*MFS stands for myxofibrosarcoma (mix-O-fibro-sarcoma)*
Unfortunately, I have known too many friends and colleagues who have “made the trip” down to Boston. The trip to see some of the best doctors in the world to get answers and treatments for cancer, rare diagnoses, and many other ailments.
I always, for better or worse, considered myself lucky; lucky that I didn’t need to see experts or have any complicated diagnoses. But now, I have joined the club of those that have made the trek down to Boston for medical reasons.
As we drive down to Boston, I am distinctly aware of the place that I am in; a limbo of sorts between what was and what is going to be. An official departure of life as I knew it but not yet at an arrival of what life is going to be. This feeling is familiar but I can’t place where I have felt this before. It’s only once my husband parks the car in the hospital parking garage, and we grab a quick bite of our packed lunches, do I remember where I have felt this before: arriving at the labor and delivery unit for the pending birth of our daughter.
While nostalgia draws me into that time and lets me linger, it also distorts my memories. Today, the memory of that limbo is heavily filtered where everything about that time seems perfect and synced to some Enya song from her Memory of Trees soundtrack because we were able to have the outcome we desired; the healthy arrival of our daughter. In reality, I was as scared back then as I felt parked in the truck today.
Anyway, I digress…
I am under the care of a team of doctors at Mass General Bridgham, specifically the Orthopaedic Oncology Department and Center for Sarcoma.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this initial team meeting. I had images in my mind of sitting in big oversized chairs with a doctor behind a dark stained mahogany desk surrounded by academic textbooks handing out a rigid, void-of-emotion, treatment plan.
In reality, it was the complete opposite.
We were brought into a sterile, small exam room where my vitals were checked like I was being seen for strep throat and then a series of casual, yet overwhelming, conversations took place.
If you swapped out the sterile exam room for a campfire and replaced the notebooks and pens in our hands with beers, you would have never guessed that we were talking about treatment for a rare sarcoma. It was THAT casual.
Needless to say, we were really impressed by the team. Impressed, of course, by their expertise but also for their sincere empathy and compassion about this journey I would soon be embarking on.
So, who makes up my medical team?
An Orthopaedic Oncologist: This is captain of the team, so to speak. He will be overseeing my entire care, along with my surgery (more on that later).
A Plastic Surgeon: Part of the Surgery Team.
A Chemotherapy Oncologist: While I will not be receiving chemotherapy, this Oncologist will follow my journey, receive updates on my care, and be there should I need that course of treatment.
A Radiation Oncologist: I will be working with this Oncologist later on in my treatment.
A Social Worker: I will be working with a social worker to navigate some of the internal systems of care like housing, gas cards, etc.
I feel like I have the BEST team to help tackle this cancer shit. It feels like a rock star team, the best minds working together to give me the best possible outcome. More to come on treatment in the next post.
The thing about new chapters is that sometimes the beginning and ends of chapters are a bit blurry; while others loudly pronounce their starts and ends.
Monday June 2nd @ 12:32pm is the date and time that marked the loud arrival of a new and very unfamiliar chapter of my life. It was the date and time my surgeon called me and shared the following: The pathology report on your cyst came back. It had clear markers for cancer.
The following conversation with her is a complete blur. I heard only fragments of words and statements: Rare sarcoma. Boston. Treatment.
And with chapters that come with loud arrival, we sometimes have to go back to few to figure out how we got here. So let’s do that:
It’s June 2024. I’m carrying reams of paper to a counter in the teachers’ room at the high school I work at and I manage to hit my left elbow off the corner of a staff refrigerator. And not just a casual and clumsy bump into this ancient appliance, I collided with such force I was most certain I broke my elbow.
In August 2024, the pain from the collision subsided (and definitely no broken elbow) but I was left with a small bruise and bump that was easy to rationalize are the remnants of the injury. By Christmas, the bruise is gone but I’m left with a bump that many of those in the medical community tell me is probably a cyst from the injury. I get the distinct feeling it’s growing but dismiss it because eyes play tricks on you sometimes, right?
