The best family-friendly hikes and walks in Reid State Park

You can explore this impressive state historic site, built in the early 20th century, slightly later than its neighbor, Fort Popham. It was part of the Harbor Defense due to its privileged location overlooking the mouth of the Kennebec River. With three batteries, it was manned and equipped during both World Wars, though fortunately, it was never used and was finally decommissioned in 1949.

Half Mile Beach is located just south of Mile Beach. It is a slightly shorter stretch of sand beach, but it is equally beautiful, and offers a more secluded, less crowded atmosphere. This beach is nestled between the dunes and the Little River.

Mile Beach in Reid State Park, Georgetown, Maine, is a scenic, sandy beach that offers a classic New England coastal experience. As the name indicates, the beach spans a mile and its southern end it marked by a rocky promontory known as Todd's Point, which provides stunning ocean views.

Kennebec River Lookout Trail is a short (.33 miles one way) extension trail off of the main Gamble Trail and Gamble Loop Trail to a viewpoint of the Kennebec River. This is a lovely spot where you get nice views over the river to Lamb and Marr Islands.

The 377-acre Berry Woods Preserve is part of a larger network of conserved lands totaling over 2,000 acres, which includes Reid State Park and Maine Audubon’s Josephine Newman Sanctuary, spanning across Georgetown Island. The preserve offers a small trail system with generally easy, level terrain, perfect for hiking and bird-watching, and snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing in the winter. Trails meander through oak-pine forests from the shores of the Kennebec River to Robinhood Cove, passing by notable features like an old mica mine and natural blowdowns. Visitors are encouraged to follow preserve policies, including day use only, foot traffic only, staying on trails to protect the ecosystem, and carrying out all litter. Pets, fires, smoking, and camping are not permitted.

The McDonald Preserve, part of the Spirit Pond preserve in Phippsburg, Maine, is managed by the Phippsburg Land Trust. Located on the eastern shore of Spirit Pond, this small, 10-acre sanctuary is accessible via the McDonald Sanctuary Trail, which crosses the Spruceville bridge. The trail forms a short loop through old-growth hardwoods and along the pond's shoreline. The loop is orange blazed, with a white-blazed connector from the southern parking area. The preserve offers excellent birding opportunities, with a variety of water, wading, and woodland birds. You can connect this loop to the longer Spirit Pond Loop, which is blue blazed.

The Spirit Pond Trail is a peaceful hiking loop that takes you though diverse terrain, including conifer and hardwood stands, marshes, rivers, and ponds and runs along the northwest banks of the pond and the Morse River. Although mostly flat and easy to navigate, with blue blazes, the trail can get quite muddy and buggy, especially in spring and summer, so proper footwear and bug spray are recommended. On the section closest to the pond, there are multiple short spur trails that take you down even closer to the water.

At the southern parking area for Mile Beach, you can access another small beach area to the south known as Half Mile Beach. Like its neighbor, this beach is on a wide, sandy shore with unobstructed views of the water.