Cathance River Preserve

It is fall! I could see the leaves turning from the highway on my way to work and I wanted to see them up close over the weekend. So me and Mr. Handsome went to the Cathance River Preserve and went for a long walk. I learned about it because I found a new site that will tell you where all the trails in Maine are!

I wanted to see the rapids and to get there we had to cross this very worn out looking bridge. I think I prefer the colors at the beginning of fall when there's an equal amount of green to balance the reds, oranges, and yellows and almost no brown.

Some Rapids

The leaves in the preserve were still mostly green however!

From the Top of the Falls

I regret only taking pictures with my iPhone. But I had my phone handy through the whole hike because the Preserve had it's own app that could tell you where you were on the trails! Even though the trails were well marked and the blazes were clear it was handy to have to settle disputes between me and my other half.

The still river was a mirror.

On our way out.

Reid State Park, Georgetown, Maine - Best Beach in Maine

I really wanted to go to the beach once more before the summer ended. But, it was too cold cold to enjoy laying out on the beach so instead of going to Popham Beach (our usual place) we went to Reid State Park home of Mile Beach and Half Mile Beach.

Though it looked like it was further away than Popham Beach, it didn't seem to take nearly as long to get there. We passed through quaint Georgetown on our way there and we saw a rock painted like a turtle. At the last road we turned on, there was a rock painted with an American flag. I didn't think fast enough to get a picture.

We got there and got out of the car and it was a beautiful day in the mid 60s. The sun was shining and there were just enough clouds in the sky to make things look interesting.

We stopped at East Beach first. The grains of sand there were very large like tiny pebbles and there were rocks. We looked at the tide pools along the rocky shore and watched people fishing for a bit. 

There was a nice picknick area above this beach with a swing!

We went for a long walk around and took a picture together by the lagoon. Then we went back to our car and drove it to the parking lot for Mile Beach (I assume it is at least a whole mile long because I used RunKeeper to track this "hike" and we hiked about 3 miles).

I had remembered to bring my kite to the beach this time. I bought it about three or four years ago and this is the first time we flew it. It was loads of fun. Though I was worried that it would fly away because it was so windy!

I took the kite back to the car and we walked to the end of the beach.

On my way back, I thought I lost my precious COLBY water bottle but  my husband he reminded me that I had left it in the car.

Interesting Patterns in the Sand

We found a hut made out of drift wood. I can't wait to come back next year and see if it is still there.

The hiking fanny pack in action.

Sand Plovers. They looked so cute looking for food in the surf.

I cannot wait to go back sometime and see Half-Mile Beach!

Everybody to the Bat Cave

L.L. Bean's  Day Trekker Lumbar Pack

I got a lumbar pack to use when hiking. We like taking short day hikes. I hate wearing a backpack while hiking since it just sticks to my back and makes my shoulder sore. So I thought I'd try out a glorified fanny pack that can hold two bottles of water. I looked so cool that there are no pictures of me wearing it but it got the job done.

We headed to Bradbury Mountain State Park and took the path less traveled. Instead of heading up one of the many paths that take you to the top of the mountain, we went to the other side of the park. It was less crowded than the other side.

This trail was so confusing! It wasn't a hard trail
but it was super hard to follow! We abandoned it after getting
really, really turned around and so we went to the bat cave.

There were lots of ferns.

The rangers built boardwalks thru the swamp.

The Trail to the Bat Cave!

This must be the bat cave,
it was not as exciting as I expected.

A Place to Sit

We had a good time and my pack worked out nicely. I can't wait to take it for another hike. But, in the future I will manage my expectations better as I expected to see a real cave and maybe even a bat (or BATMAN) on the Batcave trail.