Now it’s March 2025 and my eyes are NOT playing tricks and the cyst has clearly grown; making it uncomfortable to do any forearm exercises in the gym and is beginning to interfere with bench pressing. I make an appointment to see my PCP who decides to x-ray my cyst and to refer me to an orthopaedic surgeon for consultation. X-ray results conclude it’s a cyst.
I met with the orthopaedic team in April 2025 and got further imaging, this time an MRI, on the cyst. MRI concludes it’s a cyst with some small concern about where it’s housing itself on my elbow. The surgeon agrees to move forward with surgery with no concerns regarding the placement of where the cyst is on my elbow.
May 2025. My cyst is officially named Larry from some of the best humans I get to workout with on Sunday mornings. 🙂 Surgery also takes place towards the end of the month. Surgery went fine (with the exception that I hated wearing the cast for two weeks) and the surgeon shared post-op that the removal went well and that it looked like a cyst. However, it would still be sent to pathology.
June 2025. Cancer. Myxofibrosarcoma (mix-O-fibro-sarcoma) to be specific and MFS for short. A super rare sarcoma that typically affects older white males with a high re-occurrence rate. In looking back, naming the cyst ‘Larry’ was a good choice. 🙂
I think the backstory is what makes this next chapter’s arrival such a jarring one; that I didn’t see it coming. I also know I am not unique in this way. Many others before me, and unfortunately after me, will receive this kind of news in the exact same way. Nevertheless, being blindsided with news like this..I still have no words.
So what’s next? A trip down to Boston to get more information and to learn what my treatment plan will be. And then, I fight. I will fight like hell to rid myself of this nasty sarcoma and the odds that it will come back.
And while I’m doing that, I will write. Writing is something that brings me immense amounts of joy and groundedness and so I plan to share my journey of fighting and healing through my blog. How frequently I write and to what length, I will figure out as I go.
What I am certain of though, is that while these updates will have a home on The Wandering Chickadee, I will NOT be sharing much of my journey on my social media platforms.
If you already subscribe to The Wandering Chickadee, you will get my health updates in your email. If you don’t, please drop your email address below as this is the only blog I will be publicly sharing.
As always, thank you for following along! It means the world!
In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to bring you THE BEST stroller friendly trail in Southern Maine. We know in those early postpartum days, weeks, months, and even years, being outside in nature with a friend is sometimes the best medicine!
The award for the Best Stroller Friendly trail in Southern Maine is….The Town Forest in the town of Cumberland.
The Town Forest is accessible from the Tuttle Road in Cumberland
Read through the blog for an in depth summary of the Town Forest and IMPORTANT BATHROOM details or head straight to the summary at the bottom for quick information.
General Information
The Town Forest is located at 290 Tuttle Road and adjacent to the Cumberland Town Hall. No need to worry about parking. There are ample spots available at the trailhead!
The Town Forest was planted around the 1930s with many plantations of red and white pine trees along with varieties of spruce. Unfortunately, some of the forest has fallen victim to invasive species and the town is working hard to minimize their impact on this beautiful parcel of land.
*You can read more about their protection efforts on placards located throughout the trail.
Most strollers will have no issue with this graded gravel trail.
This trail is very wide and has graded gravel. You will have no issues on this trail with double strollers or two strollers side-by-side. Most strollers will have no issues with the gravel trail..with the exception of maybe umbrella strollers. I could imagine some issues with maneuvering on the trail with umbrella strollers but a jogging stroller, or heavy-duty strollers like Uppababy, will have no issues.
All trails in the Town Forest are clearly marked and intersections have placards with additional info.
Another great feature of this trail…a story book walk that changes its story every month.
The storybook walk is roughly a ¾ mile walk. If interested in this, you will want to walk the trail in a clockwise fashion. About half of the story is at the start of the trail, and the last half towards the end of the trail. If you have little ones who are walking with you, there is a nice cut through where you can pick up the story towards the end of the two mile loop.
And…if you forget, don’t worry! There are well-marked signs that will point this out for you.
I LOVE that this storybook walk changes books every month…even in WINTER!
Dogs MUST BE ON LEASH. The Town of Cumberland even provides extra leashes for you to borrow at the trailhead in case you left yours at home.
