With over three miles of trails, 365 acres, and a variety of habitats, Burkett Mill Preserve in Waldoboro offers a wide range of natural diversity to enjoy.  Our hike with Maine Master Naturalist Susan Cottle will be able to cover only a portion of the lovely woods, rock outcroppings, babbling brook, and other natural features.  But with some autumn color tossed in with the silvery granite ledges, green mosses and pines, and more, it will be a lovely walk.  And there will be even more to come back to enjoy on another day.  We will meet at the parking area and trailhead off of Burkett Mill Road, which diverges from Goshen Road in Waldoboro. 

Directions: From Waldoboro village:  Head north on Main Street, and bear right onto Old Route One. In 2.6 miles, turn right onto Goshen Road. Stay on Goshen Rd. for 1.8 miles, then go straight onto the unpaved Burkett Mill Rd where Goshen curves sharply left. Parking for the preserve is located on the left about .3 miles down the road.

This is the last of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters scheduled for this year.

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

In 2023, Friends of Haystack Mountain successfully purchased Haystack Mountain in Liberty with outstanding donor support to keep Haystack open to the public. Come see why so many people have joined together to save this special place with its wooded south side, blueberry covered north side, and its panoramic views from the top for miles around.  We’ll go up the short but moderately steep, 1.1-mile footpath that forms a loop and winds through a mixed northern hardwoods forest that includes oak, pine, maple, birch and hemlock. Near the top a short spur trail takes hikers to the open summit. Haystack is the only vantage point for miles around that offers such expansive and unobstructed views via a trail maintained by Midcoast Conservancy allowing public access.

Directions: From Rte 3 between South China and Belfast, take Rt. 220 south for 0.8 miles. Turn left at the sign for the Vena M. Roberts Memorial Ball Field. Park in the dirt parking lot behind Walker Health Center in Liberty, right next to the Ball Field. The group will meet in the parking lot and then walk around the ball field to the trailhead.

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

Join us for a morning “above it all” on Clarry Hill, from which you can see for miles around you–the far-off reaches of Muscongus Bay to the south, the back side of the Camden Hills to the east, and a ridge of working blueberry landscapes to the north.  With both a naturalist and an avid birder familiar with the site to help us appreciate the landscape and the avian fall migration—particularly of raptors taking advantage of the rising thermals of the hills– we hope to enjoy not only the autumn scarlet of the surrounding blueberry fields at our feet but some migrating hawks and others over our heads.  Please join us at this special place where wildlife, agriculture, recreation, and Maine’s natural splendor are all supported. 

This is one of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters scheduled for this year.

Directions: From Route 1, take Route 235 5.2 miles and turn left onto Clarry Hill Road.  After 1 mile, bear left to stay on Clarry Hill Road.  After .5 mile, turn right to stay on Clarry Hill Road.  In .8 mile, turn left onto Elmer Hart Road.  Follow the stone road until you see the trail head sign on the left.

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

The Marsh River Preserve protects 5,500 feet of frontage along the Marsh River and offers a mile of woodland trail with beautiful views of the river and salt water marsh. Such marshes are important systems for filtering water, controlling flooding, capturing carbon, and providing habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife. What will we see on an early autumn walk? Come join a Maine Master Naturalist for a leisurely walk to find out. We’ll be meeting at the trailhead, located in a cul-de-sac at the end of Eagle Point Road.

This is one of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters, which will continue through October.    

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

The Whitefield Salmon Preserve is located where the Sheepscot River and its west branch come together.  This preserve, along with protected property on the west side of the West Branch and to the north of Howe Road, supports over 4,000 feet of prime Atlantic salmon rearing and spawning habitat.  We’ll be walking along a beautiful wooded trail right next to the West Branch with Maine Master Naturalists Mary Ellen Dennis and Susan Cottle to learn about the water, its quality, and how important that quality is to so much life that depends on it.  We’ll be meeting at the parking area at the trailhead on the North Howe Road, which is reachable only from Routes 17 and 32 (the old bridge connecting South and North Howe Road is long gone). 

This is one of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters, which will continue through October.    

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

CANCELLED! Fierce weather is promising to make this a less-than-fun outing.

Riverbrook Preserve has over a mile of fresh water frontage on the Medomak River, over 3 miles of trails, and covers over 350 acres.  In addition to lovely woods to walk through and pretty river frontage to enjoy, there are also 40 acres of fields. 

In addition to our usual Maine Master Naturalist accompanying the group, biologist and ecologist Chris Schorn will be joining us to help us learn about what we see, with some time to focus on wildflowers appearing in August.  We’ll be meeting at the parking area at the trailhead on Route 220.

This is one of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters, which will continue through October.    

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

With over 1,250 acres protected by Midcoast Conservancy and with the generous landowners providing access to cross their properties, there’s an extensive network of trails to explore at this preserve.  There’s also a variety of habitats, from mature forest to a hemlock-lined ravine to nearby farms, and more.  The Hills to Sea Trail also connects with and travels through part of the preserve. 

On this hike, we’ll be taking in a good part of the Bog Brook trail, perhaps getting a view of not only a lovely brook and quiet woods, but a view of a marsh as well.  Buck O’Herin, who has long had leadership roles both at Midcoast and with the Hills to Sea Trail, will be joining us to share his knowledge of the trails. 

We’ll be meeting at the trailhead for the Bog Brook Trail on Halldale Road; parking will be along the road near the start of the trail.      

This is one of our 2024 Wednesday Wanders and Saturday Saunters, which will continue through October.    

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

Take a walk through a quiet wood to your own secret pond—or what can feel like one! Then enjoy a break sitting on a granite bolder, look out, and remember how peaceful it feels to sit beside quiet water listening to birds, watching a chipmunk scamper around, or just enjoying the lichen and moss and other living things around you. Peter’s Pond will be the destination of this Saturday Saunter, where we are guaranteed to walk up and down over varying forest floor, seeing a variety of trees and small plants, and—if the tide allows, a bit of salt marsh as well.

We will meet at the trailhead/parking lot on Dutch Neck Road.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.

One of the major tributaries to Damariscotta Lake, the West Branch of Davis Stream has about 1.5 miles of its path protected within the 450+ acres of West Branch Preserve. With close to seven miles of trails and a variety of habitats, there’s a lot to see, from the stream itself to open meadow to varying types and ages of forest. Participants’ interests are likely to determine which trail(s) we take for our wandering.

We will meet at the trailhead/parking area on North Mountain Road. Please note that while the parking area is a little small, parking along the side of the road nearby is regularly done without concern, given how quiet the road is.

While there is no age limit for this program, children under 18 should be accompanies by an adult.

This is a free event, registration is encouraged but walk-ins are also welcome.

View the full Wednesday Wanders & Saturday Saunters Schedule.