Family-friendly Hikes

Quaggy Jo Mountain

Undercover Hiker2 Comments
View east from North Peak of Quaggy Jo, Aroostook State Park

Quaggy Jo Mountain (1,213 ft) is located within Aroostook State Park, about 5 miles south of Presque Isle, and a detailed description of the hike is available in the Maine Mountain Guide. Aroostook State Park charges a $3 entry fee for Maine residents, payable via a drop box next to the gate on the May afternoon I came through. Online maps are always hard to come by for Maine state parks, so I’ve included a photo of the physical trail map placard.

Parking is available at a large lot next to Echo Lake, at the base of the Quaquajo Nature Trail. (The popular belief is that Quaggy Jo is the shortened from of “Qua Qua Jo” a native American phrase for “twin peaked”). Not having done enough research, I started the Quaggy Jo hike counterclockwise, starting with the Nature Trail, marked with blue blazes, and proceeding via the North Peak and Ridge Trails. Guides and maps recommend completing this loop in the opposite direction, due to the steep ledges on the South Peak Trail, which make descent difficult. I opted instead to double back on the Ridge Trail, then take the Notch Trail back to avoid the issue. This made for a loop of about 2.6 miles in an hour and 15 minutes, which I finished via the Nature and Novice Trails. On the Quaquajo Nature Trail, steps led up an incline and low spots were covered with wooden walkways. The spring trees were still sparse enough to see through, with small green buds indicating the greenery to come.

Lean-to on Ridge Trail, Aroostook State Park

The North Peak Trail crossed over the cross-country ski trail, then quickly turned to a steep series of switchbacks facing Echo Lake, reaching the North Peak summit (1,141 ft). The North Peak had several viewpoints, including a glimpse of snowy Katahdin through the trees. On the rocky Ridge Trail heading across the road from North Peak to South Peak (or vice versa, for those who follow instructions), there is a wooden lean-to with an expansive view of Aroostook County, and Canada beyond. As the Ridge trail dipped between the two peaks, the traverse required a series of hops over fallen trees, blowdowns after recent storms. Loose volcanic rock on portions of this climb show pieces of the rhyolite bedrock that created Quaggy Jo.

View from South Peak of Quaggy Jo, Aroostook State Park
Continue reading →

Suckfish Brook Conservation Area (Falmouth, ME)

Undercover Hiker2 Comments
Bench by beaver dam and pond, Suckfish Brook Conservation Area, Falmouth, ME

Suckfish Brook Conservation Area is a two-part preserve in Falmouth and Westbrook to the east of Highland Lake, a total of about 132 acres in size. On a mid-December day, I explored the 94-acre preserve in Falmouth by the Falmouth Land Trust, with a trail system maintained by the Town of Falmouth that begins in the Conservation Area and connects to trails made possible by neighboring landowners. The Conservation Area is named for the white sucker fish, which spawns in the eponymous brook. The small parking area is at the end of Upland Road, off Mast Road close to the Falmouth/Westbrook line. Navigation through Suckfish Brook Conservation Area can be difficult, as the maps are good, but some of the trails, particularly those through the Christmas tree farm owned by Skillins, are unsigned. I typically use the AllTrails application to navigate and track hikes, but in this case, the best way I found to navigate was using the QR code on the trail sign to access the Google Maps version of the trail map, showing my position relative to my anticipated route. In addition, the AllTrails trailhead directions tried to send me towards the wrong side of Falmouth.

Stone wall, Suckfish Brook Conservation Area, Falmouth, ME

I made a loop by taking the Huston Trail clockwise to the Stone Ridge Trail, the Presidential Trail, the Red Tail Trail, and back north on the Presidential Trail to the Huston Trail, with a quick stop at the Beaver Trail. This route along the edges of the Conservation Area was about 2.6 miles, and easily completed in an hour. A sign and map kiosk mark the beginning of the trails, which are open sunrise to sunset. Shortly after the parking lot, a series of plank bridges led to the right, with a view over a small pond, a bench, and a beaver dam at the pond’s outlet. Returning to the main trail, white-blazed Huston Trail splits to the north and south, and I went left/north. Leaves rattled on the trees and crunched underfoot, frozen under a thin carpet of snow. There are periodic placards along the trail with notices and QR codes regarding the history of the area. The Huston Trail is named for William Huston and his family, the historical landowners. Huston was a forester working for the King of England’s mast agent for Maine, and white pines were harvested for Royal Navy masts here, hence the name of Mast Road, as well.

