How to get the most out of hiking Maine’s Monhegan Island

Located 10 miles off the coast, Monhegan is a place that’s so picturesque it’s hard to believe it’s real. The island is as magical as Neverland, yet I can assure you that you don’t need fairy dust to reach it. Just a boat.

Ferries serve the island daily, launching from Port Clyde, New Harbor and Boothbay Harbor. The crossing takes 70-90 minutes.

I visited the island last week for the second time, accompanied by my childhood best friend, Lauren, and our moms, plus Lauren’s dog, Mauve. We began our adventure on the Balmy Days II, a 65-foot vessel that can carry up to 130 passengers.

For much of the crossing, our boat was wrapped in a thick fog. Without a horizon on which to fix my gaze, I soon began to feel sea sick as the boat navigated the heaving ocean. I wasn’t the only one. About halfway through the trip, crew members started handing out doggy bags. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and prayed I’d make it to shore without losing my breakfast.

It was drizzling by the time we reached Monhegan’s town dock, where we disembarked and walked up a gravel road, then turned onto a paved road to find gift shops, art galleries and studios, a bed and breakfast, cafes, restaurants, a general store, a hotel and a food truck selling crepes.

I’m making it sound like a big place, and it’s not. The island itself is less than 2 miles long and about half a mile wide. The last population count, in 2020, recorded 64 residents. Yet this small community is well-prepared for visitors, offering everything from fine art to Monhegan-themed apparel.

The village is a definition of charming, with a one-room schoolhouse and a myriad of colorful blossoms adorning historic, cedar-shingled homes. A lighthouse, originally built in 1822, sits on a hill, overlooking it all.

Many people visit Monhegan to hike and enjoy nature. In fact, the majority of the island is wilderness, explorable by a network of well-kept trails.

Nearly 400 acres are owned by Monhegan Associated Inc., which is one of the first land trusts on the East Coast. Established in 1954, it manages about nine miles of hiking trails that fan out from the village and thread through the woods to visit towering ocean cliffs on the island’s eastern side.

Due to the ferry schedule, we had a little less than 4 hours to spend on the island, but we made good use of the time.

Since it was raining, we decided to start by visiting some shops and galleries then ate lunch at Monhegan Fish House. Lauren tossed sticks in the water for Mauve to fetch at Fish Beach, while I searched for frosted sea glass.

When the sun began shining, we grabbed a $1 trail map from a kiosk beside the road, then planned a hiking route. The map included a few suggested hikes for short-term visitors, so we selected one: Whitehead Trail, which led us through the forest to the top of the cliffs.

Pro tip: wear pants if you react to poison ivy. Patches of it can be found throughout the trail system.

Once at the cliffs, I was taking photos when I spied a fluffy baby bird walking around on the ledge below me. It was gray with dark spots on its head and a dark beak. I was wondering what kind of bird it was when an adult herring gull walked over. The chick crowded it, tucking its head against the gull’s chest.

They looked nothing alike. An especially common bird in Maine, the herring gull is stark white with gray wings and a bright yellow beak with a red blotch on it. I never would have guessed the baby was a gull, but upon closer inspection, it had the same webbed feet.

I’ve always lived in Maine and pay close attention to wildlife, yet I’d never seen a baby gull before that day. Since then, I’ve spoken with several people who have expressed the same wonder. In fact, a lobsterman I recently met said he’d never seen a baby gull in all his time out on the water.

Why is that? Well, unlike ducks, baby herring gulls don’t swim around after their parents. They stay near the nest until they can fly. And if that nest happens to be on a rock, these little gray birds can blend right in.

Gull parents are quite protective, which I witnessed as I crouched atop the cliff with my camera. Once it noticed me, the adult gull hopped up on a rock, positioning itself between me and its baby. That was my cue to back off.

We followed a trail along the cliffs and the sweet smell of wild roses combined with salt to make a heady mixture. Young eider ducks preened on the rocks below, their plumage a patchwork of white and brown. Sleek cormorants stood nearby, their inky feathers shining in the sun.

Monhegan is an excellent place for birding. The island attracts birding groups from all over in the spring and fall to spot a variety of species as they migrate. If interested to learn more, the book “The Birds of Monhegan” by Brett M. Ewald records 336 species of birds that have been seen on Monhegan and the surrounding islets and waters, dating back to observations in 1605.

We returned to the dock through a section of the forest called Cathedral Woods, which is filled with moss, mushrooms, tall evergreens and — if you look closely — fairy houses.

We didn’t have time to visit t he island’s famous shipwreck or the many other hiking trails, but we experienced just enough to declare that we’d return someday soon, and maybe stay a night or two.