Trail Hiking In Maine

If you're looking for some interesting trail hiking in Maine, you've come to the right place. Here are five locations you might want to try with your stay at LEEN's Lodge:

Back to the Introduction | Weather | Natural Wonders | Maine State Parks
Places to Hike | Bird Watching | Whale Watching

1. The Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge is comprised of two units. One, at Baring just three miles north of Calais, has 16,080 acres. The other, at Edmunds between Whiting and Dennysville, is 6,665 acres in size. The Refuge offers its visitors more than 50 miles of roads and trail hiking in Maine which are closed to vehicle traffic, but open to hiking, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. The Refuge is a breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife including the bald eagle, osprey, Canada geese, and ducks. The American woodcock is studied and managed here.

   Vacationers will find a perfect retreat on the refuge's many miles of wooded roads and trails where there is a possibility of spotting deer, bear, moose, beaver and other fur bearers; and even the harbor seal may be found along the shore waters of the Edmunds Unit. A refuge mammal list includes 39 species. Trail hiking in Maine, especially at Moosehorn, can be very exciting with all of the wildlife to catch in their normal daily habits.

   Bird watchers are invited to take walks on the refuge's two units where 200 species of birds have been recorded. Fishing for brook trout, small mouthed bass and pickerel is one of the many privileges offered. A detailed refuge leaflet may be obtained at the Refuge or at the Calais Tourist Bureau.

   The Refuge is a highly glaciated expanse of rolling hills, large ledge outcrops, streams, bogs, lakes and marshes. It has a diverse forest of aspen, maple, birch, spruce and fir with scattered stands of majestic white pine. The Edmunds unit, located on the fringes of Cobscook and Whiting bays, has several miles of rocky shoreline where 24-foot tides are a daily occurrence. You can get more information by going to the Refuge headquarters Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's located on Charlotte Road.

2. A brand new 95-acre park has been established at Shackford Head in Eastport. The parking area and start of the trail is next door to the Marine Trades Center. Here you have a hilly peninsula jutting into Cobscook Bay with nearly three miles of craggy shoreline which is passable at low tide, particularly from the Brand Cove side. The main trail from the parking area to the "Viewpoint" is about a mile, and three-year-olds have made it look easy. From the Viewpoint you'll have a panorama from the "Old Friar" headland on Campobello at your left to Lubec with its church-steepled hilltop straight ahead and then a sweep of Cobscook Bay, North Lubec and a hint of Perry and Pembroke at your right.

   Shackford Head was purchased by the State of Maine in November, 1989 after being proposed by the Eastport Land Trust for public acquisition through the Land for Maine's Future Board. It is managed by the Bureau of Parks and Recreation, if you're curious. A total of 104 plant species has been found, none of which are rare or endangered. Twenty-eight bird species were found to be nesting on Shackford Head. It's a natural laboratory and an important part of Maine's coastal ecosystem.

3. To get to West Quoddy Head State Park you take the South Lubec Road to the easternmost point of the United States. Here you will find the famous red-and-white striped lighthouse, picnicking facilities, outhouses and the start of a two-mile hiking trail that follows the 90-foot high rocky cliffs to Carrying Place Cove. Grand Manan's 400-foot cliffs are right in front of you. Carrying Place Cove has some nice sandy beaches at low tide and on the northern end is a true Arctic bog with insectivorous plants.
4. The Roosevelt-Campobello International Park, reached by a bridge from Lubec to the Canadian island, has 2,800 acres of deep forest, bogs, cobblestone and sandy beaches, and walking trails that follow the edge of the ocean. One walking trail is complete with a boardwalk and information signs that describe the plants you'll encounter. Take the dirt road opposite the entrance to the Visitor's Center and Roosevelt Cottage. There are cooking grills and picnic tables overlooking million-dollar views.
5. "Beautiful trail hiking in Maine for all seasons and all weathers, the wild, windswept islands of the Great Wass archipelago are especially memorable on a still, foggy morning. At the top of the ridge of Great Wass Island the fog eddies over bare ledges through the twisted, dark forms of jack pines, touching their needles with crystal drops. Down on the shore, the mists ebb and flow, softening the pink of the granite ledges and turning the sea to a platinum blue."

   I wish I had written that, but that's the way a writer for the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy described the 1,540 acres on Great Wass Island that the Conservancy purchased back in 1978. You can get there by crossing the bridge from Jonesport to Beals Island. Go through Beals and over a causeway. Take the dirt road that's on the right to Black Duck Cove (about 1.5 miles) and you'll see the parking lot on the left.

   Two Maine hiking trails begin together at the parking lot, then diverge 100 yards into the woods. The Mud Hole trail (1.5 miles) soon follows a lovely long fjord, leading eventually to spectacular views of neighboring islands. The Little Cape Point trail (2 miles) winds through deep moss-covered spruce and fir forests. Open ledges of pink granite offer views of bogs complete with a bog "bridge" allowing visitors to walk through a rich swamp without harming its insectivorous pitcher and sundew plants. You come out on another vista of the islands and weatherworn ledges.