We have wonderful walks through the Town Forest in Cumberland! My daughter is now 7 years old and can easily complete the larger loop (roughly 2 miles) now. Our biggest motivator to keep coming back to the trail is the changing storybook walk. I love that it changes on the first Saturday of every month…even in the winter! The inner loop can get a little muddy, which can make it inaccessible for strollers and requires boots for all.
There are a ton of benches like this along the trail.
Even though I have a sense that a lot of people know about this trail, I do not find it very busy!
The trail is well marked and a map is available to scan at the trailhead.
The trail is very well marked. These placards are at every trail intersection, too.
Sometimes we visit when the Town Hall is closed and have to be mindful of bathroom breaks. We usually visit this trail more in the summer (#teacher) so having the Town Hall open and getting access to a nicer bathroom available VERY NICE!
Bathroom Rating: B+
I would be lying if I didn’t say that the access to clean bathrooms is a major draw for why I love this trail. The Town Forest is in the same parking lot as the Cumberland Town Hall. When the Town Hall is open, you will have access to sex-separated bathrooms. Currently, the hours of the Town Hall are: Monday-Wednesday 8am-5pm, Thursday 8am-6pm. They are closed Friday-Sunday.
Cumberland Town Hall. Photo credit: Town of Cumberland
The only drawbacks to these bathrooms are that they are NOT accessible when the Town Hall is closed and there are no changing tables within the bathrooms. When the Town Hall is closed, you will find a port-a-potty at the trailhead.
Port-a-potty is available at the trailhead
If coming when the bathrooms are closed AND the port-a-potty isn’t going to work for your family, I highly recommend the Oxo Tot Travel Potty and liners.
Local Food Options:
Rise Pizza offers some great pizza options in downtown Cumberland. Their gluten free pizza is quite good!
Dara Bistro is a cute coffee shop just up the road from the Town Forest and offers a variety of caffeinated beverages, pastries, and breakfast goodies. Weekends can be very busy so get there early!
Additional Adventures:
Looking to add on to your adventure to the Town Forest in Cumberland? Here are a couple of options you add to your day on the quietside:
Pineland Farms. Consider the short 15 minute drive from the Town Forest to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. Grab a bite to eat in their family friend cafe and then head to the Education Barn to visit some barnyard animals.
Wolfe’s Neck State Park. Want to keep exploring? Bring a picnic lunch (Bow Street Market has delicious grab-and-go options!) and continue to explore the trails and shoreline of this beautiful state park just 15 minutes up the highway in Freeport, Maine.
Rainy day or muddy trail? I love these Bog Boots for kids! My daughter wears these constantly so these are one of our gear items that I typically buy new. However, these are usually a well-stocked item at consignment stores!
Dirty or wet clothes? I always have a wet bag ready. Even if the clothes are not wet.. I like to put our trail clothes in a contained space just in case there are ticks on them.
Tick Removers. To be honest, I have one in my car, hiking pack, and at home. I don’t mess around with ticks. Period.
Summary:
The Town Forest in Cumberland is FREE and open year-round. The trail is very wide and has graded gravel. You will be able to comfortably fit two strollers wide or a double stroller. Dogs MUST BE ON LEASH.
We like this town ordinance!
The inner loop of the Town Forest is part of a Storybook Walk; with a new book that changes the first Saturday of the month (even in Winter!).
When the Cumberland Town Hall is open, so is access to their sex-separated bathrooms. If the Town Hall is closed, you will find a port-a-potty near the trailhead.
Coming on a Saturday mid-May through mid-October? Be sure to stop by the Cumberland Falmouth Farmers Market in the parking lot of the trailhead.
Thank you for reading this blog post on The Wandering Chickadee!
~Natalie
This post may include affiliate links. If you click on one of them, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you.
Sherwood Forest Campsite is a family-owned campground located in New Harbor, Maine It is about a 1.5 hour drive northeast from Portland. It is nestled right into Pemaquid Point with access to Pemaquid Beach less than 800 feet from the campground and short drives to Fort William Henry at Colonial Pemaquid and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.
