QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 73 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~.3 miles one way
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: ruins of view tower
Well, this 73-acre preserve certainly sounds like it was once quite a stunning destination! At the trailhead, the Coastal Mountains Land Trust has posted an ad from 1886 that is one of the best descriptions of a walk I’ve ever read: “[It’s a] most desirable and enchanting spot on earth…upon the Summit of MT. PERCIVAL, Northport, whose shores are washed by the Atlantic. Tourists from all quarters of the globe say the view from its summit is more ravishing than can be obtained from any other mountain.” And it continues.
Sadly, the tower tourists used to climb to see the “city and hamlets, mountains, forests, and fields, cattle, horses, and sheep…and the most beautiful bay in the world,” is in crumbles, with just the bottom stones remaining. And the growing forests block the view. The tower is about an easy .3-mile walk up through the woods.
Directions: From Camden via Route 1, follow Route 1 north. Approximately 5.4 miles north of Lincolnville Beach, turn right onto Saturday Cove Road. Turn left onto Shore Road. Follow to bottom of hill and turn left onto Upper Bluff Road. Follow Upper Bluff Road, past Nealey Road and stay right onto Bluff Road passing Pound Hill Road. After Pound Hill Road, follow Upper Bluff road about 1/2 mile. The preserve is on left across from 220 Upper Bluff Road. There isn’t much room to park on the side of the road. From Belfast via Route 1, follow Route 1 south. After passing the Little River, turn left onto the Bayside Road towards Bayside. Turn right onto the Upper Bluff Road at the golf course. Follow Upper Bluff Road to the top of steep hill (not open in winter). The preserve is on the right of Upper Bluff Road several hundred meters beyond the crest.
