[Journal entries for December 26, 28 and 29, 2020] Androscoggin Riverlands State Park, Turner, Maine.

December 26, 2020. Androscoggin Riverlands is a tract of wild land on the west bank of the Androscoggin River in Turner Maine. It stretches from Conant Road in the south to Center Bridge Road in the north, a distance of about four miles, and is about a mile wide in at its widest point. The main trailheads are at its ends. They are connected by a main woods road, off of which many lesser used woods roads and hiking trails diverge. I have visited it once before, on Springwater Fieldtrip R, when I hiked at the south end.

Today, Dallas and I park by the north end, in a large lot off of Center Bridge Road. It’s a beautiful winter day, sunny with occasional clouds and with the air temperature a little below freezing. We take the main woods road southward, through mixed woods of hardwoods and White Pines. We passed several trailheads and lesser traveled roads and a small kiosk with a map. After about a mile, we came to a prominent intersection with a road branching off to the east, which has a sign indicating it led to a picnic area on the river. We took it, and soon came to an open area along the river with picnic tables and a small pavilion. The area is between two small bays, created by tributary streams. We walked the length of the shore, finding several terrific views of the river, a large wooded mid-river island, and the bays. The water is mainly open today, though a little ice floats in the bays. We stood for a while listening to the sound of the ice flows bumping against one another, which is a bit musical. We then connected with a trail, blazed in blue, that rounded the southern bay and continued south. It wound through low land along the river, not offering any river views, but passing interesting ruins and boulders. The ruins include two foundations of very large fitted stones, with several ancient Maple trees nearby that must once have lined a path. The largest of the boulders are truly humongous – perhaps twenty feet long and fifteen high. Nearby topography does not justify them; I suppose that they must have a glacial origin. The ruins are by a corner of land created by another bay and once must have commanded a fine view of the river, though now it is closed in by regrowth. We bushwhacked to a marshy part of the shore, which offered fine views of the bay and of two mid-river islands (though we dampened our feet in the process).

We continued along the trail, which turned west, following the north shore of the tributary stream that creates the bay. Eventually it rejoined the main woods road. A sign indicated that we had been on the Homestead Trail. The road crossed the stream just south of the intersection. We stood for a while on the bridge, watching the strong flow of water as it exited a wetland to the west of the road.

The afternoon was waning and shadows were lengthening. We headed back along the main woods road. We were almost back to the lot when Dallas discovered that she has lost her hat. I walked back and found it after about half a mile, near the kiosk. When I reached the lot, I found that the entrance was blocked by two large tow trucks working to remove a car that has slid off the entrance road into the woods. I was mystified, for the entranceway is by no means tricky. Rather than try to squeeze our car by these obstacles, I walked down Center Bridge Road to the westernmost of several channels of the river, which at this point flows around several mid-river islands. Dallas sat in the car. The river and most of the surrounding woods were in shade, with a bluish cast from the still bright sky, above.

The tow trucks were gone when I returned. We then headed back. We stopped briefly at a pullout along Route 4 in Auburn Maine that offers a great view of Lake Auburn. The sun was close to setting and its waters were golden.

About two and one-half hours.

December 28, 2020. It’s a grey and chilly day with a little light rain. Dallas and I park at the south end of Androscoggin Riverlands State Park, at the small lot along Conant Road. We don rain gear and take the main woods road north. We have a bit of trouble finding a place where we can ford a small stream that crosses the road. All the recent rain has made it flow strongly. Dallas gets her feet a bit damp, stepping through the flow in a shallow spot. I walk to a narrow spot where I can step across.

After a mile or so, we take a lesser used woods road that heads east, terminating at the river. The views would be terrific on a clear day, but today they are subdued. The land north along the riverbank is high – possibly a natural levee of the river. We bushwhack along the ridge, passing several ruins, including a stone retaining wall and a concrete tank. We also pass a very large, multi-trunked and ancient White Pine tree.

After a quarter mile we reach a small peninsula with a nice view of the river. We then bushwhack our way back, walking along the western flank of the levee, where the woods are more open. After reaching the main woods road, I do some scouting, taking it further north until it comes in sight of the river. The levee that we had traversed ends just a little north of our turn-around point, were a small tributary joins the river. The views from this small bay were promising; I shall have to check then out in better weather.

We then headed back the way we came. About one and one-half hours.

December 29, 2020. It’s a clear and bright day. Dallas and I return to the north end of Androscoggin Riverlands State Park. After parking in the main lot, we walk east on Center Bridge Road, as far as the main bridge. The main bridge arches across the wide channel of the river, on the eastern side of the mid-river islands; the two smaller channels on the western side are crossed by a causeway. They are all beautiful, but the northern side of the westernmost channel especially so. We also explored the boat launch and picnic area that’s on the south side of the causeway.

We began hiking the main woods road southward through the Park, but soon transferred to the Homestead Trail (blazed in blue). Its trailhead is on the east side of the main woods road, just a quarter mile or so south of the parking lot. The trail is set back from the riverbank, this section of which is very marshy. I bushwhacked down to the marsh several times, but was not able to find any place where I could cross it to the low but dry levee at the river’s edge. We soon came to a substantial ruin – several foundations made of very large rectangular blocks of granite. Further south, the trail approached fairly closely to the shore. We found a spot where we the marsh was flooded and the levee on its far side was broken, so that we had a bit of a view of the river. It was a very pretty spot. The forest floor was covered with Princess Pine (or Ground Cedar, as they call it in Maine).

The trail then headed west, flowing the northern shore of a tributary stream. This is the opposite side of the same tributary that hosts the picnic area that we visited a few days ago. I found a beautiful spot where I could look eastward down the lengths of the tributary, past overarching White Pines, towards the river. All was shadowed now, for the afternoon was growing late.

We soon reached the picnic area. After taking another look at the river, we headed back via the woods roads.

We dove back to Auburn Maine along Upper Road, a country road that follows a north-south ridge that’s on the western side of the park. It passes several scenic farms and has nice views of the rolling hills by the river (though none of the river, itself).

About two and one-half hours.