View of White Mountains from Presidential Trail, Suckfish Brook Conservation Area, Falmouth, ME
Continue reading →

Cooley Preserve at Center Pond (Phippsburg, ME)

Undercover Hiker2 Comments
Tree overlooking Center Pond, Cooley Preserve at Center Pond, Phippsburg, ME

Cooley Preserve at Center Pond, also known as Center Pond Preserve, is located in Phippsburg and maintained by the Phippsburg Land Trust. Cooley Preserve, known for its bird habitat and wildflowers, contains 253 acres of woods, ledges, a beaver pond turned into a marsh, and the shoreline of Center Pond. A friend and I explored the trails on a cold but sunny late November day. The trailhead off Parker House Road is just south of a narrow neck between Center Pond and the Kennebec River, directly across the river from Squirrel Point light. The parking area has a sign-in notebook, with space for trail brochures (none when we visited), and a sign lists access to McKay Farm Preserve via the South Perimeter Trail. Online, the brochure notes that the Preserve is named for Mrs. Eleanor Cooley, from whom Phippsburg Land Trust acquired this, its first property, in 1995.

Trail map at Cooley Center Pond Preserve, Phippsburg, ME

Atop the trail guide box was a laminated version of the only map of the Preserve’s trails that I’ve seen, which is incomplete (no link to McKay Farm can be found off the South Perimeter Trail, and other new trails are not listed), and not aligned with north at the top like a traditional map. A sign encouraged hikers to wear blaze orange, which we took to heart on this late November day, the last day of deer hunting season. We navigated using the guide box map, as well as the AllTrails application and dead reckoning. Combining the Drummond Loop, Andy’s Way (signed, but not on the map), Schoolhouse Trail, Elbow Hill Trail, Perimeter Trail South, and Perimeter Trail North, we cobbled together a loop around the perimeter of the Preserve totaling about 5.5 miles.

AllTrails map of route taken through Center Pond Preserve, Phippsburg, ME

This easy hike took us a little over two hours, with plenty of time to stop and enjoy the various viewpoints. Near the trailhead, there are petroglyphs, or rock carvings, which you can find for yourself by following purple blazes or read about on Phippsburg Land Trust’s site (we are more aligned with a Leave No Trace philosophy, and these definitely aren’t our thing). The Drummond Loop led uphill from the parking area, then downhill to a left turn to pick up the loop. Shortly thereafter, we encountered a new sign for Andy’s Way, a blazed trail leading southeast, and followed this path over mixed forest, past tall ledges, until it reached the Schoolhouse Trail. There were vestiges of the farmland this used to be, with stone walls, and old barbed wire growing slowly back into the landscape.

View from Elbow Hill, Cooley Center Pond Preserve, Phippsburg, ME
Continue reading →

Pineland Public Reserved Lands

Undercover Hiker1 Comment
North Loop, Pineland Public Reserved Lands, New Gloucester, ME

The Pineland Public Reserved Lands trailhead is located in New Gloucester, Maine, just south of the Pineland Farms complex on Depot Road, with year-round trails on either side of the road making a figure-eight loop, with Depot Road as the fulcrum at the center. The Lands themselves consist of over 600 acres of undeveloped forest in New Gloucester, Gray, and North Yarmouth. The best maps and descriptions can be found on Maine Trail Finder or Maine By Foot. The southern end of the trails connects to a much longer network of Pineland Corridor mixed use trails leading to Bradbury Mountain State Park, used primarily in the summer by mountain bikers.

Fall colors on North Loop, Pineland Public Reserved Lands, New Gloucester, ME

We completed this leisurely 3.2-mile loop in about an hour and twenty minutes in early October’s peak foliage, taking the northern (1.7 mi) and then southern (1.5 mi) loops each in a clockwise direction before returning to the trailhead. The trailhead is marked by a prominent brown sign on Depot Road with a pine tree on it, with a wide dirt/gravel parking area. A picnic area is adjacent to the trailhead. Plank walkways cover low or wet areas in the North Loop path, as the trail winds mostly downhill through mixed forest, with abundant ferns. Crows, black-capped chickadees, and blue jays called loudly through the widely-spaced trees.

Royal River rail bridge, North Loop, Pineland Public Reserved Lands, New Gloucester, ME
Continue reading →

Orono Bog Boardwalk

Undercover HikerLeave a comment
Orono Bog Boardwalk, Orono, ME

The Orono Bog Boardwalk, adjacent to the Bangor City Forest, is located off Stillwater Avenue just north of the Bangor Mall area. The easy, flat 1-mile Boardwalk, celebrating its 20th year in 2022, is a joint venture of the University of Maine, the City of Bangor, and the Orono Land Trust. Updates on conditions and opening hours are available through the Boardwalk’s Facebook page. The Boardwalk is closed during the winter, and from the designated opening day in the spring through Labor Day, open from 7 am to 6:30 pm, with hours gradually getting shorter in September and October until closing for winter the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when it is 8 am to 3:30 pm. We had visited the Boardwalk before as a stopover to stretch our legs on the way back south from Katahdin.