Just a short walk from our campsite to Pemaquid Beach
This campground also gives you easy access to many of the trails on the lands owned by the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust including my personal favorite, the La Verna Preserve, the historic Whaleback Shell Midden Site, and the quaint village of Damariscotta. We even managed to squeeze in visits to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and Boothbay Harbor when we stayed at the Sherwood Forest Campsite.
Sherwood Forest Campsite is a very small campground with about 70 sites on the grounds; 37 sites are seasonal, 22 sites are water/electric hook ups, and about 12 tenting sites (some with electric hookups, some without). Each site has the perfect balance of sun and shade and all sites have a gravel pad (no sand, yah!!).
They also have 4 cabins available to rent. They are duplex log cabins. Just keep in mind that the campground map is somewhat confusing. It looks like there are four individual cabins but…they are not. Cabins #1 and #2 share a wall as do cabins #3 and #4. The campground DOES SHARE that they are duplex cabins; it’s just the campground map that isn’t up to date for them.
Upon arrival, you will check in at the front office. The owners live at the campground and someone is always in the well stocked front office. Reservations are made through their website using the FireFly Reservation platform. A huge bonus is that Sherwood Forest has uploaded great pictures of their campsites! I LOVE getting to look at the campsites ahead of time!
You will always find a well-stocked camp store here!
Quiet hours are 10pm to 8am and are well respected. With the exception of the occasional game of night tag, or our older neighbors who were particularly funny and probably drunk one night, it’s a pretty quiet campground.
This is probably one of my favorite campgrounds to get out and walk in the morning. I have the option of doing loops on the campground road, heading down to Pemaquid Harbor and peeping the beautiful older summer homes there, and walking on the freshly groomed Pemaquid Beach. Traffic is very quiet and I always manage to see deer in my travels!
My morning walks can be so breathtaking here!
The campground is limited for children’s activities. There is no pool and the very small playground could use some love and attention. However, the campground roads provided excellent entertainment for my daughter’s growing independence and her desire to always want to head out and explore the campground on her scooter.
If you are looking for a little beach getaway with options to jump onto a trail, see some historical sites, and/or visit villages like Damariscotta or Boothbay Harbor and then come back to enjoy a campfire at your site, Sherwood Forest Campsite should be added to your list!
Cleanliness of Site/Site Details:
With mature tree growth, most sites have a good portion of shade for the day. The sites are very clean with a well-maintained gravel pad. Each site is pretty spacious and comes with a picnic table and fire pit. A dump site is on the premises and honey wagon services are available as well.
Our FAVORITE site is #18
Here are my recommendations for sites:
Sites #16, 17, and 18. These are our FAVORITE sites. We have stayed in #17 and #18 during both of our visits.
A note about these sites: There is a LOT of mature tree growth. A love for me but a challenge for backing in a trailer. We decided it was better to back in with the site spotted from the passenger side. This meant two things: driving by the site and turning around in the grassy field and to be the husband/wife Dream Team in parking our trailer because my husband is relying solely on my communication. Maybe I will see a back-up camera in the future…but we work really well together so it’s not an expense we are ready to dive into yet!
Sites #56-59 are against the treeline and provide a little more privacy than the ones mentioned above.
#22-23, and #29. If you are looking for pull through sites, I would go with these ones. All three have a great gravel pad site.
Site Costs:
A water/electric site will run about $45/night and a rustic site $39/night. The sites we like will run about $53/night. You will be able to lock-in your site for an additional $10 per reservation. I think this nightly rates are truly AMAZING because…you have Pemaquid Beach within 800 feet of your campsite! Sites like this, in Southern Maine, would go for over $100/night (or more) easily!
Rates for 2025 look to be the same as 2024. As always, these are subject to change so reference Sherwood Forest Campsite’s website for the latest rates.
Amenities:
Pemaquid Beach Access (admission fees apply)
Playground (small and could use some love)
FREE Wi-Fi
Coin Operated Showers
Coin Operated Washer and Dryers
Campstore (really well stocked with camping essentials and more!)
Dump Station
Bathroom Low Down:
There are two bathroom locations at Sherwood Forest Campsite. You will get centrally located sex-separated bathrooms in the middle of the campground. These bathrooms will also be where you find the showers. There are a couple of showers within the sex-separated bathrooms and more attached on the outside of the complex. This bathroom complex also houses the laundry facilities and a dishwashing station.
