Family Nature Journaling Hike on the Deasey Trail, June 24, 2023
The first sponsored hike of 2023 was a family friendly, all ages hike on Deasey Pond Trail the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument section of the trail. This trail is one of the shorter trails in KW&W, and was perfect for a nature journaling hike. Our small group included Amy Barker, Nancy Hathaway, Zoe Martel, and Indy Highsmith.
We all camped at the lovely Sand Bank Stream camping area the night before. It was a great place to get a head start on some nature journaling. We saw baby painted turtles, pickerel frogs, American bull frogs, snapping turtles, and got to watch a nighthawk swooping through the sky.After a nice breakfast the hike started at the Deasey Pond Trail parking area, near the start of the monument’s Loop Road, where there is plenty of parking available. (And moose tracks!)
We saw many wildflowers, ferns, lichens, and fungi along our walk along the trail. Amy was able to practice some of her wildflower identification (she’s a Maine Master Naturalist in training) and we got lots of wonderful pictures. At the end of the trail, overlooking Deasey Pond, is a gorgeous viewing platform, with benches. This gave us all a chance to break out the nature journals and watercolor pencils, and start documenting what we saw. We saw pitcher plants in bloom, which was really interesting and exciting. We also saw Labrador Tea, and several species of dragonflies. We spent a good amount of time drawing and painting what we saw, then headed back to the parking lot.
Now, off course it wouldn’t be a Maine IAT hike without a bit of hiking on the International Appalachian Trail! We headed to the very start of the trail and took a little meander down to Katahdin Brook Shelter.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and the hike was a great one. Please feel free to sign up for one of our other sponsored hikes if you’re interested in checking out a section of the trail you’ve never seen. You can sign up at this link: Sponsored Hikes
