Frye Mountain Wildlife Management Area/Georges Highland Path

Friends and I set off to hike Frye Mountain this morning, but when we came to Walker Ridge Road, the road was closed for the season.  We adapted and created a loop hike with the road, Georges Highland Path and an ATV trail, plus a short off-trail excursion to the summit of a nearby unnamed hill.

Gene Letourneau (Frye Mountain) Wildlife Management Area is a 5241-acre Maine Wildlife Management Area operated and managed by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife located in the towns of Montville, Knox and part of Morrill in Waldo County, ME.  

Here is a map of our two mile forested hike.

Jeremiah Colburn Natural Area (Orono)

We visited the Jeremiah Colburn Natural Area in Orono today.  The Orono Land Trust preserve has a network of well maintained forested trails in the middle of Orono.  We hiked 1.25 miles total.

Mt Waldo (Frankfort)

I hiked Mt Waldo today.  This is great trail due to its proximity to Bangor, the views from the summit (and several points along the way), the varied terrain and the workout it provides.  While much of the trail was ice-free, there were still significant sections when I was glad to have cleats.   The weather became progressively worse as I hiked, and by the time I reached the summit it was raining.  Here is a map of my hike. 

Schoodic Mountain (Sullivan)

A friend and I went hiked a two mile loop at Schoodic Mountain after work today.  We had planned on hiking the entire trail but decided to skip the final 0.4 mile leg to the summit when it started getting dark and rain clouds started to form.  We made it back to the car just as rain started to fall and darkness set in.   

Eastern Trail (Scarborough)

The Eastern Trail is a 65 mile long trail running from South Portland to Kittery, including 22 miles of off-road trails in three sections.  

I hiked the Eastern Trail this morning at sunrise heading south from a parking area off Black Point Road in Scarborough. This flat section of the trail runs through the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area and offers views of the marsh.  My total distance out and back (with a small excursion on a side trail) was 3.5 miles.

Tunk Mountain (Cherryfield)

We hiked Tunk Mountain today, getting to Monument Vista (0.2 miles before the summit) before having to turn around due to time constraints.  I had visited Tunk in March 2019 but had encountered significant ice that prevented me from ascending the mountain.  Today, by contrast, there was significantly less ice (although cleats were still needed on portions of the trail).  This is an incredible hike, starting with a relatively flat mile through a forest and past two lakes, and then a climb that is steep at parts, requiring some scrambling and at one point climbing up rungs.   

Here is a map of our hike.  Out total hike was a little under 4 miles today.

Beech Mountain (Acadia National Park)

It's RIT's spring break so to celebrate coming home we went for a hike at Beech Mountain in Acadia.   The park road was closed around 3/10 of a mile before the parking lot so we parked along the road and walked in.  We ascended the heavily iced west side of the Loop Trail to the summit, where we climbed the fire tower.   We then descended the way we came.

The forecast had called for rain but fortunately it held off and the sun even appeared briefly.  This was a great hike, primarily because we had good ice cleats, otherwise we would not have been able to make it to the top.  

Here is a map of our hike.

Law Farm Nature Trail (Dover Foxcroft)

We hiked the Law Farm Nature Trails in Dover-Foxcroft today.  Law Farm is owned by the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District, and features a 1.1 mile trail leading through hardwood forests, a forestry demonstration area and a northern white cedar wetland.

The hike was scenic and relatively easy due to the hard packed snow.  Unfortunately there was a pervasive low humming sound due to the preserve's proximity to Pleasant River Lumber.  It was still a nice hike nonetheless.  

For more information on Law Farm, visit its website.