GWRLT Southern ME 2026 Trail Challenge

I discovered the Great Works Regional Land Trust Southern Maine 2026 Trail Challenge over the summer and really wanted to earn this special patch. I mean, it’s a hiking patch, and the trails are all very doable and within a hour from home, so OBVIOUSLY I wanted it. 😉

I also knew there were a couple trails around that area that I’d been interested in hiking for a long time anyway, so this would be incentive to finally get out there. 

Likewise, I thought it might be a good push for me to do more solo hiking. I’d suggested hitting some of the trails with Hawk, which he said he was (theoretically) game for, but that proved to go nowhere with our conflicting schedules and priorities. So if Hummingbird also decided not to go trail chasing in Maine with me, I’d be on my own. Which was looking like a possibility. 

At first she was wishy washy about it, but eventually, after tagging the first few trails, she decided that the “patch motivation” to simply hike more (and the opportunity to cluster trails) was worth the drive for her too. 

Are we at all surprised? 😂

Of course I was grateful for the company, as I think we all know I’d more than likely end up not being motivated enough to do it ALL by myself. What fun is that? 

Info on the 2026 trail challenge (not mobile friendly):
https://gwrlt.org/event/gwrlt-trail-challenge-2026/

Photos & reels from each hike (when worth posting) are on my social media pages. 


8/29/26

Bauneg Beg Middle & North Peaks
1.53 mi, 315 ft, 53 min

Our introduction to the GWRLT trails began with the only “mountains” on the list. I talked Hummingbird and Chameleon into doing one of our summer girl hike days in Maine since we were looking for a moderate hike that wouldn’t be too crazy on a weekend, and the BB peaks sounded interesting and relatively convenient to meet at.

I underestimated how popular this trail was, and we just barely fit in the busy parking lot! But thankfully we found a spot, and for all the crowd, the trails were relatively empty, with us only passing a few people here and there. 

The trail offered a nice warmup and varied terrain that was enjoyable, and there was a beautiful viewpoint near the first summit. Visibility reached to Mt. Washington & the White Mts, Chocorua, and Mt. Shaw in the Ossipees.

The second summit was viewless but the trail remained interesting. I would absolutely hike here again.

The neighborhood is also just beautiful and I honestly loved that as much as the hiking. I always liked the Berwick area in general. 


Bauneg Beg South Peak
2.11 mi, 374 ft, 1:08 hrs

There was a lot more parking available at the neighboring trailhead!

We were grateful for the warmup on Middle & North, as we found South to be hikier right from the get go. However, there was a bit less “payoff” for our effort. The trail was still nice though, with some smaller views that were just comparatively less exciting than on Middle Peak. If I were to drive this far again to hike, I would still combine the 3 peaks to make the trip worthwhile for hiking time & miles.


Grover-Herrick Preserve
.92 mi, 49 ft, 24 min

After the BBs, I talked H&C into humoring me and tagging this small trail that was not far away, but is inconveniently located to bundle with any other GWRLT trails. Parking was a small pulloff but we were the only ones there. 

It was a fine but unexciting walk in the woods. Surprisingly kind of buggy for the season/weather. Hummingbird pointed out that the trail was not flat as I promised. LOL (Her knee was about done for the day at that point.) There was a river along part of the trail, but no good view angles for an appealing photo.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with this one again, but it’d certainly be fine for anyone local who wants a decent little walk in the woods. I’m sure it’d be good for birding and the like. 


10/6/26

Negutaquet Conservation Area 
1.55 mi, 95 ft, 41 min

More than a month passed until we got back to ME hikes, but at last we refocused and hit a small cluster of GWRLT trails around Wells & N. Berwick. The most noteworthy hike was the Negutaquet trail system which featured a very impressive bridge. 

Otherwise it was a pretty standard walk in the woods, as the majority of this area is. But definitely worthwhile — and I would happily hike here again to explore more of the property. As I would many of the GWRLT trails.


Perkinstown Wildlife Commons
1.14 mi, 49 ft, 26 min

Another walk in the woods. Literally the only photo I took was of the trailhead sign. 🤪 It was fine, although I wouldn’t drive far just to hike here. One of those “nice for locals” kind of trails. But how wonderful that the Berwick area has SO many options for hiking trails!
 

