The Oak Point Trail is a 2.8 mile out-and-back trail at Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Milford, Maine, a town on the Penobscot just north of Bangor. Sunkhaze NWR is a 11,485 acre refuge that protects the Sunkhaze Meadows peat bog, as well as a large concentration of migratory birds. I navigated using the AllTrails app, but the best description and map are hosted by the Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows. Oak Point Trail is in the middle of the three trails on the south side of the NWR, next to Johnson Brook and Carter Meadow Trails, and directly across from The Nature Conservancy’s Bradley-Sunkhaze Preserve. As with all these trails at Sunkhaze NWR, they can be oppressively buggy and wet in late spring and early summer. I enjoyed the brisk, bug-free chill of mid-September. Dogs are allowed, but must be leashed at all times. Hunting is allowed, so wear blaze orange during hunting seasons.

There’s a clearing between the trail and County Road that does not appear designed for parking. It’s better to park in the lot across County Road by Birch Stream. Small side trails to the right shortly after the hike’s beginning the hike have views from the banks of slow-moving Birch Stream. The surrounding forest rang with the morning calls of many large, loud jays. This trail is grassy and a bit overgrown, but easy to walk and to navigate. The light behind the forest to the right (east) slowly begins to open up to the large open marshy meadow behind it.

The marsh itself is visible through short spur trails to the right close to the end of the trail, and then at the end of the trail. I could see small songbirds hiding in the bushes surrounding the marsh, with many jays calling again. The tracks and flattened and trampled grass left behind by deer and moose were passive evidence of the recent presence of these larger animals. At the trail’s end there were more limited views, but several yellow-rumped warblers, hovering and moving around, waiting impatiently for me to leave. The easy, flat path was about an hour.