Orono Bog Boardwalk, Orono, ME

On a rainy late September morning, I parked at the Bangor City Forest parking lot on Tripp Road and turned immediately right onto the wide flat East-West Loop Trail through the trees. It was quiet, except for red squirrels, and a little over a quarter mile to the Boardwalk, the entrance situated behind an information kiosk, a picnic table, and a bike rack. There are restroom facilities available, close by and clearly marked. The Boardwalk elevates over the bog, which is filled with large, lush ferns, wide leaves of skunk cabbage, and ash and maple trees perched on hummocks, with periodic benches to sit and watch the plants and wildlife. I heard but didn’t see a white-breasted nuthatch and a hairy woodpecker.

Pitcher plants, Orono Bog Boardwalk, Orono, ME
Continue reading →

Barrell Ridge

Undercover HikerLeave a comment
View of North Traveler from Barrell Ridge Trail, Baxter State Park, ME

On the last day of a mid-September weekend hiking trip to Baxter State Park, I snuck in a morning hike before I packed up my South Branch Pond campsite, heading to Barrell Ridge (2085 ft) via Middle Fowler Pond Trail. I got the route for this moderate six mile out-and-back hike from Hiking Maine’s Baxter State Park and the suggestion of the South Branch Pond ranger. You can navigate using the South Branch Pond printable map from Baxter State Park. The trailhead is shared with the Ledges Trail and South Branch Nature Trail, a short walk north from South Branch Pond Campground, and branches off toward Middle Fowler Pond after about a third of a mile.

View northwest from ledges on Middle Fowler Pond Trail, Baxter State Park, ME
Continue reading →

Machias River Preserve

Undercover HikerLeave a comment
Railroad Trestle Bridge, Machias River Preserve, ME

Machias River Preserve, located on the banks of its namesake, is a 917-acre area protected by the Downeast Coastal Conservancy (DCC), part of the Two Rivers Conservation Area (see description and map here). On a late September day, I used the parking area on 1A in Whitneyville to walk a lollipop-type loop using the Money Island, Homestead, and Hemlock Trails of about 3.3 miles, taking about an hour and twenty minutes. The Machias River Preserve can also be accessed from a small parking lot off 1A in the town of Machias. According to DCC’s site, “Machias” comes from a Passamaquoddy word meaning “bad little falls,” and I had taken this loop on before as part of the Bad Little Trail run sponsored by DCC and Bold Coast Runners.

Abandoned car on Money Island Trail, Machias River Preserve, Whitneyville, ME

Shortly after the entrance from the small parking area to the blue-blazed Money Island Trail, I saw the telltale signs of bushwhacking and circles in the grass indicating deer had slept here last night. I was almost immediately hit with the pleasant scent of wet pine and sweet fern. The trail narrowed, leading into a root-covered path along a healthy rust colored stream. At about a third of a mile in, just after the hulk of an old, abandoned car, a small side trail leads to the left to a series of pleasant moss-covered cascades where black-capped chickadees serenaded from the surrounding trees. Shortly after returning to the main trail, a small wooden bridge leads back over the stream, and a small spur trail can be taken to the right, for views of the Machias, flowing around Money Island in the middle of the river. The familiar clicking call of a belted kingfisher filled the cool river air.

Waterfall on Money Island Trail, Machias River Preserve, ME
Continue reading →

Winnick Woods Long Loop

Undercover Hiker1 Comment
Winnick Woods, Cape Elizabeth, ME

Winnick Woods is a 71 acre parcel of land owned by the Town of Cape Elizabeth, part of the Cape Elizabeth Greenbelt, which has a page with maps and a description. The trailhead is at a small gravel parking area with a map kiosk and space for eight vehicles off Sawyer Road. Be forewarned – the maps, including the ones posted along the trail, are not good ones. I used AllTrails to navigate an easy 3.8-mile Winnick Woods Long Loop that covered most of the preserve, and used the Cross Hill Trails to extend the hike, which took about an hour and forty minutes, with plenty of time to stop and examine the varied flora.

Stagnant pond, Winnick Woods, Cape Elizabeth, ME

This winds past some adjoining backyards, follows power lines in places, and crosses Cross Hill Road twice, but stays on established trails. Like many trails designed for mountain bikes, there are multiple twists and turns and intersections to maximize mileage and track length, which can be confusing for hikers and bikers alike. We encountered many mountain bikers and stepped briefly off the path to allow them to pass. The trail was also populated by trail runners and dog walkers.

