the beginning of Morning Glory. A 5.9+ pumpy face climb with skin cutting edges and teensy crimps that nestle themselves into their own personal grotto’s. This is the status quo for seaside climbing in Acadia National Park. Otter Cliffs (a crag) provide scenic and tranquil space for climbers to get some rounds in, especially with the couple fixed “staple” anchors in the north-east corner. Unique and moderate climbing is found here where most climbs are short in stature and often just top-roped. Heading north-east of Otter leads you to Great Head, a secluded and daunting cliffside almost high enough to only hear whispers of the waves below. More difficult climbs ranging from 5.9+ to 5.13+, mostly bolted as well. I ended up spending 2 days projecting Morning Glory to get done as well as I could on TRS. In honesty, I was scared. It’s something you hear little of from climbers, maybe in preserving machismo, or maybe that it doesn’t need to be mentioned at all, it's a given.
Within my own climbing progression I get faced with something different often, something unknown, a worry that dawns, something unexpected, something that if I want to do I have to do. It seems like when you start something like this you gotta constantly break your own thresholds. If you're gonna be scared, don’t stop. Evaluate, and do it scared.