~Friday, September 24, 2021~
Day 467
We’re so excited to see the signs of Autumn on the East Coast. Maine has been a little slow in changing its leaves with the temps not being quite cold enough. So our timing of seeing a full display of color 🍁in New Hampshire and Vermont, coming up, is looking more favorable. Originally when we booked our campgrounds many months ago, we weren’t sure just how things would turn out with our timing, so we’re crossing our fingers we got it right!! 🤞
As we headed out to do a few errands, we were able to get a glimpse of a few towns that were already on our list to visit….downtown Kennebunk (really bustling today) and Kennebunkport (a little quieter). Just love these coastal towns. First errand...a little manicure for Sadie at PetSmart. It’s been great using this source for her during our travels since they are a chain, making it pretty easy to book appointments in different states. They also have Sadie’s records in their system nationwide, which is so convenient. Though I have it already on my calendar, they reminded me she is due for her rabies vaccine early next month, which she’ll likely get when we’re in New Hampshire. Now to find a veterinarian there to take care of that for us. Next stop was finding a post office to mail our grandson’s birthday gift. Can’t believe Easton will be 4 this year. Where does the time go? We’re so disappointed we can’t be together on Easton’s special day. So FaceTime will have to do. Our first post office stop didn’t quite pan out, even though Google directed us there. A very friendly Mainer (as they all are), told us there used to be one in this location, but has since closed. So, of course he pointed us in the right direction with the “go up 2 blocks, make a right, then at the church go down about 300 yards until you see a yellow sign, make a left, etc.” It was one of those. He was so sweet to patiently give me details, but little did he know he was talking to a directionally challenged individual. We did find it, but defaulted to Google Maps for the search instead.
Before our hike, we stopped at an unfamiliar grocery store to pick up a few deli sandwiches. The Market Basket in Biddeford, Maine tops them all. Wow, what a grocery store. They’re located in 85 spots in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The store was as neat as a pin, easy to find things, and the variety is out of this world. Definitely check them out if you’re ever on the East Coast.
Our hike today was located in the Edwin Smith Preserve, part of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. Much of the 1,100 acres was deeded to the Trust by the residents of Kennebunkport, with the balance purchased/donated by Jim and Agnes Steel. As we parked the car, our first glimpse of the preserve
was watching wild turkeys feeding in a beautiful, open field with the backdrop of changing maple trees in the distance. There were a few cars in the parking lot, and can only imagine this place to be crowded on the weekends. So we picked a good day to come here since the trails themselves are quite narrow. We decided to take the Jim and Agnes Steele Trail which is 13.1 miles long (though we didn’t have time to do the whole thing). We ended up doing a little over 5.
From Guinea Road, we started at the trailhead where we read instructions to either have your dog on leash or off-leash with voice command. Off-leash it is. Sadie 🐶is just the best hiker. 99% of the time, she responds when we call her, and man, she sure covers a lot of territory when she’s free to roam the forest. For our 5 miles, she likely did 8 or 9. If she gets a little ahead of us and we’re out of her sight, she always retraces her steps and returns to “check in”. Then she’s off again. If there’s a junction in the trail, she always stops. Smart girl!!
The trail crosses the highest elevation in Kennebunkport with other trails breaking off of varying lengths and difficulties. We met a few mountain bikers and runners as we went along. Again, it was a heavily rooted trail which was the only challenging thing about it. We’ve surmised that many of the trees on the East Coast are shallow rooted which present these kinds of trails, but they’re well worth it. So, where we lack altitude, we make up for it with having to watch our footing. At least we’re still getting a good cardio workout. As we were heading back to the car, it seemed like we made the right decision of turning around when we did, as it was getting to early evening and the skies were darkening up. Someone was looking out for us I guess, when, just as we got in the car and closed the car doors, it started pouring rain. Seriously…..so funny! We got a laugh out of that one. I don’t think we’ve ever timed anything so good.