“Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” – John Muir

“Hiking is the answer. Who cares what the question is?” – Unknown

I don’t know what my problem was. 

Back in the day, when I heard people talking about long hiking trips through the wilderness, I rolled my eyes. I imagined these poor souls hauling 100 pounds of equipment along barely-there back roads just to get to the trailhead. 

I imagined wet feet and heavy packs. I imagined sweat and strain and steep climbs over ragged rocks. I envisioned all-day laboring through the wilderness only having to turn around and come back out once the destination was reached. 

Go figure. These days, those elements are among the things I absolutely love about hiking. 

A year or so ago, I caught the hiking bug during a trip to the White Mountains. All it took was three or four steps onto an easily accessed trail and I was hooked. 

All the way hooked. I went out and bought a backpack for long hiking, a backpack for day hikes and backpack that I didn’t really need but I bought anyway because, can you really ever have too many backpacks? 

I bought the boots, the water filters, the tear-off hiking pants and about 100 other things I may not ever need but wanted, anyway. 

During the summer, fall and winter of 2024, I was in the woods every chance I got, either in hiking boots, spikes or snowshoes. My favorite spot in Maine so far is a toss-up between Table Rock in Grafton Notch or the White Cairn to Stone House Trail which hits 1,187 feet of elevation gain near Stow. 

But then, I’m really only just getting started. That list is likely to be revised every week for the duration of summer. 

I have giddy visions of hiking the 100-mile wilderness in northern Maine and I’m presently at work looking for a hiking partner to take on the Bigelow Preserve up Stratton way. 

In the meantime, there are the local hiking spots. So, so many local hiking spots. Because in spite of my earlier misconceptions about forbidden trailheads, there are dozens — nay, hundreds — of great hiking spots pretty much everywhere you turn and you can drive right to them. 

My wife, who has considerable hiking experience from her younger days, started bringing me to various trails, some of them barely 15 minutes from my own driveway. Most of these great hiking spots are managed by one land trust or another, and they definitely want you out there hiking. 

“We have a lot of really great trails,” says Baylee Bachelder, outreach and office manager for Kennebec Land Trust, which manages at least four dozen different properties around the state. “This time of year it’s especially important to get out and enjoy the warmer weather. It’s easy to hibernate in the winter months and cold temps. With the sun finally shining and buds starting to come out, it’s a great time to get out and take a big breath of fresh spring air. It helps get rid of those winter blues.” 

Jeri Maurer is president of the board of directors for the Stanton Bird Club, which manages the Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary in Lewiston and the 400-acre Woodbury Sanctuary near the Litchfield-Monmouth line. 

According to Maurer, more people than ever are taking to the woods. Not all of them are about long hikes or arduous climbs. For some, it’s just getting out into nature, which seems to offer curative powers for a variety of woes. 

“Five years ago this time of year, we realized that Thorncrag in particular and also Woodbury became a place of refuge for folks,” Maurer says. “The first warm spring day when everyone was being told to stay 6 feet away from each other, people flocked to Thorncrag to walk the trails, maintaining the 6-foot rule. A goodly number even set up lawn chairs in the parking lot just to be able to sit outside far enough away from others not to feel threatened. 

“Throughout the first two years of the pandemic,” she says, “I kept hearing from colleagues from both hospitals, doctors and nurses who went to both Woodbury and Thorncrag to get away from the nightmare of their experiences at the hospitals as they witnessed people dying and not being able to have their loved ones with them. Woodbury is a gem in that it has a more rural feeling, and of course it has a very lovely 20+ acre pond.  Many told me that they went out there and just sat, without anyone around, and were able to weep when they needed to without feeling judged.”

 JUST DOWN THE ROAD A SNEEZE 

Now, I’ve only been hiking for a year, so there’s no reason you should put much stock in my assessment of trails and such. But I’m going to list my favorite local trails, anyway, and bear in mind, this is a very, VERY small sampling. 

This is just a few spots you can get to with a half-hour drive or less, if you’re coming from the Lewiston-Auburn area. And mind you, you can find all the information you’ll ever need about these locations through a website like AllTrails, which I swear, tracks every beaten path in the land. 

Don’t forget your microspikes, rube. There’s still some ice out there. 

Mount Pisgah Tower and Ledges Trail, Winthrop 

Here’s one from the Kennebec Land Trust described as a 3.3-mile loop trail with 541 feet of elevation gain. It’s one of the first trails I took on, once I decided that hiking wasn’t so bad after all, and I’ve been back a few times, in all seasons.  

