[Journal entry for August 24, 2010] In the early afternoon Dallas, Ed Abbott, Paul and Gigi Estes and I hiked in the Long Reach Preserve, off of Route 24 on Great Sebascodegan Island in Harpswell Maine. This tract of land extends from the highway westward to a narrow bay called Long Reach. The day was rather overcast and cool. We hiked on a trail blazed in white that began at a baseball field and which passed a small but elegant kiosk displaying a map. We made a wrong turn almost immediately, heading down a woods road that led to an open field with an apple tree. Ed sampled one of the apples, declaring it tart but good. We wandered about for a bit until we decided to retrace our steps. We quickly located out wrong turn and continued down the white-blazed trail, heading westward, towards Long Reach. We passed through woods, across a stream via a wooden footbridge, through a stand of white pine, across a bog via puncheon and finally, via a series of switchbacks, descended to Long Reach. The land here is rather rough, with many minor ups and downs through ridges composed of steeply-dipping metamorphic rocks that are ubiquitous in Harpswell. The Reach is perhaps a quarter mile wide, with steep hills on both sides. On our side, the hill is wooded, with only small (6 foot) sea cliffs at the very bottom. The opposite side, however, has much more impressive cliffs, 50 to 100 feet high. This difference is due to the steep westward dip of the strata. The water of the reach is muddy in color, quite different than the crystal clear southern sections of Casco Bay, which are closer to the sea and presumably have better circulation. The trail followed the shore for a while and then ascended back onto higher ground. We passed another marsh, or perhaps the northern end of the one we crosses previously and, later, another stream with a footbridge. It has a clay bottom and steep sides, reminiscent in appearance to a tidal stream in a salt marsh. We puzzled again at the woods road – white-blazed trail intersection, but finally got it right and returned to the car. About one and a half hours.