Wonderful hiking trail to the top of a mountain in Rome. Good amount of parking with a large sign…read morewith plenty of info on the trail, mountain, and area. The trails are well marked in most spots (went off in one spot but quickly realized our mistake). While the view isn't panoramic it is quite a nice view of Belgrade lakes. The mountain will gain you about 350 feet in elevation and will take you about 45 minutes to do the loop. There were some spots on the trail where you needed to maneuver through uneven rocks and spots where the climb got a bit tough, but nothing too hard. I brought a 9 year old and he had a blast. I could see much younger kids pulling this off with no issues.

Great spot for hiking especially with your furry best friend. Not really any spots for viewing but…read morestill a good hike.

I feel the need to preface all of my nature reviews with this: being 90% forested and having around…read more3500 miles of coastline, Maine (and NH) has a tremendous amount of spaces, walkways, paths, and trails of all kinds and of all levels. There's something for everyone. What I'm reviewing is how a spot compares to similar outdoor spots in my personal opinion. Being in nature - and remembering to carry in, carry out - is always five stars! :) Parking? No. Loop trail? Sort of. Well marked signs? Sort of. Element of surprise? Not really. This is definitely a tough spot to find; there's no parking, so be sure to very carefully pull as far off as you can from the road (it's not a busy road, but still #healthandsafety). This is about 1.5 to 2 miles - relatively easy to moderate (just because there is initially a bit of a steep slope, then some twisty and rooty bits of the trail), starting with a long walk through the woods pass some fields, over some brooks - with extremely well maintained wooden bridges! - and eventually alongside the Kennebec River (if you wish to walk that far down). There's also a short spur up to a place called Mount Tom which features the old remains of a chimney and fireplace, as well as a stone bench that overlooks the water in the distance (probably much easier to see before spring/summer)! I think if you love birdwatching AND wildflowers, you'll see (and feel) the magic of this spot. We came when the wild ginger (Asarum canadense) was in bloom -- apparently this species is rare for this far up the East Coast. They were beautiful! The whole walk was a lovely homage to spring, what with the crops of fiddleheads and the constant birdsong! BEWARE OF TICKS.

Easy walk on the Hoyt/Main (1.2 miles total) trail marked in Blue. It takes about 35 to 45 minute…read morewalk to the coastline with gentle rises and falls over uneven terrain caused by exposed roots. A couple of rock walls to climb over. Lovely well maintained boardwalks cross 2 streams and a muddy section. The Elliot (0.8 miles) and Tibbitts (0.7 miles) Trails add additional lobes to the walk with additional viewpoints. Do mind the privacy of the house at the beginning of the trail. Limited parking across the road from the trailhead for about 15 cars maximum which is easily exceeded on holiday weekends with good weather. Beware of rogue waves on the slippery rocks--the coastline is notorious for being merciless to those who fall in.

Best trail ever.... The ocean views are totally amazing. This is our favorite…read more Easy hiking and so surprising when you come to the ocean.

Spectacular view of Penobscot Bay, the surrounding islands, and the Town of Camden. Well…read moremaintained and clean park, we walked a few of the trails on our visit today. $6 per person for non residents of Maine. That pretty much says it all, a short review, but this is a "must visit" if you are in the area.

I always try to visit a park when I'm traveling. Camden Hills State Park is a must see while…read morevisiting Maine. There is a small $6 fee for entry. You can camp, walk, bike or drive the park. The park guides are very helpful. We went straight to Mt Battie Rd for a beautiful scenic view of Camden Harbor. Penobscot Bay and Megunticook Lake. The views are out of the world! We spent 2 days going in and out of the park to see daytime versus sunset across the bay. We actually had a small picnic while visiting. This was a very calm relaxing experience. I highly recommend especially if you like wandering and hiking in parks. There is two sides to park, so dont forget to drive across the street.

