Day Ridges Preserve, off Route One in Gouldsboro, is maintained by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy. Their site includes a trail map, as well as a paddling map, as the Preserve has access to West Bay Pond, as well as a suggested canoe route (and a canoe to borrow, if you plan ahead). Hunting is not allowed at Day Ridges. Dogs are allowed at Frenchman Bay Conservancy Preserves, off-leash if under voice control, unless otherwise posted.

The parking area is well-marked, and just off Route One, with an information kiosk. To reach the trails or the canoe launch, use the woods road. On the sunny August day that Pig the dog and I checked out the Preserve, the road was under construction. It was hot and sandy, lined with sweet fern, and birds popping out of the tree line. At a little under a quarter mile in, a marsh lined the road, and beavers had obviously been busy fortifying their watery territory.

We ended up turning around at about 3.4 of a mile, due to the heavy machinery on the road, and decided to take the wooded trails instead of going all the way to West Bay Pond. We turned off onto the white trail marked with its namesake blazes. The White Trail started with a plank walkway over moss and ferns, a much more pleasant experience than the dust-choked road in progress. After winding through winterberry, blueberry, and sweet fern, we took a left on the white trail to make a somewhat longer loop. This trail had just a slight elevation to it, a climb up hills and next to big, bruising boulders. The mixed forest was full of birds, including northern flicker, chickadee, and the unmistakable call of a hermit thrush through the mixed forest. We continued on the outer loop, taking a left onto the blue trail.

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