Saturday morning my good friends and NRCM members, Ellen, Cynthia, and I, headed to Montville to hike on the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance (SWLA) properties. I had been arranging this event for a couple of months with SWLA board member Buck O’Herin and Executive Director Anna Fielder and was thrilled to wake up to another one of the glorious days we have blessed with this October.
We found the SWLA parking lot on the Halldale Road in Montville with no problem and I was thrilled again to watch the parking lot fill up with almost 20 enthusiastic hikers.
Buck led us on a loop trail that started at the Whitten Hill Trailhead and headed along the Northern Headwaters Trail, which was lined with some of the most amazing stone walls I have seen on any woods walk. We branched off that trail onto the Goose Ridge Trail and back to the Northern Headwaters Trail going through some pristine woods to meet the Sheepscot River, here a lovely woodland stream that is hard to connect visually to the wide river you cross in Wiscasset.
Enjoying our lunch in the sun
We all continued on, chatting with new friends, and a few old friends had a chance to connect after losing touch for many years. Maine’s small town feeling really came through. We continued this catching up over lunch in a field while enjoying a view of the hills and the fall colors, although they were really starting to pass on.
After a rest in the sun we headed back out to find our cars and head home. Truly a wonderful collaboration of organizations sharing their land and members to enjoy this state we all love.
And to top it all off Ellen, Cynthia, and I stopped at John’s Ice Cream on Route 17 to enjoy one of Maine’s great homemade ice cream vendors! TERRIFIC DAY!
— Leslie Burhoe, NRCM Executive Assistant
Buck O’Herin of SWLA and me during the hike.
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