Taft Point Preserve, Gouldsboro
Taft Point Preserve is part of the Frenchman Bay Conservancy with 65 acres of woodlands and a half mile of ocean frontage. The phenomenal views of Schoodic Mountain, Stave Island, the Acadia mountains and Schiefflen Point are worth the walk.
If you are interested in exploring the rest of the Schoodic peninsula, take a look at this “Schoodic Adventure one-day itinerary“!
If you are heading back through Ellsworth, a local hidden gem is the craft brewery, “Fogtown Brewing“.
It was a beautiful day in May. The drive from the Bangor area to Gouldsboro was a little over an hour. We arrived at the Taft Point Preserve at about 1:00 pm.
If you look at the map above, you will see the Jones trail on the right. It was located just across the road from the parking area and we started there. It was a lovely trail, which had QR codes that you could use with your smart phone for information.
The trail then went downhill for a while until we came to the beach trail, where we turned right and walked on this for a little while until we reached the beach.
Once there, the trail actually goes onto the beach.
You have beautiful views of mountains and islands.
We then walked along the beach for a while until we saw the wooden steps back up to the Flanders trail.
Caution- we saw a good amount of poison ivy on the sides of the trail.
We continued on the Flanders trail which had lovely ocean views and then turned inland. We passed a few old wells, which may have been part of old homesteads, maybe in the 1800s?
We finally returned to the parking lot, which was almost full with 4 cars there. The entire loop was probably about two miles, but mostly flat and absolutely beautiful- a perfect walk!
Return to the Gouldsboro page or the hiking page.