The small preserve is made up of a wild meadow reaching the wetland area around Hardscrabble River. From May to October, Cobscook Shores mows wide paths through the meadow grasses, but watch your step, the ground can be uneven in places. In January and February, the trails are groomed for skiing for its outdoor education
It’s hard to imagine how Hardscrabble River got its name — it is the beguiling estuary of Wilson Stream, a tributary to Dennys Bay, with calm waters and forested shores. But I suppose life may have been tough along its shores. From this beautiful preserve’s parking area, you can follow a path along the wooded
Black Duck Cove was my favorite of the Cobscook Shores parks. It offers a lengthier hike than the others — 2.5 miles one way — which helps magnify the reward at the end. We loved sitting and resting inside the well-made pavilion at the tip of the preserve point. It is perched atop a headland
The trail at this Cobscook Shores property starts on a bucolic, easy-to-walk woods road, before it intersects at 0.2 miles with a shoreside footpath heading off to the left and to the right. If you turn right, you’ll reach a small inlet in about 0.2 miles. If you go left, the trail will end in
The aptly named Cedar Trail brings you gradually down through an old cedar forest to a long, stepped bog bridge (like a bog bridge staircase, which was the highlight of the trail for us!). The one-way trail ends at 0.2 miles at the grass-covered shores of a tributary brook to South Bay. The park is
Cobscook Shores says visitors are welcome by appointment to Island Coves park, which is accessible via a private road. To access the preserve, you’ll drive down a dirt road — it can be rough in places but is still passable for low-clearance cars. At the fork, turn right to reach the small parking area and
Two preserves are attached here via the ~0.8-mile Bay to Bay trail. We started our walk at Cobscook Shores’ Morrison Cove, doing the 0.5-mile loop around the park before heading over to Huckins Beach preserve on the Bay to Bay Trail. The prettiest section of the Bay to Bay Trail, I think, is on the