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Last week, I wrote about the healing powers of kayaking in the salt water marshes of Maine. While on the same long-planned-for vacation, shortly after my family experienced a house fire that polluted the air in our valley, I continued to find peace in Maine nature.
My family was staying in and near Kennebunkport, and one morning, my partner and I checked the tide charts and headed out for a hike an hour before low tide.
We planned to walk to Vaughn Island, off of Cape Porpoise. Low tide revealed a land bridge to the island, accessible from an hour before through an hour after after low-tide, before the rising tide submerged it again.
The first challenge was parking. The place where we wanted to start our hike only had three parking spaces, and they were taken. Private residences surrounded the area, so we picked another spot to start, about a 10-minute drive away.
This area was also full of cars, but we managed to squeeze into the end of a pull-off on the road near the harbor.
We started our adventure in the wrong spot - at first it seemed great, with nice rocks and interesting seaweed and other other tidal flora. But then we wandered into an area that was more sludgy, with small shells and dense seaweed to slog through.
Looking for a better spot, we scrambled up some rocks, and found a more obvious trail around the corner. This took us to a much more ideal hike, again through rocks and into wet sand, but easier and much prettier than the first alcove we wandered through.
Almost immediately, my wet sandal broke stepping through the sticky wet sand. I soon found walking on the land bridge was easier without shoes anyway.
Unfortunately, I had other foot trouble - a flare up of plantar fasciitis left me with super sore feet, making my progress slow and somewhat unsteady.
I would walk for a few minutes concentrating on my hurting feet. Then I would pause for a break to look around taking even more time that I would ordinarily to soak in my surroundings. I saw bird footprints in the sand, breathed deeply in the salty air, and found peace in my surroundings.
The openness of land and sea scape, the flocks of shorebirds, the cool water and briny air made hiking on aching feet feel more than worth it.
Due to my slow space and the distance of our parking spot, we didn't make it all the way to Vaughn Island, but we poked around smaller islands nearby, and sat for a bit watching the birds (sandpipers, grebes and others).
The edges of the island are important transitional ecosystems between land and sea, habitat for tidal plants and animals.
Taking a different path back, we sank into the sand up to our shins, and I my fear of quicksand crept up on me. Once on firmer sand, I stopped to rinse my feet in a rivulet that didn't fully empty at low-tide. The cool water felt refreshing and soothing.
In the distance, I spotted Goat Island Lighthouse.
Most of the information about these islands pertain to camping. This sounds like a fun adventure for some future year. It would have to be combined with the aforementioned kayaking, to get to and from the campsites.
Information warned about local hazards: raccoons, mosquitos and poison ivy.
As with the salt marsh, taking this time in nature proved nurturing and helped clear my head. And calm my emotions.