Hiking Maine | An Especially Lovely Hike on the Presumpscot River Trail

Slow, lazy Sunday mornings that gradually lead into more active adventure later in the day are the routine in my house. So on a past Sunday morning, still in pajamas and streaming episodes of the Gilmore Girls, I was content knowing I’d get more active later in the day. But, when the living room suddenly darkened as thunder showers passed through, it made the hike we had planned for later that day more tentative, and the chances of me staying rooted to the recliner more likely.

Fortunately for my health, the storm, while intense, was brief and followed by brighter skies signaling the return of our outdoor plans. Once things cleared, we headed out to the Presumpscot River Trail, which is part of the Portland Trails network.

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Hiking Maine | Fore River Sanctuary & Jewell Falls

Who does’t like to see a good waterfall? We’d heard rumblings of a waterfall in Portland, and as the summer heat continued to blaze, we headed to the Fore River Sanctuary in search of falling water. We prepped a little better for this hike bringing actual sunscreen and water so we were ready to enter this little oasis surrounded by city.

The entrance to this trail is located at the end of Rowe Avenue and easy to find. After a short walk from the parking area, on a path that runs parallel to railroad tracks, we hit the main part of the trail and turned left towards the falls. It was an easy walk with a few small hills, although nothing too steep.  The roots of the trees that flank the path create a random, uneven obstacle course and do require that you gaze down at regular intervals so as to not trip. It’s nothing too difficult just something to keep in mind.

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Hiking Maine | Going Urban (Sort Of) on the Eastern Promenade

Having recently returned from two weeks soaking in amazing green countryside during our Irish Adventure, we decided to go urban for our first hike back in Maine, so we headed into Portland and the Eastern Promenade. While this trail is located in the city, there are still plenty of opportunities to interact with and enjoy nature on this path.

This is a well utilized trail and one I’ve hiked previously, but it had been a while so it was nice to see it again with new eyes. A lack of planning also known as not bringing our sunscreen, as well as other commitments later that day, meant we had to do a more abridged hike so we weren’t able to enjoy the full trail. We really need to pack a “go bag” with hiking supplies at the ready. We seem to end up unprepared a lot! Even though we didn’t do the entire trail, we did get enough of a taste to remember why it is so popular.

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A Fairy Tale Hike at Donnabeth Lippman Park in Windham

On a hectic weekend with little time to spare, we still managed to sneak out for a few hours to get in a quick hike. Hike may be overstating the exertion needed for the terrain on this particular trail. It was really more of a beautiful walk but, given our time constraints, was the perfect destination for this particular Saturday outing.

We had driven by the entrance to the park many times. It is marked by a large, rectangular granite sign etched in black lettering, announcing the entrance to the Donnabeth Lippman Park. But, this was our first time turning down to discover what was at the other end. Given how busy things were this particular weekend, we had not done any research ahead of time so had no expectations on what the trails would be like.

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Hiking Swan Island for Father’s Day

Free is a happy word. I’m always up for finding a bargain so I was excited to learn that Maine Resident’s Day, offering free admission at many Maine State Parks and Historic Sites, was scheduled for Father’s Day. We decided to take advantage of the free admission and try a new destination. While Swan Island is generally excluded from the free admission, I noticed on their website that they too were offering free access on Father’s Day. Admission is normally $8 per person, but on this sunny Father’s Day it was discounted 100%.

In planning our hike, I learned that for this particular trip, apostrophes are important because there are actually two destinations where you could end up if you google Swan Island and they’re located fairly far from one another.

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