Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary offers a pretty rockin' hike up Borestone Mountain and a small Nature Center chock full of outdoor education - from animal ID to insect life cycles, rocks and leaves and skulls and a selection of scat common to the area.
You don't HAVE to take a 50-minute ferry ride to Monhegan Island to enjoy a day of spectacular hiking along high cliffs and rocky coastline followed by a cold beer in the sunshine at a local brewery.
But it'd be a lot cooler if you did.
You don't have to start every morning wandering the expansive beach at low tide scouting for sand dollars and marveling at the cliffs under a golden sunrise sky. But you should.
The northeast's tallest peak AND home to some of the worst weather in the world. Two reasons that make people really really want to hike Mount Washington, even in the winter. Maine Alpine Guiding leads winter hikes on the mountain all season.
Dodge Point has 6.1 miles of trails and they're all lovely. (But come on, that Shore Trail, with its pine needle floor and that view of the Damariscotta River, is just perfect.)
Enjoy a short hike up Douglas Mountain and climb up the stone tower at the summit to enjoy views of the Maine Lakes Region - and maybe act out some dragon-slaying castle-saving fantasies.
The 1-mile trail begins in the woods before the boardwalk begins, winding its way through the trees until the views open up in the bog and the boardwalk can shoot out straight ahead. It's mostly flat the whole way, making this trek an easy walk/hike for folks who want to take in the Maine outdoors in leisurely fashion.
You know who loves winter walks in the snow? The goats at Ten Apple Farm in Gray. And you're welcome to join them during their afternoon meandering in the woods during a Goat Hike.
Hike and Sauna Saturday combines a scenic mountain ascent and ends with you contentedly sweating your brains out in a sauna in the Maine woods.
During our visit to the 96-acre Thorne Head Preserve in Bath, we didn't intend to go poking around inside the hideout (and history) of a murderer. That just sort of happened.