Indian Trail Park features a great walking trail in Brewer, Maine
Indian Trail Park is a park in Brewer, Maine which features walking trails. The walking trails create a great hike along the Penobscot River. The trails are great for kids and dogs.
One of the things I love most about living in the Greater Bangor Region of Maine, and specifically Hampden, Maine is that there are so many hidden gems right here in our own backyard. I recently discovered a new-to-me trail in the town of Brewer, Maine, maintained by the Brewer Land Trust. Brewer is about 12 minutes from me where I live in Hampden, so this trail was very easy to get to and find. I had visited parts of this walking trail in Brewer, Maine before but I had no idea how they looped together! A friend told me that I needed to go check it out, so I did some research and I was delighted – the trail seems to be beautiful! My friends Lindsay and Allison also wanted to walk their dogs in the morning, so we made a plan to meet at the Indian Trail Park to go exploring and hike along the Penobscot River!
Trail Stats for Indian Trail
Trails: Loop Trail
Miles: Approx. 1.7 miles RT
Elevation Gain – Approx. 118 feet
Level: Beginner
Pets: Definitely
Kids: Absolutely
Parking: Indian Trail Park
Winter: Sure! Would be fun to snowshoe. It’s accessible!
Penobscot Salmon Club and the Penobscot River
This trail runs alongside the Penobscot Conservation Alliance and the Penobscot Salmon Club. The Penobscot Salmon Club is listed on the National Register of Historic Places!
According to Wikipedia – The Penobscot Salmon Club is a historic private fishing club on North Main Street and the Penobscot River in Brewer, Maine. Established in 1887 and incorporated in 1894, it is the oldest fishing club in the United States, and a rare surviving 19th century gentleman’s outdoor club
The Penobscot RIver is a tidal river. This trial has exposed rock and beach areas that are best when the tide is out, but beautiful in any scenario. We talked about how this summer we should walk the dogs out here and have a picnic on the beach! The Penobscot River was heavily used for transportation in the 1800’s, so you’ll find a tremendous amount of driftwood on the beach in low tide. Side note – the logging also did a job on polluting the water, so you should not drink out of here. We do take a boat out here in the summer, and some of our friends have swam in this water with no deadly diseases or infections, so I don’t think there’s anything significant you should worry about. According to the Bangor Daily News and the Bangor Historical Society, “Ships were packed so tightly that, at times, one could skip from Bangor to Brewer across their decks.” In fact, Bangor’s economic development director, Tanya Emery says “The waterfront is safe and clean today!” It was pretty magical to hike along the Penobscot River.
Hiking the Indian Trail Loop along the Penobscot River
The trail is really not well marked at all, but you can kinda figure it out. It’s pretty safe to say that you’re not going to get *too* lost. I saws some comments on AllTrails stating that people wee confused because they came upon a house and they were afraid of trespassing. The trail runs past the Salmon Club, as mentioned above, and I think people thought that the Clubhouse was a private residence. We went on a late fall day, when the leaves covered the ground, so you couldn’t see a clear path, but you can view my recording on AllTrails to follow the path that we did!
The trail crosses a rock slide in the beginning, then runs along the waterside. Make sure to take one of the many cutoffs to enjoy the views! There are a few different trails that run next to each other, and they all sort of intersect in a loop format. For example, I went down a cutoff point while the girls stayed up with the pups. I continued to walk down the beach and the took the trail back up, to where I was then in front of them and I was able to surprise them! Even got the dogs to look. I really enjoyed this hike along the Penobscot River. There’s so much to see. We headed back down until we could see the old dam remnants from a distance, as well as Cascade Park across the river and EMMC/Northern Light Hospital. We thought we heard the Life Flight helicopter! We couldn’t see more of a trail during high tide, so we looped back around to the parking lot. After all, we were hungry!
Apres hike at Mason's Brewing on the Brewer Waterfront
It wouldn’t be a day on the Brewer Riverfront without a trip to Mason’s Brewing! One of our favortie places, you can read more about it in the Brunch at Mason’s Brewing Company post. Props to them for having a few items I can eat with my gluten allergy, and also making their bloody marys gluten free!
