Soon after the cemetery, there is a parking area for the preserve on the right (west side of road). Notice Ocean Hill cemetery on your right. ![]() Go 3.5 miles south of the Round Pond Post Office (which is the same as 3 miles north of New Harbor Center). The small parking lot had several cars parked in it the hot, May day I visited.ĭirections: Take Route 32 south from Round Pond. This is a lovely piece of land, and popular. You can climb down onto them if you wish, and peer into tidal pools. The trail sits on the forest edge, above the rocks. This Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust preserve includes 3,600 feet of craggy, dramatic coastline and 2.7 miles of trails. Magnifique! A quiet mile of walking through the woods is a lead-up to a thrilling section of the Atlantic Coast. For the final hundred yards, you can begin to smell the salt and hear the crashing surf. Sights: forest, rocky headlands, Muscongus Bay.These are the perfect ending to a delightful hike through a special part of Maine. ![]() The shady way is lined with wild blueberry and cranberry, bunchberry in flower and cinnamon fern forming spikes of fruiting bodies.Īs a final surprise, a sunny forest glade hosts dozens of pink lady slipper orchids in full bloom. The trail turns away from the sea into cool tunnels beneath towering spruce and fir. These wild purple flag iris brighten the cliffs at the shore. This mother osprey watches hikers carefully from her nest in the top of a dead tree in a blow-down area. This habitat is perfect for osprey who like to nest in high, open areas near water that provides fish for their offspring. When they become too top heavy for the root systems to support, the huge trees are blown over to form tangled masses of dead trunks and branches. The spruce and fir grow on top of solid rock in a thin layer of soil. ![]() Today we walk where volcanoes once flowed.īecause this place faces out to the open ocean, there is little protection from the force of gales. The dramatic slanting of the old seafloor testifies to the massive forces involved in forming our current topography.Įons of wind, rain and surf have eroded the slate so that the many layers of the ancient seabed chip away like leaves from some giant history book. The magma cooled to form granite and basalt, embedding gigantic slabs of metamorphic stone. The geology of this area of the Maine coast reveals a time of violent continental shift with volcanism that pushed magma up through the seabed. The bridge crosses a small stream where minnows shelter in the shade. Areas of the forest are quite swampy with tiny brooks running through. Several board walks and bridges protect the fragile ecosystem and make walking the trails more pleasant. The mother bird observed hikers from the trunk of a tall tree and her babies could be heard calling for food. In this area there was a hairy woodpecker nest. The stone walls that once bordered the old pasture lines are still standing deep in the forest. The trail to the shore goes through a woods grown up from pastures that existed more than a hundred years ago. There is a nearby ferry service to that island of fishing fame. Monhegan Island is not too far away, although it is not visible. Many small islands dot the coast just off-shore. 4 The town is a commercial center for the regions farming population. 3 It contains the unincorporated villages of Hardwick, East Hardwick, and Mackville. The population was 2,920 at the 2020 census. Much of the shore in this area is rugged rock with a fairly steep drop-off to the water. Hardwick is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. This preserve is comprised of 120 acres with 3600 feet of shoreline and 2.5 miles of hiking trails. Situated on Muscongus Bay near Pemaquid, the area is filled with beautiful vistas of the ocean. ![]() To beat the heat and humidity one day in mid-June, we escaped to the coast of Maine to a gem of a spot in Bristol called La Verna Preserve.
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