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Parks and Preserves Continued

We showed you some pictures of the repaired Pemaquid Point Light in the January trip report. Here is a springtime 360-degree showcase of the lighthouse and the repaired fence and bell house.

Pemaquid from front left, with the flag blowing in the breeze.

Pemaquid Light viewed from the front.

Pemaquid Light viewed from the front right, at the corner.

Pemaquid viewed from the back corner, with the fog house on the right.

Looking past the fog house to the lighthouse.

Pemaquid Light from the back, which is the side facing the water.

Pemaquid Light from the back, which is the side facing the water.

Pemaquid Light from the left side.

The Daffodils in their little garden were in full bloom.

Looking over the flower bed towards Pemaquid Lightkeeper House.

Next to Anne is Paul's extended full-size tripod. You might not notice it at first, but down near Anne's foot is the mini tripod.

Anne is standing in front of the flower bed.

Here is the other side of the repaired bell house. The rocks directly behind the bell house jut far out into the water. Don't stand on the rocks on a stormy day!

The Fog House stands against the sky and ocean.

The rocks have very distinct lines that run towards the ocean.

The gulls are enjoying the view.

The roof of the light keeper house has 3 gulls on it, and the flag stands straight out in the wind.

The moon was more than half full during our visit.

The moon is visible above the lighthouse.

At LaVerna Preserve, the osprey nest is occupied again this year. The male is bringing fish to the female.

One osprey is in the next and a second one is going to land momentarily.

At one point, the male was making very odd maneuvers in the air while holding the fish. Instead of flying with his talons and the fish below him, he was positioning himself more upright and holding the fish in front of his body. We don't know if he was practicing landing, playing, showing off for the female, or something entirely different.

The osprey is vertically in the air with a fish held in front of him.

The waves.

Water pours over a seaweed covered rock, with another wave immediately behind it.

Anne

An out of focus image of Anne is behind some in-focus branches.

The elusive Double-Headed Osprey.

Two ospreys are in the next, each looking opposite directions.

A sign at LaVerna listed other preserves in the area, including the new-to-us Bass Rock Preserve in Round Pond (link to their website). The hardest part of this preserve is driving up the road to get there; there were some substantial pot holes! The walk in the preserve is short, through a pretty woods and along Muscongus Bay. Someone set up this little swing.

A thin board is hanging via twine from a rather thin tree branch. Wet rock is underneath and a river is in the background.

Driving back to Round Pond we saw a sign for Lupine Field. It is exactly what it says, a field, but it leads to nice views of the harbor.

Looking down a rock formation, water with boats can be seen.

Laughing Gulls are less common than Herring Gulls, but they seem to like Round Pond Harbor.

A Herring Gull is flying over water.

You often see birds standing on one leg. This gull was in the process of tucking his leg up. (Note: if you put your mouse over the picture, the slideshow stops.)

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Next to the field were many daffodils and tulips.

A hill with green grass, yellow and white daffodils, and red tulips.

Heading further north on the peninsula, on one of the inland roads, is Pemaquid Pond Preserve, another spot that is new to us (link to their website). The preserve has a short walk down to the pond...

Paul is standing at the end of a rock formation on the edge of a pond.

... and then a loop back through the woods to the parking area. Anne took advantage of that mini tripod.

Some ferns in the woods.

The last of the preserves that were first-time visits for us was Peter's Pond Trail System (link to their website). This is another nice walk through the woods, down to a pond which, confusingly, shows on the maps as Gross Pond. There are cliffs there where obviously jump off into the water, based on the rope for swinging. The trail crosses a very wet area.

Looking across a marsh, the trail can be seen going into the woods on the other side.

Anne was again using the mini-tripod.

Anne is crouched down in the woods with her camera on a short tripod.

A small green plant with draping branches and dew drops

Driving over to the next peninsula, we visited Friendship. Downtown at the working harbor, they still had a holiday tree of buoys up.

Buoys of many different colors are tied together in a tree shape.

We are not certain how sturdy this ladder is.

A wooden ladder leads up from dry ground to a walkway next to a wall.

Driving around to the other side of Friendship Harbor gives a nice view back at all the boats taking advantage of the harbor's protection.

A view over rocks and seaweed to a harbor full of boats.

Paul stands in front of the harbor.

Nestled between Friendship Harbor and Back River (this is a fairly common name for rivers) is Garrison Island. There are houses on Garrison Island, but it is only accessible at low tide.

A dirt and rock roadway leads to an island.

Looking at Back River.

Small groups of rock dot the surface of the water.

The northern most point we visited on this trip was the Olson House. We had previously been here in 2019. The parking area had been moved since then, and new informational signs provided. We took a picture of Paul standing in the same spot as John Olson.

The information on this sign is about the color of the Olson house, which used to be white.

Paul is standing in front of the corner of the brown Olson House.

On to page 5

Updated June 2025