Grant’s Meadow
.57 mi, 10 ft, 13 min

Comparable to Perkinstown in that I took a single photo of the dedication plaque, then experienced nothing particularly notable aside from a nice, short woodland walk. 


10/10/26

Tuckahoe Preserve
1.54 mi, 30 ft, 32 min

Tuckahoe was our first stop in this weekend’s string of GWRLT trails. It was a very pleasant, relatively flat hike through the forest. 

I might try to get my parents out here at some point since it’s only a half hour from home and easy enough for them to manage. Definitely worth the half hour drive, esp. if combined with neighboring Keay Preserve.


Keay Brook Preserve
1.06 mi, 13 ft, 24 min

Just down the road from Tuckahoe is Keay, which make a perfect combo hike together. Keay’s forest is lovely and the loop trail brings you to a cool old trestle. Beyond that you have a pretty little river view and more pleasant trail. 

We chose to take the cutoff trail “Pine Needle Path” in the middle of the loop to minimize our distance since we had seen the main attractions and had a lot more hiking ahead of us. 


Newichawannock Woods
1.11 mi, 49 ft, 27 min

Next up was Newichawannock. The lollipop trail is a rolling woodland walk with a very pretty river viewpoint. I was equally excited to find a shagbark hickory growing behind the bench.


Desrochers Memorial Forest
2.58 mi, 66 ft, 59 min

Desrochers is connected to the South Berwick Town Forest, which offers a maze of trails. You must hike a bit through the town forest to reach the GWRLT property. We followed “Grandpapa’s Way” into Desrochers to (of course!) find “Tara’s Trail” — that was an obvious must-do. 😄

This one we had mixed feelings about. It certainly was another fine hike, but with nothing particularly exciting — basically just more of the same forest & terrain — our enthusiasm waned a bit. This trail was also much longer than the others, with no views to break it up. Most of all we were beginning to tire after having already hiked a few miles, so our opinion of the trail landed on “just fine.” Truthfully, I think if we had started here we probably would have liked it almost as much as Tuckahoe. (Almost.)

p.s. We were also slightly disappointed we didn’t spot any horses 🐴 along the trail as we definitely found fresh evidence of someone riding here. 💩😂


Tatnic Woods Preserve
1.07 mi, 52 ft, 22 min

After a pit stop at the local Hannaford for bathrooms and a snack, we continued to our final trail for the day. Tatnic Woods is another pleasant, rolling forest with a large amount of vernal pools and glacial erratics. 

Having gotten a little second wind, I enjoyed this trail more than the last, plus the boulders and small hills added some interest. Really though, they were all good and I don’t regret any of the hikes so far. (Can’t honestly say the same for some other hiking challenges I’ve done! 🤣)

I probably could have eked out one more easy trail after this, but 7.4 miles for the day is still very honorable — even with minimal elevation! Hummingbird had a bunch of stuff to do too, so we didn’t push for more. Always nice to end a hike while still at least semi-functional. LOL

We’d be back to hike some other clusters soon enough!


10/17/26

Savage Wildlife Preserve
.48 mi, 26 ft, 16 min

The weather called for wicked wind chills and dangerous conditions up north, so it seemed like a good day to hike the Eliot cluster of GWRLT trails. (Technically only two of the trails are in Eliot, the others sit in S. Berwick.)

We began at the Savage Preserve, which is a very short, flat walk in the woods. Honestly, we didn’t expect much more. However, it proved to be the prettiest hike of the day! Even the parking lot was nice. 

The trail led to a marshy area that was rather attractive and overlooked a field by a house. Or maybe the house and field overlook the marsh. Either way, it was quite lovely. 

The fall foliage, of course, played a big part in the attractiveness of the scene.

Really our only complaint is that the trail wasn’t longer!


Douglas Memorial Woods
1.02 mi, 69 ft, 26 min

Our next stop impressed us less. The recent rain had definitely increased the muckiness of this wet forest. On the plus side, there were an abundance of bog bridges. On the down side, half of them were in poor condition. And we still navigated mud and muck in between bridges.

