Chase Reserve is a 194 acre easement on Bunganuc Road in Brunswick, Maine, next to the Freeport line, managed by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. This Reserve, known as a birding hotspot, is a part of the largest remaining unfragmented coastal forest block in Cumberland County, named for former owner and Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Chase (buried in a cemetery on the property). Due to the season and the time of day, we only heard jays and chickadees, but this coastal spot hosts over seventy migratory and resident bird species.
While the Reserve runs along Maquoit Bay, there is currently no public access along the bay. Dogs are allowed on the trails, on leash. Navigating using AllTrails, we took a winter hike in mid-January, using traction devices (microspikes and YakTrax) to maintain footing in the ice, enjoying a lollipop loop of about 2 miles, using Jack’s Trail and the Litchfield Trail for an easy, flat hike that took about 45 minutes.
A much longer hike is possible, using the Antoinette Jackman Trail, and the adjoining Calderwood Trails in Freeport. We hit the lightly-trafficked trails in the afternoon, and Maine’s early sunset made for a truncated adventure, but great gloaming light.
From the parking area, Jack’s Trail took us through a quiet, wintery evergreen-dominated forest, some area harvested for timber, and then across a narrow creek. Over the creek, the Litchfield Trail followed an old woods road, before looping back by a pond through the woods to take us back to Jack’s Trail, and the small parking area. This can be a bit icy or muddy following wet weather, but is a quiet, scenic, family-friendly hike through the coastal woods.
Hiking in Maine 