Rustic trail. Convenient for a quick walk in the woods. Lots of wildlife and wildflowers in bloom…read more Update: beautiful in the fall. The trail is well maintained with some improvements planned. The fall leave just made it beautiful. Spotted few birds.

Great place for a nice walk and a bit of a workout. There are a couple of sections on the property…read more The Yellow trail is a nice little loop trail that crosses a brook. Have seen Deer here and there are Osprey Nests on the powerlines you can see four of them actually stand on the highest part of the trail the goes under the powerline section. The section that goes uphill from the parking are is a good little workout and near that trails highest section is a nice little vernal pool and on the far end there is a little view from a lookout bench. Some very large trees here and lots of birds. I have seen Coyote here too.

Beautiful and easy hike to go on alone or with friends/family. The scenery is nice and the trail is…read moreeasy.

As a family this was our first time at Vaughan woods and we will be back many times. It's a short…read morewalk/ hike through the woods and the waterfalls and bridges as well as the different kinds of trees make this a beautiful walk in any season. The trails are not marked well and to which trail your on but the path is easy to see. Come and check this out if your in the Augusta area.

This was a backup hike when we realized Camden Hills State Park didn't open until 9am and I wanted…read moreto get an early start. I was in no way disappointed with the hike I got. Bonus, no day use fee here. There is a decent size parking lot and a (mostly) well marked trail. We lost the trail at a couple points - I think mostly due to the amount of leaves and pine needles covering the trail, but we were able to pick it back up eventually. Most of the trail is marked with blue paint on the trees. Well shaded for most of the trail with gorgeous views. Make sure you have footwear with decent grip. Everything was pretty dry even after two days of rain before. It's a quick out and back with a decent elevation gain. On a Tuesday am we saw about 4 other groups on the trail - most with dogs. I am going to assume it might get busy on a weekend but it was a lovely peaceful sunny morning.

I feel the need to preface all of my nature reviews with this: being 90% forested and having around…read more3,500 miles of coastline, Maine has a tremendous amount of spaces, walkways, paths, and trails of all kinds and of all levels. There's something for everyone. What I'm reviewing is how a spot compares to similar outdoor spots in my personal opinion. Being in nature - and remembering to carry in, carry out - is always five stars! :) Parking? Yes. Loop trail? No. Well marked signs? No. Element of surprise? Yes. What an unexpected gem this was! From the placard at the top of the mountain: "at 1,280 feet, Bald Mountain is the fifth highest peak on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Given the number of its unusual ecological features, Bald Mountain has been designated as a focus area of statewide significance by the Maine Natural Areas Program... the mountain is home to a variety of threatened subalpine plan and lichen species uniquely adapted to extremes of temperature, wind, and precipitation that define these exposed mountain ledges. Given the exposure, shallow soils, and challenge of growing in bedrock cracks, the summits plants are also very sensitive to food traffic. We hope that you will help us care fo the mountain and it's wildlife." Stewardship of Bald Mountain includes: 1. Walk on the established managed trail. 2. Stay on bedrock to avoid vegetation. 3. Do not create or add to cairns (gathering stones on the summit disturbs shallow soil and plants to live around them). The exposed granite ledges are much wider and spacious than I thought they'd be - there's really so much to explore (respectfully) here! Come on a sunny, wind-free day and it's a warm, lovely place to sit and have a picnic. From the top you can see directly across to Little Ragged Mountain and Penobscot Bay, and Camden. It's a quick uphill at 1.2ish miles and there's a few sections with rock scrambles, and due to the thick forest the blazes and trail seem sporadic at times. I met a couple from Vermont at the top and we all agreed it was a little confusing at times (we couldn't entirely figure out where the blue blazes stopped/started at the top for example) - as were the multiple false summits, but honestly that's a positive here, because every time you think "well the view can't get better than this" you hike a bit more - and it does! Absolutely will come back again (especially in the summer when the blueberries are ripe)!

