Maine Outdoor Journal

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Rich Knox, Maine Coast Heritage Trust communications director, walks along the west shore of Whaleboat Island in Casco Bay. Whaleboat Island is one of a handful of the organization’s islands that are open for public use.

Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

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Rich Knox walks along the west shore of Whaleboat Island, which features primitive campsites and information kiosks tucked back into the trees and shrubs. Visitors can expect to see deer, red squirrels, showshoe hares, eider ducks, osprey and possibly a bald eagle.

Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

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Rich Knox paddles along the east shore of Whaleboat Island, which is roughly a mile from the mainland. On a calm day, it’s about a 20-minute paddle.

Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

WHALEBOAT PADDLE TRIP

The paddle from the boat launch at Dolphin Marina in Harpswell (which costs $5) to the meadow campsite on the south shore is only a half hour in rocky seas of 10 to 15 knots.

ONLY STRONG PADDLERS should attempt the crossing in rocky seas, and those new to kayaking should cross in much calmer conditions.

As always, bring ample safety gear and leave a trip plan with someone on shore. Also, check the marine forecast before leaving. Conditions can be found at this Web site: www.maineharbors.com

BIRDING EVENT

Those able to motor out or paddle to Whaleboat Island are welcome to join a birding event at the height of the fall hawk migration in Maine. The Hawk Watch will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Participants are responsible for their own transportation. Those who attend should meet the group at the small cove on the island's east side.

HARPSWELL — Whaleboat Island could be called the ambassador island for the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.

The largest undeveloped island in busy Casco Bay, the 122-acre preserve looks wild and forgotten.

It's far from it.

"Normally, it sees a few hundred (visitors) every summer," said Rich Knox, Maine Coast Heritage Trusts communication director. "But it's primitive and simple. The idea is to feel like you were the first person to discover it. The camp sites are tucked back and primitive."

The wilderness-focused land trust, which manages more than 50 preserves along the Maine coast, recently began to better publicize a half-dozen of its preserves where there is public access.

While the trust strives to maintain a pristine, wild experience for all, it also recognizes that some preserves can handle more use.

"Within the past few years, we did a carrying capacity for all the preserves. We tried to balance the amount of use that was seen with the sensitivity to other resources. We made some estimates for how much more the preserves can absorb," said Andy Walsh, the trust's regional steward.

At Whaleboat, there could easily be many more day-use visitors, Walsh said. During the past seven years, the annual number of people visiting the island who were counted varied from only 80 to a little more than 300. (Numbers do increase during tourist season.)

The camping is first-come, first-serve, so when the half-dozen camp sites fill up, the island is then "full." And there are only so many places to wander.

The island is big, but also so densely forested, it is impossible to move through it.

A hike in its forest and fields reveals information kiosks that explain the island's secret: the Leave No Trace principles that visitors are encouraged to uphold. Walsh said the vast majority do.

Since the island was purchased in 2002, the trust has tried to maintain its biological diversity and minimize degradation caused by newly created trails and trash.

A paddle on a weekday finds two handfuls of trash at the two campsites on the mile-long island, but the bottles and cans could have washed ashore.

For the most part, the island looks undisturbed. Outside of the information kiosks tucked back into the trees and shrubs, it appears remote – not a mile from the mainland.

Inhabited only by deer, red squirrel and snowshoe hare, Whaleboat seems happily empty on a fall weekday. The only other visitors are monarch butterflies, eider ducks and osprey.

"There is a bald eagle that hangs around there. I don't see it nesting on the island, but you can see it there," Walsh said. "I assume there is deer there, just because they seem to access most of the islands."

With few places to hike, the main activity here is enjoying the view. Even on a hazy day, the outline of the Presidential Mountain range can be seen from the north campsite.

"A lot of people come here just to look for sea glass," Knox said. "Low tide is the only time you can get from the north end to the western side."

While beachcombing for sea glass proved a treasure hunt, it ended with success. Emerald green and dark brown glass was nestled into the sand among the broken shells and stones. Gathered together, the smooth bits were a mosaic of ocean color.

However, all of these lazy scenes should not overshadow the challenge in the trip to the island itself.

Even from the closest boat launch, at Dolphin Marina in Harpswell, it can take a strong paddler 20 minutes on a calm, flat day. On a day with a brisk east-northeast wind and choppy seas, it took twice that time.

"That's the hairy edge. You wouldn't want to go if it was more than that," Knox said.

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com