Hey my Trail Head weekend-warrior friends, Friday's a coming... What to do, what to do?

Well, crack a cold one, of course. Relax and ponder awhile. Check the forecast (mostly cloudy but dry, temps in the 60s). Then get your rucksack out of the closet and start stuffing it with goods for the day. 'Cause you're going hiking!

Views to Kearsarge North and Mt. Washington from south summit of Peary Mountain in Brownfield, a fun and easy 2-mile hike, perfect for a spring weekend.
Carey Kish photo

WHO: You and your hiking pals (too early for the company of bugs we hope!).

WHAT: Day hike to Peary Mountain in Brownfield. Added bonus of a quick jaunt up Jockey Cap in Fryeburg. For the full scoop on hiking Peary Mountain and Jockey Cap, read the account of my hike there last spring.

WHEN: This weekend, Saturday or Sunday, you pick! Both days look reasonable weather-wise.

WHERE: From Portland, head west on Route 25 to Limington. Maybe stop for breakfast at Two Trails Diner. Just beyond the dinah, turn right onto Route 113 and cruise to Brownfield.

HOW: You'll need the proper tools of the road and the trail fer navigatin'... The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer and the AMC Maine Mountain Guide.

WHY: It's an easy 2-mile round trip hike to the south summit of Peary and fab views of the snow-capped White Mountains. Take the extra time and bag the north summit as well for a striking vista of Pleasant Mountain.

For extra credit continue north to Fryeburg and scoot up Jockey Cap. Thanks to the monument there it's possible to identify all the mountains around in a 360-degree arc. Outstanding!
Carey Kish photo

Have fun, and be sure to let me know how your trip went!

Hard to believe, I know, but every now and then a smidgen of good news, a sensible idea, does emerge from that locus of inaction, bad actions, empty suits, tax-mongering, and general corruption, Washington, D.C.

The House passed a measure, which President Bush is expected to sign, that will provide more dollars to Acadia National Park to do a number of good things:

* Acquire more land by either purchase or swap, further protecting our magnificent natural treasure.

* Build a mainland transportation and visitor facility (in Trenton near the airport most likely) for visitors and commuters, who can then park their cars and use the Island Explorer bus service, a car-free transit experience of the highest order.

This is good news for the park, for us.

Carey Kish photo

Continued investment in land conservation on high-value Mount Desert Island will be expensive but necessary and worthwhile in the long term as development pressure mounts around the present park boundaries.

Continued investment in the model transportion infrastructure supporting the Island Explorer bus is always a wise decision. Traffic on the corridor onto the island and in the park is a detriment to both the local resident needing to get to work, and to the visitor wanting to enjoy the park.

The Island Explorer can and does take a big chunk out of the congestion and truly enhances the visitor experience by making it so, so easy to get around without a car.

I can sure vouch for the system, having tried and enjoyed a "car-free" trip to Acadia last summer. The bus rocks!

The off-island facility and "park & ride" will continue to grow the service and help to grab riders before they become part of the congestion problem. What a concept. Kudos folks!

All good.

Carey Kish photo

Note to the story author: There are two national parks in Maine: Acadia and the Appalachian Trail. Yep, it's true.

On with spring my Trail Head friends. A great time to visit Acadia, by the way...

Carey Kish photo

Downeast. Washington County. The Sunrise County. As far east as you can get and still be in the U.S. A long way from the urban environs of Portland, the home for this traveler. And a world away in more ways than just miles.

A sweet Sunrise County sunrise over the Machias River, Machias.
Carey Kish photo

Washington County is big, rural, forested, open, beautiful, ramshackle, poor, wealthy. A place of contrasts, for sure. Life on the edge. A place tied to the land and to the sea. You can feel it, see it, smell it. The home of tough, hard-working people. Reserved, but friendly. Serious eyes, warm grins.

My kind of place. Damn if I don't know why I don't get that way more often. To more fully enjoy and appreciate this wonderful area that's a bit rough around the edges.

Anyway, I was in Machias for the Sunrise Trail Business and Community Development Conference, as it turned out, a wildly successful gathering of local and state leaders, citizens and business groups, recreational interests.

The plan is to convert 87 miles of rail corridor into a multiple-use recreation trail and a sorely-needed economic driver for the region. Brilliant! Construction begins this summer, with completion scheduled for 2010. More on the Sunrise Trail later on, in a blog-to-be, however.

Given that I had tucked my hiking boots and rucksack into the car, I figured I might as well put some of my downtime to good use and see what could be seen on some the local trails.

Turns out there's quite a few, according to Cobscook Trails, a neat little trail guide published the Quoddy Regional Land Trust. I counted 19 preserves of one sort or another, from state parks and a federal wildlife refuge, land trusts and Nature Conservancy parcels, to conservation easements on private property.

There are many miles of scenic hiking trails in the Cobscook Bay and Bold Coast Region, thanks to the fine conservation groups that comprise Cobscook Trails.
Carey Kish photo

And what a variety of landscapes, too. Rugged cliff-top oceanside treks, beach walks, forested hikes, bumpy mountains, boglands and barrens and more. Wow! Enough to keep a hiker busy for many an hour over many a mile.

I settled on a sampler of three areas: Boot Head Preserve, Quoddy Head State Park, and Pike Lands. All of which happened to be within the confines of Lubec.

Boot Head Preserve is a 690-acre parcel owned by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust on Boot Cove Road. A three-mile loop trail leads through thick forest and open peat bog to Boot Cove, up the backside of Boot Head and on along the rugged coastline (100-foot cliffs!) to Brook Cove.

Boot Cove at Boot Head Preserve, Lubec.
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Drinking in the ocean views on the Boot Head Trail, Lubec.
Carey Kish photo

From Boot Head I headed east to Quoddy Head State Park and the iconic red and white-striped lighthouse, a place I'd never been. The long blue island of Grand Manan (Canada) loomed in the distance.

Quoddy Head Lighthouse: You can't any farther east in the U.S. of A.
Carey Kish photo

The Coastal Trail leads west from the light, hugging the ocean, passing the scenic highlights of High Ledge and Green Point. At Carrying Place Cove the trail touches the beach before returning east on the inland Thompson Trail, a winding forested track.

Along the Coastal Trail, Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec.
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Atop Green Point, Quoddy Head SP.
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Cobble beach near Carrying Place Cove, Quoddy Head SP.
Carey Kish photo

Tuckered but determined, I capped off the outing with a foray to Pike Lands, a property owned by the Quoddy Regional Land Trust. The Huckins Beach Trail beckoned and I followed it quickly down to the wide and long pebble beach at South Bay. All good.

Snow on the Huckins Beach Trail, Pike Lands, Lubec.
Carey Kish photo

Pebble beach at South Bay, Pike Lands.
Carey Kish photo

Put the Sunrise County on your "to-do" list for this spring, summer or fall, 'cause it's worth the trip. Maybe run into you on the trail there sometime!

Have you hiked the Cobscook Trails? Which ones? What was your experience?