One can do the entire loop or head straight to the fire tower at the top of the mountain. Hiking to that spot is a fairly quick and easy deal and up there you will find little kids, old ladies and everyone in between climbing to the top of that tower. 

What you won’t find on the tower’s upper level is me. No matter how many times I’ve visited the spot, I just couldn’t bring myself to climb the tower all the way to the top, even though it’s perfectly safe and not even that hairy. I have my reasons.

Pisgah is one of those spots where a person can totally customize their hike. My wife and I tend to hit the tower first and then take a different trail back in order to see the cool ledges deep in the woods. We’ve come back in the dark a few times, but it’s the kind of trail that can easily be managed with a headlamp.

According to Bachelder, Pisgah is one of the most popular spots in the KLT’s property list.

Pismire Bluff, Raymond Community Forest, near West Poland 

It’s just a 1.5-mile out-and-back trail with 452 feet of elevation, but man, is that short climb rewarding. When you get to the eponymous bluff, the views that unfold before you are intense. Pismire is the first hike I made with my new Skysper Bogda hiking pack, so I was a little disappointed when we weren’t stranded on that little mountain for the night so I could try out all my gear. 

If you move right along, this hike should take you about an hour to complete. It took me longer, because, being new to hiking, I had to stop and point out something every 10 feet. “Hey! Look at that cool root! Whoa! Does that rock look like Edgar Allan Poe to you?” 

And so on. 

Packard Trail in the Virgil Parris Forest, Sodom Road, Buckfield 

To me, Buckfield is the town that just keeps on giving. I’ve been riding my off-road motorcycle on the old railroad lines out there for 15 years now. I had no idea that just across South Pond was a whole network of trails that are just awesome if you’re looking to go on two feet instead of two wheels. 

The loop is just two miles long but there are side trails all over the place if you’re looking to hike for longer. There are also cool waterfalls, some crazy rock formations and pretty incredible views of South Pond from several different viewpoints. 

“The route is punctuated by innumerable scenic features including views of the pond, several marshes, and North Hill,” is how AllTrails describes it, “as well as a dozen or so significant ‘glacial erratics,’ and small waterfalls along two prominent streams.” 

Cornwall Nature Preserve, along Paris Hill Road in South Paris 

Now, here is another one where you can go easy or take a few turns and go more strenuously. It’s a cool trail, with weird little fairy villages set up here and there by imaginative hikers. There are some rolling streams to cross and just enough elevation to get your heart thumping, if you’re into that sort of thing. 

For an easy 2.7-mile loop trail, there’s actually quite a lot to see at Cornwall. That’s because, like so many of these spots, it used to be populated. 

“The Cornwall Nature Preserve is a 147-acre historic farmstead that once held barns, orchards, fields, and an ice house and pond,” according to the online group Maine Trail Finder. “Now, the heavily forested property contains 3 miles of meandering trails and is home to, among many other species, deer, coyotes, foxes, hares, old-growth pines and several varieties of fern. 

“The preserve is an excellent spot to explore the woods with the whole family. However, there are numerous steep pitches, some brook crossings and sections with roots and rocks which pose a moderate tripping hazard interspersed throughout the preserve.” 

Pisgah Hill Loop Trail, New Gloucester, near the Pownal line 

Now here is just a dinky 1.3-mile loop with a mere 249 feet of elevation gain, and yet it’s listed as a moderate hike instead of an easy one by Maine Trail Finder. 

Not to mention, you’ll find alligators at the top of the mountain. 

No, really, there are alligators, made of granite and pretty fearsome looking if you’re not expecting them. There’s a whole bunch to look at on that short loop, making this one a great choice if you don’t have a lot of time but you want to get out and feel like Grizzly Adams for an hour. 

Me, I tend to do this one twice: once clockwise, once the other way. And the second time around, I always see stuff that I missed the first time I came by. 

“The Pisgah Hill summit and its ridgeline provide scenic views, small old quarries, mixed forests, and beautiful ground cover of lichen and mosses,” according to Maine Trail Finder. “The preserve provides habitat for raptors, songbirds, upland game birds, waterfowl, moose, deer, black bear, coyotes, snowshoe hare, fox, weasels, beavers, porcupine, other small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. 

Gott Pasture Preserve Trail Loop, North Monmouth 

Here’s another one from the Kennebec Land Trust, this one in North Monmouth. It’s just a 1.3-mile loop with practically nothing for elevation, although some areas are pretty steep.  

This is another spot that used to be farmland, so everywhere you turn, you’ll find a rock wall or some other relic from another time. 

