Henry standing on the Pulpit
The Pulpit is a section of high cliff along the Bold Coast. It’s separated from the rest of the cliff face by a deep, nearly vertical chasm. A path leaves the main trail and makes its way down to the base of the formation. From there, you have great cliff top views of the Gulf of Maine with Grand Manan Island in the distance.
An unblazed but obvious trail follows the top of The Pulpit to its highest point. The world drops away vertically on three sides. Waves crash into the broken rock at the base of the cliffs nearly a hundred feet below you.
Looking south from the base of The Pulpit (The Pulpit is on the left.)
To the south, spruce-topped cliffs march into the hazy distance broken only by the occasional inlet with a cobbled beach.
One of the beaches near The Pulpit
The trailhead for The Bold Coast is a few miles east of Cutler on ME191. It’s an easy two mile hike from the trailhead to Pulpit Rock. The trail winds through a dense spruce forest with lots of standing dead wood and very little understory. It’s great habitat for black backed woodpeckers. In fact, birdwatchers come from all over the country to see them here.
If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can make your hike into a 9.5 mile loop that takes in all of The Bold Coast. For a description of the entire hike, check out my guide Hiking Maine.
The view from one of the campsites, looking north
There are five primitive, but spectacular, campsites near the west end of the hike (the opposite end of the cliffs from the Pulpit). Be warned: there’s no reliable fresh water on the hike or near the campsites.
Near Fairy Head at the south end of the Bold Coast where the cliffs are more broken and less dramatic
Just south of the Pulpit. The trail winds atop open cliffs 100 feet above the sea. Grasses and blueberries line the trail. Farther along, the trail visits several cobble beaches and crosses meadows of tall grass and flowering roses.