QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: +500 acres
- Trail Mileage: 1.2 miles one way
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: moderate
- Sights: blueberry barrens, Storer Pond
Blueberry fields create stunning views. Their colors of red, purple, fawn and deep brown are beautiful in the fall. In the winter, when they’re covered with snow, they’re bleakly beautiful. The Midcoast Conservancy says this preserve provides significant habitat for two rare grassland birds, the upland sandpiper and the vesper sparrow. From the top of the highest point at 643 feet, you can see the Camden Hills to the east.
The trail makes its way, rather steeply, down to Storer Pond, which the trust describes as an undeveloped 869-acre headwater pond of the Medomak River. The current path, 1.25-miles one way, begins in a blueberry barren along the Elmer Hart dirt road (check ahead of time to see if it is plowed). The way is well marked with blue flags, some of which are on two- to three-foot-high stakes (which might get covered in high snowdrifts). The path seems to mostly follow stone walls and faint old roads in the field.
The conservancy is working to protect an additional 267 acres here, including 181 acres of blueberry barrens.
Directions: From Route 1, take Route 235 5.2 miles and turn left onto Clarry Hill Road. After 1 mile, bear left to stay on Clarry Hill Road. After 0.5 miles, turn right to stay on Clarry Hill Road. In 0.8 miles, turn left onto Elmer Hart Road. Follow the stone road, which veers to the right after 100 feet or so, to the trail head sign on the left.
