Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Carson Trail, Wells, Maine
This walk is so easy and so beautiful with kids! It is wagon friendly and you could even bring a stroller with bigger wheels (definitely not an umbrella stroller though). I highly recommend this spot!
Parking
There is a small, free parking lot here. There are bathrooms and trail info at the parking lot. As the parking lot is off the main road and is a dirt parking lot basically in the woods, there are not additional spots available if it is full. We have visited here twice, once was on a beautiful fall morning and once was in the winter. In the fall the parking lot was very full, we got one of the last spots. The good thing about this spot though is that people are in and out pretty quick. The walk is only 1 mile long so people are always coming and going. In the winter there wasn’t snow on the ground, but it was pushed up, so it looks like they do plow it in the winter. It was also completely empty.
The Carson Interpretive Trail Walk
I love nature walks, but I hate hiking with kids and having to carry them on walks. The first time we did this walk we didn’t bring the wagon and didn’t we were carrying them for most of it! Definitely bring your wagon or stroller! It’s a mostly flat path, small gravel through the woods. It’s just under 1 mile long so it was very quick, we stopped for 5-10 minute breaks on the different viewing platforms and were still out of there under 40 minutes. I think that’s why the parking lot turns over quickly if there isn’t a spot available right away.
The Views
Give me anything by the water! It’s a HUGE reason why I love this walk. There’s beautiful marsh views the entire walk and running water as the tide was going out. It was beautiful in the fall but also SO beautiful in the winter with the contrast of the snow and ice along the blue skies and water.
Dog Friendly
This is also a really nice thing about this walk! It is dog friendly, just make sure your dog is on a leash, and obviously be responsible and clean up after your dog.
Check out the website here for more info
This link includes multiple walks in the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge. I am specifically talking about the Carson Interpretive Trail that we did for this walk!
