Beauty in the Burghal: Mount Apatite

I picked Mia up from Grammies house after work. It was a beautiful today, and looked like the last one before the rain moved in for a few days. So we decided to stop at Mount Apatite to take a peek around on our way home.

This trail is located on Stevens Mills Road in Auburn. Parking is at the very end of this road, just past the National Guard armory. Walking in through the gate was something of a time warp for me. There is a short walk through a lot of sand before you get to the actual trail. Amongst this sand is a bunch of military trailers to the right, and more military equipment in the gated section to the left.



Walking past these made me think back to when I was a child, and when we had lived in Germany and Texas when my father was in the Army. In Germany, it was nothing for us kids to cross through the base on our way to and from school, stopping to see dad if he was in the office, and playing amongst all of the equipment. When we lived in Texas, they used to have family days where the kids could come and take rides in the Jeeps and sit in tanks and such. This place reminded me of our Texas experience, and the sands of the desert (minus the tall trees, of course).



Once we got through the sand, we were back in typical Maine territory. The trail is wide, and allows families to walk side by side while still leaving room for other people to walk around or by us. One of the cool things about this hike is that it will lead to areas in which you can do some mineral searching. This is fun for kids especially, because they get to smash rocks open to try to find all kinds of colorful gems, and they get to take them home at the end of the trip! There is no entrance fee to the area, and all that is asked is that you carry out what you carry in (trash and all).



Because of the time constraints of supper time, and all of the other after school/work rituals, we did not make it to any of these areas. That and the fact that Mia wanted to stop every two or three minutes to take in her surroundings, which was fine with me. I often find that when I hike alone, my mind is set on getting to the end. When I hike with Mia, she reminds me to stop and take in the natural beauty around us. Making it to the summit or specific destination of the trail is just as important as taking the time to enjoy the there.



We happened upon a small ‘stream’ that crossed the path. Mia of course noticed this a good distance away, and stopped when we got there to take in the sound and the site.



We stopped a few times to look above us, at the contrasting bright blue sky against the tall dark green trees.



We stopped to look at a marsh area while we listened to some frogs making funny noises.



When we were done with our little adventure, we headed back through the parking lot of sand and to the Jeep. Mia and I had a great time exploring more of our new surroundings, and I had a great time seeing the sights from her point of view!