We did a clockwise loop and enjoyed the fairly new boardwalk along the first part of the trail. It seemed to go on forever, which was pretty impressive! On the second half of the trail, though, we were mainly met with mossy, rotting, slippery logs and boards, some of which bent severely under our weight. 

So there are still improvements to be made, which I suspect GWRLT is working on, but of course conservation groups often have limited funds and manpower, so it’s a process to get these things done. (I’m sure they would welcome donations if not volunteers, if any locals are inclined and able!)

While this trail is close to several houses and off a main road, so not quite as peaceful as others, it still has potential to be nice for local hikers, walkers, birders, etc. 


Goodwin Forest
1.19 mi, 59 ft, 30 min

This hike was nice overall. Good trail. Some stone walls. Lots of ferns. An interesting bed of fallen trees covered in moss.

There was a lot of “mess” in this forest, which is not what most humans consider attractive, but it definitely makes for great wildlife habitat. 


Rocky Hills Preserve
1.01 mi, 102 ft, 25 min

Our last hike of the day brought us to Rocky Hills. Well, eventually… 😒

As with every other trail, we used the address provided in the GWRLT map/brochure. (Which, btw, they awesomely keep stocked at most of the trailheads. 👍🏻) This one did not offer a number, only a street name — Punkintown Rd. S. Berwick. No problem, we’d find the road and follow alltrails from there, which showed the trail entrance at the end of the road via the town forest. Simple enough, right?

Nope. We got to Punkintown Rd. and found it marked as a "private" road. But the town forest trail is definitely there, so we figured maybe, oddly, there was parking for that somewhere. Again, no. Just driveways and narrow dirt road until we came to the end where there were a bunch of "no parking" and "no trespassing" signs. I don’t know if they lost trail access or if there is still a tiny easement we couldn’t see, but we were not messing around with that. 

I double checked my notes and found directions I saved from a blog. It said there was a pull off about 50’ in from the beginning of the road. (Though no mention of a long road walk.) Ok, I guess I should have read that before we drove all the way in. My bad. We got turned around (after having to drive in reverse for a long stretch — thankfully it was not a busy road!) and worked our way back out to see if we missed the pull off. 

Still nothing. No evidence of there EVER having been a parking spot anywhere along that road that wasn’t on private property. Needless to say we were VERY frustrated. 

I checked alltrails and found a second trailhead on the other side of the large swath of conservation land. The other side was actually far more direct access to Rocky Hills Preserve. Hmm. The address? Punkin Town Rd. 🤦🏼‍♀️ OMFG!

We drove around and started up the OTHER “Punkin” road, turned around AGAIN after taking the wrong fork because the map/gps wasn’t clear, and eventually (FINALLY) found the trailhead. 

THEN we had to decide on route. It’s a maze of trails out there. One spot had potential views, so normally we’d aim for that. But when we got to the kiosk (a short distance down the trail), the map honestly was not well designed and it was hard to figure out exactly where we were supposed to go. So we decided at this point to follow the Rocky Hills trail just long enough for a 1 mile out & back. 

Just to add to our annoyance and confirmation that we obviously were not meant to explore this place further, we hit a trail reroute a ways in, so then NOBODY knew where we were. Nothing on the maps and alltrails thought we were bushwhacking. 🤪

The good news is, there really wasn’t anything wrong with the trails themselves, aside from poor directions. The new section was particularly nice “spongecake” and very well marked with ribbons. If we weren’t so annoyed by everything else, it probably would have been a decent spot to hike around further. 

Alas, it was too little, too late. We returned to the car and checked how far the next cluster was. Unfortunately the closest trail we needed was a half hour in the wrong direction, so we nixed the idea of doing more. 

Oh well, we still got our intended checkmarks! 

* So just remember, if you want to hike Rocky Hills, do NOT enter on Punkintown - follow Punkin Town. TWO words, not one, despite the “official” address.

I swear, road names like that in the same town should be illegal. 🙄

(Maybe there is good reason for it, like they used to be connected as a class 6 road - which I kind of suspect - and with them being split needed their own identity. 🤷🏼‍♀️ But that doesn’t lessen confusion. I feel like emergency services could just as easily make the same mistake! Anyway, that’s my rant for today.)


Stay tuned for the remaining hikes!