Tucker Mountain and Birch Point Trail (Petit Manan NWR)

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.