The state of Maine provides a website of their trails and parks. You can select search criteria (ie difficulty or length of hike, pet friendly, etc.) and be met with a list of local parks. We could have used it to explore a new park everyday during our month stay and still not run out of easily reachable destinations; however, our first stop was under-visited and such a pleasant, short hike that the girls requested it anytime we didn’t go boating or to Acadia.
Indian Point
Indian Point Preserve is one of 55 properties maintained by the Frenchman Bay Conservatory. The Abenaki chose areas, like this one, by the water for drinking and cooking. Along with signs describing the natural flora in the forest, there are scattered signs describing the Native American dwellings, language, and folklore.
The entrance to Indian Point is tucked inside a neighborhood and our GPS led us slightly astray. The easy path from the tiny parking lot to the point and back is less than a mile and winds across small cut-log bridges through the woods.
There is only one detour to the water’s edge about a third of the way on the trail.
The point at the end looks like an outstretched thumb, surrounded by the water on three sides by Union River and Card Brook. There are two picnic tables on the point and beautiful views of sailboats and the town of Ellsworth. Across our many trips there, we only encountered others twice. Surrounded by this safe space with almost no place to run, we first took Ginny off leash.
She enjoyed frolicking through the trees, chasing and chewing pine cones, and wading through the tall grass at the water’s edge. We didn’t let her explore to her heart’s delight as the land to the water basically drops off and we couldn’t see her while we were perched at the top.
She didn’t digest tilapia well when we shared some at her “adoption day” celebration in May, so we’ve tried to be vigilant about her not eating sea creatures. She perfected her “come,” and enjoyed treats at the “doggy diner” the kids set up with the use of several nearby logs.
May warm winds of happiness
blow softly upon you.
May the trail of life
be pleasant.
And may the Great Spirit
bring sunshine to your heart.
-prayer by Silver Buffalo
Lamoine State Park
On our trips out to Lake Tunk, we saw signs for Lamoine State Park and decided to check it out one evening. John and I were super underwhelmed with the experience, but the girls loved it.
To begin, this was a state park which means we paid a $16 entrance fee. We originally thought this park might give us ocean access for our boat, but quickly learned that this area is frequented by motorized boats and wouldn’t be a good fit for our inflatable craft.
We drove in, passing a wide open field and a playground. Riley waxed poetically about how excited she will be to discover all the playgrounds when the pandemic ends. There is a parking lot facing the ocean with a small sandy beach and a boat ramp. We first drove past, but the only other building was a large ranger station/maintenance barn.
There were trees with tiny apples lining the grassy section of the park and a few picnic tables overlooking the beach. We decided to walk along the beach before John and I settled at a table while the kids made discoveries.
John found the first jellyfish, a large gelatinous blob and we were initially unsure if it was a jellyfish or some weird garbage-remnant that had washed ashore. It didn’t have any legs and we couldn’t see the tentacle suctions under its belly. After a few moments, we realized the sand was covered with at least a dozen jellyfish in this small strip of beach.
The kids also found tiny crabs, bringing them up to the picnic table to crawl sideways across the table. There were also larger crabs, and one larger crab who was missing one of his pinchers chased after one of the small crabs.
They both marveled over finding extra shells and Kaeli explained to us how they molt into larger shells. Her prized find was a sea star that kept one of its points bent slightly.
It was playing dead, but we could tell it was alive because it adhered to Kaeli’s hand, then the bucket, before she returned it to the ocean. We stayed for approximately an hour, then returned to our traveling home.
