Hiking in Maine

The Fields Pond Audubon center is a 229-acre sanctuary in Holden on the shores of Fields Pond. Trails are free and open to the public year round, dawn to dusk, and dogs are not allowed. In mid-August, I took a loop of the outside perimeter of Fields Pond by using the Mowed Path behind the Visitors Center, crossing the 300 foot bog bridge to the Lake Shore Trail, to the Beechwood Trail, then back on the Ravine Trail. This relatively easy loop of about 2 miles took about 47 minutes. I navigated using AllTrails, and trail maps are available on the website of the Fields Pond Audubon Center The trails are also well-marked and self-correcting, as prominent intersections are marked alphabetically.

I heard catbirds almost immediately, calling through the wide open fields covered with goldenrod, thistle, Queen Anne’s lace, and other wildflowers, attended by Monarch butterflies and many other insects. I continued left over the bog bridge to the Lake Shore Trail, stopping to let pass a sizable group of young day campers. The forest of the Lake Shore Trail quickly opened up to the shore of Fields Pond, where people were enjoying recreation opportunities like fishing and sailing. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife lists Fields Pond as a popular place to catch pickerel and perch.

At the letter “E” on the trail, I turned up and left to follow the blue blazes of the Beechwood Trail. The slope of this trail was slightly more challenging than the level grade of the Mowed Path and Lake Shore Trail, and wound uphill through a relatively open forest with many signs of recent trail work. Crows called throughout the piney trees, which gave way to the trail’s tree namesake, as well as numerous oak and birch. This deciduous forest quickly turned to marsh and swamp, and an American Goldfinch sang me through this portion, where there were ample deer tracks splashed through the mud.

The chattering of gray and red squirrels took over for the Goldfinch, and I picked my way through a host of ferns, and more swampy, low-lying areas, before I reached the intersection with the connector trail to Hart Farm Trails (conveniently marked with an “H”). I turned left to head back on the Ravine Trail toward the Nature Center. This portion of the trail was wide and covered with soft pine needles. At the intersection marked “G,” I turned left again to stay on the Ravine Trail as it worked its way downhill towards the Nature Center. At “C,” I turned right, and took rough stone steps down at the intersection of the Brook Trail to stay on the Ravine Trail, continuing the downward walk back to the parking area.