QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 57,703 acres
- Trail Mileage: 3.9 miles
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy to moderate
- Sights: Pocumcus Lake, Deer Brook Cove
At the Pocumcus Lake Trail, you have a choice of doing one of two loops or combining them for an almost 4-mile walk. Each of the loops has a lake lookout, and they’re connected by a beech forest that was beautiful to walk through in autumn.
The first loop is about 1.8 miles in total, and is shaded with spruce and hemlock. I recommend extending your walk to the second loop, though, because after you emerge from the beech forest connecting the two loops (a 0.7-mile stretch), you’ll enter a mature hemlock forest. It’s really atmospheric! This far loop is about 0.7 miles. The trails are well marked and easy to follow.
While the walking is fairly level, expect uneven terrain, with rocks and roots. The trail is part of the 57,703-acre Downeast Lakes Community Forest and is protected by the Downeast Lakes Land Trust.
Directions: (From Maine Trail Finder) Starting at the bridge in Grand Lake Stream continue southwest onto the gravel road past the Downeast Lakes Community Forest welcome sign. After 0.5 mile, bear right to stay on Wabassus Road. After 7.5 miles from Grand Lake Stream, look for the trailhead on the northern (right) side of the road. There is parking enough for two vehicles, though additional vehicles can park on the side of the road as long as they do not block the roadway for logging trucks or other traffic.
