Hiking in Greenville, Maine

Oh, there are LOTS of terrific hikes in Greenville. You are near the Appalachian Mountains, after all, so you know there are some great hikes available. The Appalachian Trail passes southeast of Greenville and touches some of the day hikes you can choose from. Pick up a little brochure from the visitor's center on your way into Greenville, called "Hiking Guide to the Moosehead Lake Region". Sparky absolutely HAD to get out on a trail before leaving Maine. So she found one in this guide. Only it was about 12 miles outside of Greenville. That was ok...Eldy didn't mind driving Sparky to the hike starting point. His knees were bothering him, so he decided he should be the transporter today..... Sparky thought she might need some bug spray, so we stopped at a little general store in Greenville to look for some. Wanna buy some moose antlers for a souvenir? Here's half of a pair, ten bucks. There were a bunch of them in a bin. These didn't look too swift.

The drive into the hiking starting point was SCARY after getting off the main road. After traveling to Monson, a nearby town, you get off the main road and take a gravel road for 0.7 of a mile. The gravel road was barely no wider than the width of a car, and we were driving a rental. The sides of the road had not been trimmed since last year, and branches bare and/or leafy were a constant threat to scratching the car. The potholes were abysmal! Sparky could tell that Eldy wanted to turn around but he couldn't, it was a one way drive into the hiking destination. If you met somebody on the road coming out, there were only two places where you could even think about pulling off to let them by. He prayed on the way in that we wouldn't meet anybody. We didn't.....Whew!

We got to the campground site where the hike started. Eldy's knees would not be able to take a "moderate" hike so he graciously waited in the car while I headed out, rather than drive BACK out the horrible washed out road, with no cell phone signal, so he read literature in the car while Sparky started her hike. The trail was well marked with blue blazes.

You walk upstream on a trail that follows a river. After about .8 of a mile, you come to the Appalachian Trail, designated by white blazes on the trees. Sounds easy, right? Wel-l-l-l-l....yes and no. The distance is short, the hike is steep! The trail starts out not too badly....

Then, lots of roots....

Once you get on the AT, you only have to go about two tenths of a mile, but it seemed a lot longer than that, till you get to the falls....See the incline? There's a drop off to the right. You are steadily, steadily climbing to get to a gorge and the falls, which are NOT little, by the way.

On the way to the falls, Sparky saw a check in box for the AT. She thought about registering for a moment, just to note that she was on the AT, but that's really for people doing longer hikes, so she didn't. Although she almost got lost later, so perhaps that WOULD have been a good idea!

This is a very popular hike, despite the awful road leading into the parking lot which is basically a very small campground site about big enough for two or three tenting families. But the view is fantastic at the gorge....

Your final destination can be a little scary and hiking with very young children is NOT recommended as there are only slippery rocks and big rounded boulders at the end of the trail. Sparky lay down on her stomach to photograph the gorge below and she gulped a little. It wouldn't take much to lose your balance on the rounded rock she was standing, then sitting, then laying on.

BUT---the falls were fantastic! And not so little!

Time to head back, Eldo was waiting....Sparky eagerly started back reversing her steps, or she THOUGHT she was...After following the trail and reversing the colors of the blazes, white first, then blue, Sparky noticed that she was now right next to the river, instead of being on higher ground. She knew she was on the Appalachian Trail for much longer than she should have been. Something was wrong. She had not seen a blue blaze for some time. Sparky headed a little further, nope, not right...She should have picked up the blue blaze trail by now. Sparky started to panic, she did not see the AT trail to reverse her direction and get back a ways to where she wandered off the trail. As she looked around, there didn't seem to be a sign of a trail in front of her or in back or her, or to the side. There must have been an intersection between the Little Wilson Falls trail and the AT, and Sparky had missed it coming back. Twenty minutes went by. Sparky thought "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble. It's late in the afternoon and I'm lost." She took a deep breath. She knew she had to get on higher ground, she just needed to retrace backwards, not deviating from the very narrow path she was on.

So, back she went, and finally, about five minutes later, which seemed like thirty, she saw an intersecting sign, with white, blue, and PINK markings. There was a pink "equals" sign beside the AT white, and Little Wilson Falls blue blaze, which apparently signified that the falls trail joined the AT there. Sparky never saw that tree with the markings the first time on the way back. But there was the BLUE, and she knew she was ok. A big sigh of relief.....A BIG sigh.....And she bogeyed back on the trail towards the car where Eldy was waiting....He was just beginning to worry, he said....Sparky downplayed how nervous she was at getting off the trail and being temporarily lost, she knew she could have followed the river back, except the AT trail ventured AWAY from the river after a while, and that was not going to be an option. At any rate, Sparky decided to never hike again without some sort of compass! This was a short hike, folks, so not as alarming as it sounds...Sparky could see, however, how easily someone might panic on a hike, how someone could blindly head off into the woods in a slight panic and REALLY get to the point where there was no trail whatsoever to follow....She was glad Eldo was waiting up ahead. She had planned about how long it would take, and Eldo would have come looking for her, if needed. There were also other campers near the trail at the time of the hike, so Sparky was confident that if she didn't find the trail soon, she could use her whistle to sound an alarm......

Oh! Sparky did see some interesting things on the trail back from the falls....Is this bear poop or moose poop?  Could be deer poop, maybe? That was one thing she got a little nervous about. And she could SWEAR she heard some animal noise on the ridge above her, like a bear rustling around....heheheheheheh......

Hard to see, but Sparky thought this might be a moose hoof? or a deer hoof? It was quite big for a deer. And hard to see if it was a split hoof or not.....

It was an exhilarating hike for more reason than one...Sparky loved seeing the falls, and hopes to return to do more hikes in the Greenville, Maine area next year....

A terrific visit to Maine this year...We are truly blessed that we saw so many things this time...Sparky got to bike and hike and whale watch, and both Eldy and I loved our trip this year...We had a wonderful time at beautiful, beautiful Acadia and Bar Harbor.....See you on our next adventure! Sparky heads to Virginia......Eldo heads to Indiana to see his granddaughter play golf, play golf with her and his grandson, and visit his son and daughter....Bye for now....