Mount Apatite is unlike many other networks of trails as it offers some really interesting…read moreabandoned quarries. These mining areas used to be rich in apatite and tourmaline, but mostly are abundant in quartz and mica now. You will for sure see families chipping away at boulders and panning in the water for gems and even gold. There was an area where you could crawl into the ground/under the enormous boulders and see a car-sized quartz amidst tree roots. Very, very cool. As was the beach-like/snow-like slag piles and the opportunity to get pretty high on the quarry ledges. I do a lot of hiking/nature walks/trail exploration and my biggest frustration with Mount Apatite is the underwhelming amount of signage. For example, there's no kiosk with a trail map; this wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the trails were properly marked, but they're not and there's only two: blue and red. The blue trail is 99% marked; the red trail is 99% not marked. Despite being seasoned, we still somehow ended up in people's backyards more than once. Just some "Private Property" signs on those dead end trails, or even some wooden signs pointing to the quarries or height of land would be appreciated. Also - the abundance of trash was pretty off-putting. CARRY IN, CARRY OUT. The amount of plastic bottles, Dunkin cups, and food wrappers was astounding. All in all, I probably wouldn't explore this particular spot again, but definitely love that such an expansive, unique spot exists in Auburn.

Need an adventure that not only takes you past military vehicles, hikes you up a small mountain,…read morebut also gives you a mining experience?? This is the place! With a short walk straight up the main trail you will find numerous dig spots that hold numerous types of rocks including Apatite, Tourmaline, and Quartz. Some of the quarries have filled with water and are speckled with frogs and other creatures. This became a fascination to my friend's son who I had with me as the frogs were in their froglet stage. He spent time counting and recounting how many he could see (we got up to 40), skipping rocks, and walking around the edge to explore. We hit up several dig spots, each one of them was cooler than the previous according to my buddy. There was many "Whoa, Miss Mary, check this one out". We brought garden tools to chip away and dig up our treasures. Our last spot we hit also had a nice view of the Auburn area. On the way down we explored one of the many side trails that many mountain bikers use. I guess I see a reason to coming back soon!

I feel the need to preface all of my nature reviews with this: being 90% forested and having around…read more3500 miles of coastline, Maine has a tremendous amount of spaces, walkways, paths, and trails of all kinds and of all levels. There's something for everyone. What I'm reviewing is how a spot compares to similar outdoor spots in my personal opinion. Being in nature - and remembering to carry in, carry out - is always five stars! :) Parking? Sort of. Loop trail? Yes. Well marked signs? Yes. Element of surprise? Yes. What. A. Find. Whenever I'm journeying around Maine (checking out state parks or Atlas Obscura recommended spots), I try and also find a few trails or hiking spots to check out (because the state is huge, and when I'm in an area I'm not usually in, I want to discover spots I wouldn't otherwise!). Reynolds Forest was the best part of my day! In fact, one of the most standout spots I've been to in a while! According to the Kennebec Land Trust website (https://www.tklt.org/reynolds), "This 35 acre parcel provides visitors excellent birding opportunities, interesting wildflowers and floodplain species, and views of the powerful brook (now called Goff Brook), with its foaming water roaring over exposed rocks into stone-lined pools. Part of the conservation property not visible from the trail has seen an increase in invasive Japanese knotweed and non-native bush honeysuckle, and has served as a field research site for Colby College students studying invasive plant control methods." There's some parking off the shoulder of the main road, and the walk into the woods alongside Goff Brook is lovely. It's not long before you can suddenly hear the roaring of the (small, but mighty) waterfalls (which was once used for saw and grist mills. We made sure to come after a couple days of rain and it was worth it! We gently navigated out to some exposed rocks and sat in the sun, near the falls, surrounded by tall trees for a long time. Perfect spot for a picnic (and... I think we also spotted some foragers too). There's also a small Old Farm Loop Trail that passes by fields and an old foundation a little further beyond the Streamside Trail. BEWARE OF TICKS. BEWARE OF POISON IVY. WEAR APPROPRIATE SHOES.