[Journal entry for Labor Day, Sept 3, 2007]. Pam Abbott read a description of Bowdoin College's Coastal Studies Center in a magazine. We had never been there, or even had heard of it, so we drove over from Harpswell, Maine to Orr's Island, to take a look. It's entrance is at the end of Bayview Road, on the east side of Route 24, the main highway that connects Grand, Orrs and Baileys Islands. We parked in a small lot by a rock outcrop that has been carved with the center's name, and took the first trail that we came upon, the Dipper Cove Path. It headed eastward and downhill, through low woods consisting mostly of spruce and fir. Some bedrock, a low grade schist with near-vertical folliation, was exposed, but the ground was mainly covered with needles and patches of fern, moss and lichen. We reached the east shore of Orrs Island, and Harpswell Sound, in a few minutes. The island has low, though rather steep sea cliffs, perhaps six feet high. They are controled by the rock's folliation, which strikes parallel to the coast in this spot. The tide was low, and a strip of land was exposed beneath the cliffs. We climbed down near a sand spit that connects Orrs Island to dimunitive Wyer Island; the configuration is similar to Bar Island in Harpswell, and many other places along the Maine coast. We walked across the spit, noting that most of the surface material was shell fragments, and not sand, per se, and over to Wyer Island. Marsh plants, such as Spartina alternaflora. Spartina patens and glasswort grow along its edges. The interior is densely wooded, with thick, low shrubs and a few taller birches and pines. Poison ivy, with its leaves already turning a fall red, was very common, so we made no effort to explore the island's interior. I noticed a few glacially polished stone pavements on the island's periphery, complete with glacial scratches, but they are not as well-preserved as other nearby spots (e.g. Bar Island). On the other hand, the several especially nice eratic boulders stand on the island's northern tip. One member of our part, Paul Estes, found a dead shark on the beach at the west side of the island. It was about a meter long. The tide had risen noticably as we walked back across the spit. Now only a ridge of sand was above water. Dallas and I examined an indentation - one might perhaps even call it a small sea cave - on the Orrs Island cliff, wondering why the rocks were weak there. We could see no signs of a fault or a dike, but vertical joints seemed a little more common than elsewhere. We climbed back up the cliff and continue northward, turning inland as we reached a small cove with a gravel beach. We followed the trail uphill, back to Bayview Road, past some houses and a field containing a meterological station and displaying beautiful yellow wildflowers. Some deciduous trees grew along the road, including oaks and beeches. We passed a kiosk containing a trail map. We had not seen it at the start of our walk; it showed us that we had walked only a small percentage of the Center's trails and seen just a fraction of it land. Another time, we shall return. Back near the parking lot, I found a small bog, containing sphagnum moss and sundew plants. These carniverous plants have sticky leaves that trap small insects. I looked also for pitcher plants, whcih are also common in New England bogs, but spotted none. But my search was constrained by my staying at the edge of the bog, not wanting to damage the moss or dampen my feet. About an hour and a half.