How do you get your daily exercise? I walk the beach most days in the Spring, Fall and Winter…in the summer, it’s just part of my daily commute to the office.

When you leave the campground and walk right with the Bay to your left, the most prominent destination is Moose Point State Park. Covering 183 wooded acres, there are well positioned park benches that simply beg you to dawdle and day dream as you look out to Islesboro, Sears Island, Northport Harbor and the Eastern side of the Bay…or stretch your hamstrings.

You’ll smell fragrant bay bushes and very healthy evergreens as you walk the beautifully maintained trails or settle into one of the many picnic spots. Depending on the time of day that you walk and the luck that’s on your side, you’ll see eagles, osprey, harbor seals, porpoise, double breasted cormorants, loons, sand pipers and sea ducks. Keeping your eyes on the beach will yield mussel shells, sea urchins, periwinkles, whelks, hen clams, mermaid’s tears and pretty rocks.

If numbers are important, than you’ll like to know that there are two jogging/walking (but no bicycles please) trails measuring 1.5 miles and 2 miles depending on the loop you choose. If you’re walking for exercise, you can walk the beach for 20 minutes between Searsport Shores and Moose Point (jumping from boulder to boulder is good for the gluts), power walk the trails for another 20 minutes and walk back to the campground a bit slower to cool down…or you can poke around and look for fossils and treasures and make the journey last for hours…often having the entire beach to yourself…it’s a great reason to play outside regardless of the season.

On a side note, obviously following the beach to the park isn’t wheelchair real, but if you drive Route One and access the park like most people, the trails are comfortably groomed for wheelchairs and scooters; moreover, the state has done a very nice job of providing wheel chair modified picnic tables and BBQ grills.