Centrally located bathrooms and showers
One note here: The dump station is also close to this complex. With that, I do give my daughter a reminder to avoid playing in this area because..well..the dump station.
The other sex-separated bathroom situation will be directly behind the camp store.
Bathroom Rating: B-
The bathrooms and shower rooms are clean but show their age. I like that the bathroom facilities are centrally located so that I do not need to factor in their location when looking at what campsite we want to stay in.
The bathroom facilities behind the camp store do appear to be built more recently.
Coin-operated laundry is on the backside of the bathrooms and showers
Overview of our Experience:
We have been coming to Sherwood Forest Campsite for each of the past 2 years and love it here! A 3-day weekend stay here is perfect for our family. I love the short walk to Pemaquid Beach from the campground. You pay a daily fee to enter the community-run beach and your ticket is valid for the entire day. So…that means you can come and go as you please. Want to have lunch at your campsite and come back? No problem. Need to give a little one a nap and want to return in the late afternoon? Not an issue.
Evening strolls on Pemaquid Beach
They also have chair, umbrella, and boogie board rentals available at the beach. We always snag a beach umbrella and then head down to the beach to set up our spot.
Notes about the beach: Bring cash and the seagulls can be aggressive so be sure that your food is secured very well.
If you have pets, please observe the No Dog rules for Pemaquid Beach
Here are our itineraries for the past two visits:
Itinerary #1:
Arrival Day: On our first visit to Sherwood Forest Campsite, we stopped at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens with our travel trailer in tow. There are spots available in the back of the parking lot that could accommodate our truck and 27 foot trailer. Getting into the parking spots was a breeze but getting out was a bit trickier because we couldn’t make very wide turns. From there, we headed to the campground where check-in was a breeze.
Day 1: We made our first full day a beach day and it was fun to enjoy a rare sandy Maine beach north of Portland. Shells, seaglass, and just a small sunburn (on me!) were collected on the beach!
Day 2: We spent the day exploring Damariscotta and the Pemaquid Lighthouse.
Departure Day: We had a slow morning at the campsite enjoying our last breakfast of the camping season.
Itinerary #2:
Arrival Day: This past year, we changed it up a little bit. We headed straight to the campground for check in and then headed out to explore the historic site of Fort William Henry and explore the archeological site at Colonial Pemaquid. My daughter was able to snag more State Park stamps on her quest to collect them all!
Day 1: On the first full day, we headed back to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (don’t forget to grab your FREE passes to the Gardens at your local library. Not sure if your library has passes to the Gardens, check out my blog to see if your library does! This time, we bypassed the beautiful gardens and spent time on their nature trails and made sure to check out all the trolls around the grounds. After we finished at the Garden, we headed into Boothbay Harbor for some exploring and some lunch. I love stopping into Seawicks Candles and Coastal Maine Popcorn Company.
Day 2: On the 2nd full day, we headed to the beach for a perfectly warm beach day complete with epic sand castles.
One of us has to stay under an umbrella, the rest of us get a nice tan.
Departure Day: We really like to have a slow morning at the campsite on departure days. And this year, despite all our bad luck with rainy departure days, we did the same!
Sherwood Forest Campsite is such a great campground to add to your camping season. Whether you want to hike one of the local preserves, spend time at the beach, or check out all the historical sites around the Pemaquid peninsula, you are sure to find something for everyone.
I also love that Sherwood Forest is VERY BUDGET-FRIENDLY and in talking with other fellow campers, it appears many families make multiple trips each summer to Sherwood Forest to enjoy the wallet-friendly rates and easy access to the beach.
For more on our trip to Sherwood Forest Campsite and the Pemaquid Peninsula as well as all of other adventures, check out my stories and reels on Instagram and Facebook.
The Wandering Chickadee has been featured in a recent Redfin article! A couple of weeks ago, Sarah Ford, the Content Marketing Coordinator for Redfin reached out and asked me to contribute to an article about rainy-day activities at home. Picking an activity to share with her was a no-brainer! Check out the article to see which activity I picked to share with her readers!
