QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 150 acres
- Trail Mileage: 2.3 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy to moderate
- Sights: wetlands, forests, healing garden
These are some of the nicest—and most varied—”wellness” trails I’ve hiked around hospitals. It’s common for hospitals—bastions of health!—to make walking trails around their large campuses. They are usually short, often wheelchair accessible, and pleasant.
The trails around Midcoast Hospital are a bit different. While they’re all well-marked and/or easy to follow, they vary in difficulty. The 1.1 miles of trails on the east side of the hospital are easier going, and they pass by a lovely healing garden, where you can sit on benches amid flowers and underneath shade trees. They also offer glimpses of the wetlands surrounding the hospital. A few benches have been placed along the path.
The 1.2 miles of forested ones on the other side are longer and a bit more wild, with some steeper ascents. You are quite healthy if you can complete them! They pass through some pretty woods.
Directions: The best place to park for the trail system on the east side of the hospital is in the parking area for 121 Medical Center Drive. Perhaps park farther away from the entrance to give priority spaces to patients. You can also park in a satellite parking lot off the entrance road to the hospital. It will be to your right as you drive in, just a bit beyond the turn off into a large complex of medical buildings on your left. I believe the address for this complex is 81 Medical Center Drive.
