Aislinn’s Awesome Family Hikes Will Keep Me Busy

Aislinn Sarnacki just cluttered up my life. But that’s not a complaint. I’ve always enjoyed her hiking and other columns and stories in the Bangor Daily News, often living vicariously through her outdoor adventures.

But now Down East Books has published Aislinn’s book, Family Friendly Hikes In Maine. These are not her challenging and vigorous mountain hikes, which I could easily avoid due to old age. No, the book is full of easy hikes in many beautiful places – and I need to experience all of them. Yikes!

Aislinn writes about 35 wonderful hikes, including several of my favorites in Deer Isle, Readfield (just four miles from our Mount Vernon home), Rangeley, Boothbay, and Cutler. But I was most pleased when she reported that the hikes at West Quoddy Lighthouse in Lubec are favorites.

“Personal note:” she writes, “When people learn that I write about hiking trails in Maine, they often ask me about my favorite trail. And while I find it impossible to select just one trail to be my favorite, it’s easy for me to come up with a list of favorites – places that I find to be especially beautiful and interesting in Maine. Admittedly, it’s a long list and only getting longer.”

“On June 2, 2016, Quoddy Head State Park became one of those favorite places for me. The views were spectacular, the habitats diverse, and the trails interesting and well maintained. The park offered so many opportunities to explore and learn about history, geology, and nature, and this experience was enhanced by the many interpretive displays along the trails.”

Boy, Aislin got that right. My great grandfather was the keeper at the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse for 32 years and my Mom grew up just down the road in South Lubec. Quoddy is my favorite place in the world and Linda and I spend a lot of time in Lubec and Campobello (which also has nice hikes in the Roosevelt International Park). This year we discovered two wonderful trails in South Lubec and Cutler, owned and managed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Trust me – and Aislinn – there are enough trails in that area to keep you busy for a couple of weeks.

If you’d like to know more about Lubec and Campobello, including where to stay and where to eat, go to my website, www.georgesmithmaine.com, select the Best of Maine section and Lubec, and you’ll get all the travel columns Linda and I have written about the area.

And Aislinn – I hope you checked out Lubec’s new brewery!

PHOTO: our daughter Hilary and her friend on the Quoddy trail, looking back toward the lighthouse.

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.