The recent news of the farewell of the milking cows has saddened me tremendously.
The farmyard education and the various cow barns have played such an integral part in our daughter’s life. From being a baby and toddler standing back in awe of these great creatures, to a curious yet cautious 5 year old who enjoyed long visits in the barns quietly observing the cows at a distance that felt safe to her, to now a 6 year old who gives them hugs and doesn’t mind the occasional tongue licks on her winter jacket, your barns gave her an opportunity to grow.
Your barns provided so much for her; a truly magical place where she got to learn a little bit more about herself with every visit. A place to find her comfortability with these gentle giants; to take risks in asking questions to staff, strangers in her eyes, and to find reward in the kindness and knowledge they willingly shared with her; and most importantly, to be connected with the beautiful harmony that intertwines us all when we are connected to the land and animals that nourish us, feed us, and support us.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t say that these cow barns have been an extraordinary place for me, a 40 year old woman, to visit. Your barns provided opportunities to get comfortable as a new mother taking my daughter out solo in those early months of her life, time to connect and have conversations with dear friends while our children were entertained by feeding hay to cows in the heifer barn, and so much joy in the simple pleasures of petting a freshly born baby calf.
And while I hope that this letter, along with all the other letters, comments, and calls, would have you reconsider this decision, I trust that this choice was not made in haste but with much deliberation and discussion as to what is in the best interest for the larger farm entity.
So..with all of that said, THANK YOU for giving me and my family 6 years of beautiful memories in these barns. We will miss the cows dearly and look forward to the next chapter of the farmyard at Pineland Farms.
Pleasant River Campground is a family-owned campground located in Bethel, Maine and is about 1.5 hours northwest of Portland.
We have been wanting to get up to western Maine with the camper for a while, so when Pleasant River Campground reached out to see if I wanted to come up and check out their campground, we jumped at the opportunity!
This is a roughly 60-site campground with a variety of sites that include full hook ups, water/electric sites, and rustic sites including a group tenting one. Most of the sites will give you a perfect balance of sun and shade. Sites are mostly a combination of grass and gravel. A few I found to sometimes have gravel that was a sandy-like consistency…and we all know how I feel about sand. 🙁
Pleasant River Campground is also in the process of expanding! The new owners have purchased some park model cabins that will be sitting on the alphabet sites. If you look at this campground map, the cabins will be calling home on the sites on the right-hand side of the map that look “2 rows of 6”. Note: There are no site numbers on the campground map until you go to the booking option.
And skiers, listen up! Pleasant River Campground hopes to have these cabins available year-round!
They also have even bigger goals to expand the campground to the east in the coming years. Think more camping sites, glamping options, etc.!
And this is GOOD NEWS because while growth projections continue to be variable for campgrounds (aka more new campgrounds are projected to open in the next 5 years), there has only been a 1.1% increase in new campgrounds that opened in the United States from 2022 to 2023(IBIS World, 2024). And…according to the Dyrt 2023 Camping Report, the camping community continues to grow with 22.7 million new campers in 2022 and 2023 combined!
This is all to say that campsite scarcity is a real thing, folks and I’m really excited to see a campground in Maine with new owners and new expansion plans! 🙂
Ok, I digress…back to general information on Pleasant River Campground!
Upon arrival, you will check in at the front office; if the manager is not there, you are directed to call the cell phone number provided through our reservations (and it’s also posted on the office door).. For our stay, we had to call and had no issues with check in!
Reservations are made through CampSpot. A huge bonus is that it has pictures of their sites on this reservation platform!!
Pleasant River Campground does have quiet hours but I accidentally threw away our check in paperwork before I could note the times. When we went in the middle of October, the campground was about 25% full and it was very quiet. However, even at full capacity, I don’t get the feeling or vibe that this would be a very party-esque campground.
So..if you are looking for a quiet place to escape to in western Maine, you will find it at Pleasant River Campground.
Our home for the long weekend
As you know by now, I like to get out and walk in the morning. I wasn’t able to get out on the first day due to incredible winds (more on that later). However, on subsequent days, I was able to walk around the campground; which is essentially just a big loop. A couple of times around and you will get about 1.5 miles in.
