Stover and Head of Tide Preserves

These two Coastal Mountains Land Trust preserves are separated by a road and 100 feet, so can be combined into one walk with several stops along the stony Passagassawakeag River before it becomes tidal as it encroaches the sea.

If you start at the larger of the two, the 92-acre Head of Tide, and do the loop clockwise, you’ll begin by walking through a meadow. When you get closer to the river, the trail enters the woods and follows a high riverbank, with some ups and downs. Your first opportunity to get closer to the river comes via a short side path. The second opportunity is a more difficult walk/slide down a steep pitch. But it’s wonderful — once you reach the bottom — to be able to look up and down the wide river, so if you can manage this, I recommend it!

The trail continues around the loop, eventually reaching the intersection where you can continue on the 0.7-mile Woods Loop or cut back via the 0.3-mile center trail. The Woods Loop follows an old, wide woods road for part of the way as it ascends gently through the forest. The center trail is really pleasant, skirting the edge of some fields, briefly reentering a patch of woods, and then finishing by more fields. The two loops are each about 1 mile.

The neighboring 53-acre Stover Preserve is equally pretty to Head of Tide, and offers two or three places to access the river along its 1-mile loop. The trail is well-made, with a series of steps down to the first river access (if you’re walking counter-clockwise). A highlight is walking along a section of wide trail on the riverbank. When I visited these two preserves, more people were out walking at Stover than Head of Tide, perhaps because it is slightly easier to access the river?

Directions: The preserves are on either side of Doak Road, near its north end. The parking area is a bit larger at Head of Tide, and can acccomodate four to five cars. The Stover pullout is much smaller, with room for two cars.