QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 98 acres
- Trail Mileage: 1.6 miles in network
- Pets: no
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: coastal fog forest, moss-covered boulders
Come here for the quiet, and for a walk in a forest layered in a blanket of moss. At the start of the trail, if you begin at the trailhead off Whitman Road, the trail will take you over massive boulders covered in moss and lichen, still so green even in the middle of winter (if the snow hasn’t covered them, that is). From one end to the other of this 98-acre preserve, it’s roughly 1 mile.
The Nature Conservancy describes this 98-acre forest as a “coastal fog forest,” dominated by cool, moist air, which was donated by the designer and painter Emily Muir in 1975. Here is a self-guided tour.
Directions: From Route 1, take Route 15 down the Deer Isle peninsula. About three miles past the Sunset Post Office, turn right on Whitman Road. Turn right onto Fire Lane 88. The preserve entrance is marked by a small sign. Note: When I visited in the winter of 2019, the road to this parking lot was barricaded, so I parked in the smaller lot off Barbour Farm Road.