A water/electric site
There is a trail (not marked) on the property that you can venture through. It is where Pleasant River Campground will expand eventually. The previous owners had the best intentions to expand the campground and cut the roads through the forest a bit of time ago. With some growing back, they have become what feels like abandoned carriage roads…Spooky and neat all at the same time.
Entrance to the expansion area/trail
There is an in-ground pool that was closed up for the season.
Nice in-ground pool
An older playground (horseshoes and volleyball too) is available within the circle of the campground. This was probably my FAVORITE feature! It was very nice to sit around the fire and have a playground so close to our campsite! The playground equipment is a bit dated, and some might say, old-school risky, but my daughter didn’t notice or mind.
Centrally located playground
Cleanliness of Site/Site Details:
With mature tree growth, most sites have a good portion of shade for the day. The sites are very clean with a combination of grass and gravel. As I shared earlier, some of that gravel leans a bit toward a sand-like consistency, which we know isn’t my favorite ground cover.
Each site is pretty spacious and comes with a picnic table and fire pit. The rustic sites (no hookups) along the perimeter of the campground have more space between them than those inside the loop. You are by no means on top of each other on those inner sites but close enough that we were mindful of our noise in the morning before quiet hours were over.
I love that our site was close to this playground
Here are my recommendations for sites:
Sites #1-4, & 7A are full hook up and in close proximity to playground
Sites #5-6 are water/electric and in close proximity to playground
Sites #13-18 are water/electric and are the furthest away from playground with a bit more sun
Sites #51-57 are rustic sites with a good amount of vegetation and trees between neighbors
Site Costs:
We stayed at a full hook-up site for $52/night. A water/electric site will run about $48/night and a rustic site $36/night. You will be able to lock-in your site for an additional $5 per reservation. These are the cheapest nightly rates and lock-in fees we paid all year!!
There are no nightly minimums either, including on holiday weekends!
I think the value you get for these nightly rates is truly AMAZING! To have so many outdoor activities at your fingertips in the greater Bethel area and then to come back to a very clean and quiet campground to relax without having to pay an expensive nightly rate…nothing better!
A rustic camping site
Rates for 2025 look to be the same as 2024. As always, these are subject to change so reference Pleasant River Campground’s website for the latest rates.
Amenities:
Playground
Outdoor Pool
Volleyball
Horseshoes
Pavilion Rental
Hiking Trail
Kayak and Canoe Rentals
Boat/Trailer Storage
Wi-Fi
River Frontage
Campstore (really well stocked with camping essentials and more!)
Dedicated Bathrooms and Free Showers within the Campground (more on that later)
Kayak and Canoe rentals are available at here
Bathroom Low Down:
There is one bathroom location and it is on the inner circle of the campground. There you will find sex-separated bathrooms with FREE showers. Inside you will find benches and places to hang towels and toiletries. These are VERY clean bathrooms!
The bathhouse is located on the inner circle of the campground
Bathroom Rating: A-
The bathrooms and shower rooms are very clean and appear to have recently been renovated!
Overview of our Experience:
We headed up to Pleasant River Campground for Indigenous Peoples Weekend and it was our last camping trip of the 2024 season. It was great to be back out camping after what can only be described as the chaos and unsettledness that comes with the start of being back in school. We really looked forward to having a couple days away and being outside in nature. And boy, did the foliage season ever deliver! We got to be in the Bethel-Newry region for PEAK foliage season! There is nothing more dreamy than spending a few days exploring the beautiful Mahoosuc mountains during PEAK foliage!
The site I picked out for our stay ended up being between what appeared to be two seasonal or long term rental sites. Upon arrival, and conferencing with my husband on the best spot to place our camper, I noticed several piles of dog poop. First, I thought it was from the previous campers but soon realized it was from a seasonal site next door. Long dog leashes and dog bowls at the steps of their camper were kind of a giveaway. After noticing a shovel on their site (and determining no one was home), I grabbed the shovel and started to collect the piles of dog poop and placed them near a tree on the boundary between our sites.