“This 75-acre wooded parcel on Wilson Pond includes three vernal pools and over 1,100 feet of undeveloped shoreline,” according to the KLT website. “This land was farmed in the 19th century, and then was a wooded pasture and woodlot.” 

Because it’s considered a delicate wildlife habitat, no dogs are allowed on this hike. 

Monument Hill Trail, Leeds

Not even a mile long, this one. You could bang it out on your lunch hour. The trail features a 187-foot hill, and at the top you’ll find a Civil War moment standing tall and looking down on a great view that includes the White Mountains on a clear day. This is a great little hike if you’re just looking to get a small fix or trying out some new gear. The last time I did this one, it was near zero degrees outside with an antagonistic wind blowing. There are a few little side trails for those who want to take a little bit longer getting up and down.

ROME (AND PHIPPSBURG) IF YOU WANT TO 

I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t include the hikes of Rome in this list, as well as a few favorites outside of western and central Maine. 

And I’m talking Rome, Maine, where there are so many good hikes with incredible views of that famous chain of the Belgrade lakes, you could spend days finding them all. And have a blast doing it. 

There’s Round Top Trail, a 4.6-mile loop with nearly 1,000 feet of elevation. This one is considered a moderate hike and there are incredible views along the way. There are also some curiosities along the trail, including a giant rock that looks like it’s smiling at you. Every now and then, some will stuff a log in that crack so it looks like the rock is smoking a stogie, too. 

Good times. 

There’s French’s Mountain, where the trailhead is just down the road a stone’s toss from Round Top. French’s is short at less than a mile, but the view of the lakes alone is worth the trip. Only 183 feet of elevation, but parts of it feel quite steep nonetheless. 

Then there’s my favorite (so far) of the Rome hikes, the Mount Phillip Loop Trail. It’s just a mile and a half, this one, so it’s a good one to do two or three times before you head back to your car. There’s only 334 feet of elevation, but again, parts of it feel steep, and when you get to the top, the views of the Kennebec Highlands and Great Pond are mind blowing. Picture perfect. 

In one section of the Mount Phillip Loop Trail, a little rope railing is in place that you can use to help pull yourself along a steep section. There’s nothing scary about it, but that rope makes you feel like you’re scaling a true mountain for a few minutes, so there’s that. 

There are several other trails in Rome that people rave about, including Sanders Hill and a place so awesome it’s known only as The Mountain, accessible through Quill Hill. The Mountain is a 3.5-mile out-and-back trail with 403 feet of elevation and one of my very next stops.

Meanwhile, about an hour south of Rome on the Maine coast, who knew there was more to Phippsburg than Popham Beach?

Phippsburg and Bath, too, have become good sources of hiking trails that I never would have guessed were there. Hermit’s Island alone offers some of the greatest oceanfront hiking you’ll every find in this part of the world. 

The Hermit’s Island Loop, available to hikers only in the off season, when it’s not populated by summertime campers, is a 4-mile loop that weaves in and out of the forest and leaves you with the ocean literally at your feet at several points. 

It’s not a particularly hard hike, but it’s not altogether easy, either. 

“This trail is very steep in several areas without railings,” according to AllTrails, “and has uneven and unstable surfaces. The trail passes through the woods and to some secluded coves.” 

Just down the road is the Morse Mountain to Seawall Beach trail where you’ll hike 4 miles and climb 500 feet to get to a very secluded beach. 

A short distance from that unique hike are a bunch of trails that you’ve probably passed a thousand times on your trips to Popham. 

The Bijhouwer Forest Preserve is a little 1.5-mile loop off the Devil’s Highway in Phippsburg that features a pretty awesome waterfall, some cool rock formations and a granite wall towering 100 feet high that will make you dizzy to look at. 

Not far away is the Sprague Pond Loop Trail that offers 4.4 miles of moderately challenging hiking and just short of 500 feet of elevation. The day after my wife and I hiked this one, another hiker reported running into a bear cub along the trail. 

Right down the road, just over the line into Bath, is the Marsh View Trail Loop in the Lilly Pond Community Forest. This one is just 1.5 miles and there’s not much by way of elevation, but the marsh view by itself is worth the journey.  

That’s my list and it’s pretty wee when you think of the sheer number of hiking spots across the state. Of course, if you really want to keep on top of your hiking game, all you need to do is hang out at the Maine Hiking Facebook page and you’ll get dozens of new ideas every day as hikers all over the state share their experiences.

Me, I’ve already come up with dozens of new spots to check out through the Facebook group. And when you consider all the hiking that’s still to be done this summer, I think one thing is clear.

I’m going to need a few more backpacks.