Hirundo Wildlife Refuge

Accessible trails marked in orange.

Hirundo, which is Latin for the swallow, is an extraordinary place dedicated to wildlife protection and education, with a unique story and lots to offer visitors, who are welcome to explore its trails from dawn to dusk. (No pets allowed, though.)

The refuge was established in 1965 by Oliver Larouche as a 2,460-acre preserve “for wildlife in which to grow and be protected, an area in which they can live and survive.” In 1983, Oliver and his wife gave the land to the University of Maine, which now calls it a “living laboratory” for students and research.

A web of trails on both sides of Route 43 allows walkers to check out a successional field returning to forest, the beautiful Pushaw Stream and its floodplain, a little pond called Lac D’or, different types of woodlands, and to learn — a lot — about the area’s nature and past via many, many informational panels. You can, for instance, read about riffles in stream ecology; how Native people used birch bark; the ways massive glaciers sculpted the landscape; fox behavior and fox dens; the differences between sedges, rushes, and grasses; and the lifespan of the American eel (and see remnants of an early 20th-century stone weir on the stream).

A well-made accessible trail of packed gravel circles little Lac D’or, which also has an accessible viewing platform. A screened-in pavilion at the edge of a field dotted with tree swallow nesting boxes is also accessible. (The driveway into the preserve, too, is a good place for a stroll.)

Based on archaeological excavations that have unearthed hearth fires and hunting artifacts, it’s believed Hirundo was a seasonal camping site for Native Americans for thousands of years. (The first evidence of people here goes back 5,500 years.) The site lies within the Penobscot people’s traditional landscape and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the north side of Route 43, the trails are all well marked and easy to follow, mostly flat but with some rocks and roots and places of taller grass. I highly recommend walking the Pushaw Trail to the accessible trail around Lac D’or (check out the muskrat crossing!). From here, you can continue along Pushaw stream on the Wabanaki Trail, where remains of past Native people have been found. Fields to Forest Trail and Thorn Plum Trail bring you through successional fields.

If you cross the street, you’ll find a slightly wilder experience. An old woods road — long, flat, wide, with more informational panels aimed at kids — brings you to to three marked loops through different forests. It doesn’t seem as if these trails get much traffic, so you’ll likely have a quiet experience.

Directions: The refuge is located off Route 43, between the bridge across Pushaw Stream and the intersection with Kirkland Road. There is a sign and kiosk at the gate. There are several places to park. I think, if the gate is open, you can drive in the entry road and park in the Pine parking lot or near the Parker Reed shelter. You can also park outside the gate on either side of Route 43, in large lots on the north and south sides of the refuge entrances. Finally, there’s another smaller lot closer to Pushaw Stream and close to Route 43 that is marked as a boat launch on the map.