great wass island preserve

Whit just 2 trails and a connection patch Great Was Island Preserve give to their visitors a lot to see and discover, the hiking take around 4 hours if you make the complete loop, the forest, the beach and the rocks is part of the adventure, the only I can say is I love this place!!

We stopped here by chance returning from the Machias Blueberry Festival. What a great surprise.This preserve is managed by the Nature Conservancy, and features a well-maintained trail across the island, crossing the ubiquitous Maine granite ledges and coastal bogs, opening up to a tremendous and pristine view of the Atlantic. The hike across the island is about 2 miles, and not very taxing at all. There is a separate coastal trail, but if you plan on taking that you need to time the tides just right- it's not passable on the incoming tide.Parking is limited- when we return we plan to be there early. As it was, we were lucky getting a parking spot in the small lot around lunchtime.

We took the Mud Hole Trail, which was about a two hour round trip. The trail was well marked and very enjoyable. The best part for me was we encountered only two other people on the trail, which I think is something on a nice day in August in Maine.

This trail consists of 3 sections; 2 of which you could do and return the same way. The Little Cape Point Trail is 2 miles (3 hours round trip.) The Mud Hole Trail is 1.5 miles (2-2 1/2 hours round trip.) Both lead you to the rocky shore. The other trail section is the actual rocky shoreline that connects the two trails - and it was the highlight of the entire hike for us. Not only was it scenic and beautiful in the typical rugged and rocky Maine coastline, we spotted seals sunning on distant rocks and a few swimming right by the shore line where we decided to sit for a while and take it all in (we were not too far the Mud Flats trail head that leads to the shore.) We even spotted a weasel popping up from between rocks to stare at us. It was just a few feet from where we were sitting! We did this hike on a weekday afternoon and had the trail to ourselves. It was a sunny clear day. We had intended on just doing the Mud Flats section of the trail and return the same way because others in our party had already done the Little Cape Point Trail earlier in the week on a foggy day. Well, once we reached the shoreline, we just had to keep going. It was beautiful. However, hiking along the shoreline was the longest section of our hike and we thought we would never get to the cove where we would meet the Little Cape Point Trail head. The Little Cape Point Trail head is currently well marked by a bright red buoy hanging from a tree as well as a sign. (I do not recall seeing a clearly marked trail head from the shoreline for the Mud Flats Trail.) As a previous reviewer says, the entire loop felt much longer than the 5 1/2 miles. There were blue blazes marking the trail here and there along the shore, but sometimes we would travel a ways before spotting another blaze. We were surprised to discover that it only took us 4 hours to do the entire trail, including time to sit and linger at a couple of places. However, we did hike in the forested areas at a pretty fast pace. It doesn't have the dramatic coastal views (cliffs) as found in the Cutler area, but they are still quite rewarding because of the changing terrain, rocks, forests and tiny coves. Our teens loved it too. And of course, spotting the seals was a bonus. As with other trails in the area, there are unique plants, peatland and wildlife. It's a bog. Even has carnivorous plants. It's a fairly easy to moderate difficulty trail depending on your previous hiking experiences. There are lots of tree roots, elevated wooden planks to walk along, rocks, soft muddy ground and a couple of boulders to step/climb. There is even a section (Mud Flats) where you hold on to a rope to either climb up or down about a 4 foot section of the trail (not bad at all or high... just gives you something to hold on to so you don't have to scoot on your bottom.) There are armpit high shrubs and vegetation in sections (Little Cape Point Trail) with a very narrow passage to walk through them. If there has been any rain or moisture, you will get wet walking through them as you will brush against them. And as always for this area, you may want to bring some bug repellant for the mosquitos, though they weren't bad at all when we were there.

We spent ~4 hours hiking the 5-mile loop at Great Wass. I'll say up front that the hike took a bit longer than I expected, and given our normal hiking pace I am pretty convinced that this hike is longer than 5 miles. Regardless, it is really enjoyable. The hike is generally well-marked with blue blazes, expect for one or two sections where the trail moves from forest to rocky coastline (or vice versa). The real highlight of the hike is the ~30% of it that consists of walking along the rocky/pebbly shore with outstanding views to the north and east, although the sections through the forest, barrens, and bogs are also really pretty. We did the hike fairly early (starting at 8 AM), and got to enjoy watching the fog lift from the surrounding points and islands. Be sure to get to the trailhead early, as parking is limited and will fill up. Plus, If you're done by lunchtime you can get a hearty lunch at Bayside takeout in Beals.The coastline here is not as dramatic as at the Cutler public lands, but this is still a very nice half-day hike for anyone who enjoys hiking along the coast.

I loved this hike, and here' the main reason why - When you come out onto the other side of Great Wass Island, you find yourself on this large rocky beach with almost nobody else there and it goes on and on, to all sorts of great views and interesting photos and so forth. And the ocean water is so clean that you can literally feel the difference on your skin. You'll walk through a fair amount of forest heading in and out, but that far coast of Great Wass is spectacular. If I go back I'd like to try to check out further along the southern point of the island, although there may only be that one main hiking trail on the whole island. The town of Beals itself was quite small but if you are up visiting Acadia or something, seriously get out of the heavy tourist areas and consider a visit here. It's not far off Route 1. I actually became a lot more interested in the group The Nature Conservancy after finding out that they maintain this one.

Spent about 4 hours hiking on this beautiful property. There are two trails to take that both lead out to the ocean. We opted to do the round trip and take both trails. The trails are not difficult and probably the hardest part about them is the fact that you have to walk across a lot of tree roots. The trails are well marked until you get out to the ocean. To hike the round trip you must walk along the rocky coastline for quite a while. For the most part you will see blue squares marking the way, but there are some spots where we had difficulty finding the markers. At one point I even called the Nature Conservancy number, however, they were not helpful because they told me they never did the round trip hike on both trails. Thankfully, we were there during low tide (recommended) otherwise I think it would have been even more difficult if it was high tide. The rocky coastline is the hardest part of the hike and takes the longest. We saw very few people on this hike and it felt like we were on our own island. All in all, this was an outstanding hike with views that made it worth the effort. We did it with our 7 year old and he did just fine.