This post is written by Katie, about a quick hiking day trip outside Brunswick, Maine.

After the US Open finished on Sunday, I had much of Monday free until my 6pm flight out of Portland.  My teammates wanted to study, so I dropped them at a coffee shop in Brunswick around 11:45am and drove our rental car about 35 minutes to Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine.

Uncharacteristically, I had not done any research on the park outside of looking at Google maps and seeing that Reid State Park was on the Maine coast and close to Brunswick.  Hence, I had no idea of what Reid State Park had to offer.  I reached the unmanned entrance gate after driving on some country roads for about 10 miles, where I put my $6.50 non-Maine resident admission into the honor box.  The road forked shortly after the entrance, but the road to Todd’s Point was closed so I drove towards Outer Head.  I had assumed there would be trails in the state park, but instead the road ended near a beach.  I explored around the area, but it seemed the main activity – besides swimming in the summer – was exploring around the rocks and beaches.  Apparently the beaches and dunes are nesting areas for endangered least terns and piping plovers, so some of the board-walks were closed.

The park was pretty empty and peaceful – there were about 6 cars in the parking lot when I arrived and only 2 when I left.  I wandered about the rocks, down 1-mile beach, and to Little River Ledges.  I sat on the rocks there for a bit before walking back to the parking lot.  I had a quick picnic ‘lunch’ of Sprite, a Pop-tart, and a couple bananas.

Overall, the park was nice and relaxing, but not what I had expected.  On my trip in 2012 we had stumbled across a park with trails through pines along the cost, so I was expecting something like that.  I had originally hoped to stay in Maine a few extra days after the US Open to camp and hike at Arcadia National Park, but eventually decided against that in order to get back to Austin for a Tritonal concert on Tuesday night.