A group of friends and I hiked John B. Mountain this morning. The mountain, owned by the Blue Hill Heritage Trust (see https://bluehillheritagetrust.org/john-b-mountain), features a beautiful forested trail that leads to sweeping views overlooking Eggemoggin Reach, Deer Isle and other nearby areas. The roughly mile long trail is steep and rocky in parts. Here is a map of our hike.
My younger son and I hiked the Holden Community Trails this afternoon. The trails offer a convenient and not overly stressful way to get out in nature as they wind through the woods behind the Holden Elementary School and Town Office. As we arrived, a town employee was just finishing up leaf blowing the trail, which resulted in the cleanest hiking trails we've ever been on!
Here is a map of our hike.
My sons and I hiked Blue Hill today. We ascended the Osgood Trail and descended the Hayes and South Face Trails. The hike was unexpectedly challenging, particularly the Hayes Trail, which was steeper and rockier than we expected. Here is a map of our hike.
Blue Hill Mountain is owned and managed by the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and the Town of Blue Hill. For more information, visit https://bluehillheritagetrust.org/blue-hill-mountain.
My younger son and I went hiking along Maine's coast north of Ellsworth today. We started by visiting Tucker Mountain Preserve. The preserve, managed by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy, is located off of Route One near the Long Cove parking area in Sullivan. There is no sign for the preserve. The trailhead is across Route One and starts as an old paved road. The trail then turns inland and begins to climb, at times steeply, to the summit. A rock clearing on the way to the summit offers views of Mt. Desert Island in the distance. A map of our hike is here. To find the parking area, enter these coordinates into your GPS 44°30'56.6"N 68°11'11.3"W.
We next visited the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge and hiked the Birch Point and Lobster Point Trail. The trail is relatively flat, starting through blueberry fields before heading into a coastal woodland. The trail leads past two fields and past pine forests, where the smell of pine trees reminded us of Christmas trees. There are a number of benches and chairs overlooking fields and coves along the trail. During our hike, we observed two porcupines - one climbing a tree and another near a beach area. Here is a map of our hike at the refuge.
My younger son and I decided to explore Dixmont this afternoon. Here is a map of our hikes.
We started at the Center Pond Public Access Trail off of Western Avenue. This is a short (0.2 mile round trip) trail that leads to Center Pond, a small but scenic pond. The trail head is well marked with a wooded sign, although parking is right off of Western Avenue. There is a bench near where the trail meets the pond.
After our short hike, we noticed a road nearby and decided to see if there were any trails in that area. We decided to walk on Wellmans Pond Road, which although technically a road is more like a trail and not heavily traveled (there was one pickup truck parked around 1/4 mile in, its owner presumably hunting nearby). Wellmans Pond Road, also known as Old Route 9, was once paved but the pavement is breaking up in parts and missing in other areas. It is straight and slightly hilly, traveling through woods and offering obstructed views of Wellmans Pond. Monk Cemetary is located off the road with headstones from the 1800's.
My older son and I biked the Four Season Adventure Trail today from Corinna to Dexter. There is a small parking area in downtown Corinna from which we headed north. Although it had a number of puddles, the trail was mostly flat and well packed, although there was a section just north of Lincoln Mills Road where the trail was softer dirt.
It was a cold but beautifully sunny Sunday. As such, there were a number of ATV riders out on the trail, although for the most part they were courteous.
This section of trail travels through forests and wetlands and has a remote feel to it.
Here is a map of our ride.