Single-track through junipers on Winnick Woods Long Loop, Cape Elizabeth, ME

The trail begins with a wooded path (the White Trail), opening on a large meadow, where we saw (and heard) a large red-tailed hawk patrolling the skies above. We then turned left onto the Yellow Trail, which crosses the north side of a small, stagnant pond, and passes behind a neighborhood through a mixed forest. Throughout the early September hike, we saw a wide variety of berries, trees, shrubs, late summer flowers, colorful mushrooms, and birds. Regarding the fern family alone, we identified bracken fern, cinnamon fern, eastern hay-scented fern, Japanese painted fern, and Christmas fern. Nuthatches and brown creepers serenaded the woods and foraged along the tree trunks.

Winnick Woods Long Loop, Cape Elizabeth, ME

The marshy area to the east of the loop signals a move to higher ground along power lines, and the beginning of the Cross Hill Trails, lined with juniper and wildflowers. Here, a cacophony of catbird sounds greeted us in the lower-lying areas, before turning west and north to return to the Winnick Woods Trails, where the forest opens up to sunlight. A flat, easy walk brought us back to the start of the hike.

Winnick Woods Long Loop, Cape Elizabeth, ME

McGaffey Mountain

Undercover Hiker1 Comment
A Trail to summit of McGaffey Mountain.

McGaffey Mountain (1,288 ft), named for 19th century Mount Vernon resident Charles McGaffey, is the highest point in Kennebec County, and the trail to its wooded summit shares a Kennebec Highlands parking area in Rome with the trail to Round Top Mountain. The “A” Trail, a multi-use trail, diverges from the trail to Round Top a little less than a quarter mile in, in an unsigned left turn (Round Top Trail, however, is marked). It was quiet on the early July morning I visited, and I only saw two others, who were riding mountain bikes.

Flora along the A Trail, McGaffey Mountain, Rome, ME

I navigated using AllTrails, but a printable trail map is available from the 7 Lakes Alliance, which maintains the trails. A map is also inside the Maine Mountain Guide. AllTrails listed this hike as “Hard,” which relates to the distance (9.6 miles) and time, rather than the elevation. The A Trail is mostly unmarked, but provides a clear path, shared by mountain bikes. Like any mixed-used trail, it is graded relatively flat, and made to move quickly. At just under a mile, the trail crosses a logging road or ATV trail, and at about 1.3 miles, another old logging road, and passes over a moss-covered brook.

Viewpoint from A Trail, McGaffey Mountain, Rome, ME

The series of switchbacks heading up the mountain coincided with the beginning of hermit thrush songs. At about 3.3 miles, there is an open overlook looking east over Long Pond. The trail proceeds over rolling terrain, including sunlit boulders and blueberries, until reaching the summit, marked by the wooden handle of a tool protruding from a rock cairn.

Continue reading →

Reid State Park Loop

Undercover Hiker7 Comments
East Beach, Reid State Park, Georgetown, ME

Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine is at the southeast corner of the long coastal peninsula formed by the Kennebec River to the west and the Sheepscot River to the east. In 2015, Reid’s popular beaches were named #1 in New England for surfing by the Boston Globe. The fee for day use of Reid State Park, payable at the entry gate, is $6 for Maine residents, $8 for non-residents, and $2 for non-resident seniors. We visited at the tail-end of the winter season, enjoying the peace and quiet. As the parking lot at Todd’s Point was not yet open, we parked by the East Beach, and began our hike there, moving in an easy 4.8 mile clockwise loop covering Reid State Park’s best features in about two hours. The park does have a map, accessible from a link on the state park website. This map, though no doubt made available by a dedicated public servant, is terrible for hiking. First, know that the official map is upside-down, meaning north is at the bottom. Additionally, no trails are listed. Below is a screenshot of the correctly-oriented All Trails route we took, with helpful labels added by daughter.

The East Beach has a group picnic site overlooking the ocean, with a large shelter from the sun or inclement weather. Paths connect picnic sites, but to start our hike, we walked south along Griffith’s Head Road, crossing a small tidal inlet of the Sheepscot, where a red-breasted merganser rode the current foraging for food. We quickly arrived at Griffith Head, with the buildings shuttered for the winter (note: a pit toilet here was the only open winter bathroom). We walked down a stone staircase to Mile Beach, and the sun, sea air, and the sound of the waves filled the next mile of our walk along the sand.

Mile Beach from Griffith Head, Reid State Park, Georgetown, ME

The rocky promentory of Todd’s Point rises above the water, with a short climb yielding great views in all directions. Here, the bathing facilities were shuttered, as well, with the empty parking lots between Mile Beach and Half Mile Beach roped off until the summer season. We looked briefly at Half Mile Beach, then walked behind the dunes on a spur trail between the beach and the Little River, emerging with a long view towards Popham Beach.

Half Mile Beach, Reid State Park, Georgetown, ME
Continue reading →