Urban hike offers a chance for kids to lead the way

By WENDY ALMEIDA

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

E-mail this story
Find more trails

Other Hiking with Children Columns:


Also on this page:

Reader Reviews

Trail name: Fore River Trail, Fore River Sanctuary Nearest town: Portland Region: Greater Portland Length: 1 mile Difficulty: Beginner. The boardwalks make the trail very easy to navigate. Other: No facilities. Directions: The entrance to the trail is on Hobart Street which is off Outer Congress Street. There is on-street parking along Hobart street and in a small gravel lot on Hobart near the corner of Osgood Street. You can also take METRO Bus routes 1 and 5. Maps: Get driving directions from MapQuest. Photo by Wendy Almeida Finding a 'magic feather' was just one of many interesting discoveries on this hike with children. View a slide show of photos from the Fore River Trail. (7 images)

Most people think that if they're going to take their kids out on a hike it has to be in the middle of the woods or to the top of a mountain. But that's not always necessary. An urban hike can fit into a busy schedule and be an equally rewarding experience for everyone in the family.

After visiting the Portland Trails Web site, www.trails.org, which offers maps and descriptions of 23 trails, my 5- and 7-year old decided that we should try the Fore River Trail. The map of the trail on the Web site indicated that this trail continues into the Fore River Sanctuary Trail, so we assumed the trails were connected with a boardwalk or gravel trail. But that was not the case. In order to move from the River Trail to the Sanctuary Trail, you have to cross Congress Street, which we opted not to do during this outing.

The one-mile hike on the Fore River Trail was a good choice for us that day because we didn't have a lot of time and the sky was overcast. With all the rain we've had this spring in Southern Maine, it seemed a safe bet to choose a hike close to home and one that wouldn't catch us far away from shelter if it started to downpour.

We parked on Hobart Street at the trail entrance. There are signs to enter the trail from both sides of the street. The kids wanted to head to the water first (which is just for viewing, not wading). It's a short trail spur that dead ends. So once we caught our view, we backtracked, crossed the street and headed down the trail towards the marsh area.

Plans are in the works to extend this trail to the bus train station on Sewell Street by the end of the year according to Nan Cummings, director of the Portland Trails. When the trail is finally completed, it will extend east to Thompson's Point and connect to Portland's downtown area.

There are several boardwalks along the trail, which actually allowed the kids a chance to assume a leadership role during this hike. They were able to identify landmarks along the way and lead us back out of the marsh area and to our car without any direction from my husband or me. This gave them a sense of accomplishment that we could not have encouraged on a longer, more woodsy trail.

I would have guessed that we would not see much in the way of wildlife on this hike. But we actually spotted all kinds of animals and birds. From picking dandelions, to "find the birds in the tree" game to our search for "magic feathers," (there were lots of seagull feathers on the trail that day) they were busy for a long time. We even found some nests in hollowed-out trees and were careful not to disturb them. They learned an important lesson about respecting the birds' habitat that day.

We also spotted at least half a dozen squirrels playing. The girls were totally fascinated with the squirrels running and leaping through the trees. As far as they were concerned, we were in the woods.

Scouting for a place to set up our picnic was a little tricky because we realized we had to be careful about choosing a spot. There were a few places that had some broken glass. Picnickers should take a close look at the ground before laying down a picnic blanket.

From start to finish, including all the games we played and our picnic lunch, we spent about 2 1/2 hours on the trail.

If you think you need to drive an hour out of the city to find a place to take your child to hike, think again. There's enough wildlife to keep young children amused along the trail -- and you can still do your errands on the way home!

WENDY ALMEIDA is a content producer for the Outdoors section at MaineToday.com. She welcomes comments and ideas from readers. She can be reached at (207) 822-4079 or at: wea@mainetoday.com.