During our first night, our neighbor with the dogs tethered a small puppy to one of those rather long leashes and it managed to get caught up around our camper. I notified the woman residing in the camper of their dog’s quandary and she kindly came to collect her dog and get the leash free from being wrapped around our camper’s tires. She did apologize and put the dog on a smaller leash.
*A little note about the above situation:
This experience was truly a one-off kind of thing and NOT a representation of how the campground carries on business. I really believe these seasonal renters were carryovers from the previous owners. Meaning, I think they already had locked in their seasonal site prior to the new owners coming on board (during the middle of the 2024 season). And in looking ahead at the 2025 reservations, it appears that these once seasonal sites will be available for all.
I debated sharing this with you all because it was the only crappy (pun intended) experience we had on our trip. I always want to share what we encounter on our camping trips because, well…that’s life. And while I LOVE sharing the amazing parts of camping, there are these parts too..the stuff that sometimes isn’t glamorous, fun or Instagram-worthy but they happen and deserve a spot here on the blog.
Ok..back to our weekend!
On our first night, a wind and rain storm that can only be described as something wicked (in that Maine accent of course) rolled in.
FYI: Storms like this are an excellent reminder to always pull your awning in on your camper. We saw extensive damage to a camper at the campground who failed to pull theirs in.
A nearby camper with wind damage to it’s awning
With the 40 mph+ winds, our hopes for enjoying a chondola ride at Sunday River’s Fall Festival were dashed. However, that didn’t stop us from heading up to Sunday River that morning to check out the North American Wife Carrying Championships, picking up some goodies at the craft fair, and exploring the covered bridge that was nearby.
Exploring a covered bridge
Our second day, we spent the morning exploring Valentine Farm and Grafton Notch State Park (more to come on both of those in a later blog) thanks to recommendations from Rubys on the Road!
Valentine Farm and Garden
And…we made sure to stop at the roadside stand of Puzzle Mountain Bakery. We picked up some goodies for our hikes as well as jams for some gifts for Christmas.
Grafton Notch State Park showing off it’s PEAK foliage
We returned to Bethel and while my daughter and husband checked out the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, I headed to one of my FAVORITE places in Bethel..Philbrook Place. It is a collection of stores and there are 3 (!!) Consignment stores in the building: Little Bits Consignment (childrens clothes and footwear), Revival Boutique (men’s and women’s clothing and accessories), and Community Sports (pre-owned recreation, sports gear, and clothing related to sports). Other stores include a new/used book store, an artisan store, and a toy store.
Philbrook Plaza is a MUST STOP
I always make it a point to stop in Philbrook Place and check out the consignment stores when I am in Bethel. I can always manage to score huge deals on clothing for my daughter and some items for myself. On this visit, I managed to store 5 base and mid-layer pieces for her, all for under $40 bucks at Community Sports! Community Sports has a TON of clothing related to all kinds of sports and footwear to match!
Just think..all those, ahem, Massachusetts visitors, dropping off their winter clothing at the end of the season. Minimal use and excellent prices equals your gain! If you are in the area, add this shopping mall (really, it’s an old farmhouse and barn) to your list!
We returned early to our campsite and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the fire while my daughter adventured with some other campground kids around the campground and at the playground.
On our third day, we made for a quick departure as the responsibilities of our everyday life were calling us. And of course, our camping season wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have a few showers on departure day! 🙂
Pleasant River Campground was such a great place to wrap up our 2024 camping season. We spent so much time outdoors during peak foliage season, hiked some trails, checked out recommendations of fellow outdoorsy people, and scored some consignment store finds. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and we look forward to returning next year.
One of the many water falls of Grafton Notch State Park
Exciting Disclosure: The Wandering Chickadee was graciously #hosted by Pleasant River Campground. However, the thoughts and opinions of this campground are my own…as you can tell. Whether this is my only #hosted campground review or just the start, my feedback will always be authentic, honest, and in alignment to everything that is The Wandering Chickadee!
For more on our trip to Bethel and western Maine as well as all of our other adventures, check out my stories and reels on Instagram and Facebook.
As I shared in the Top 5 Interior Essentials blog, we have found some really terrific products that work for us in our camping journey. Today, I am going to share 5 EXTERIOR essentials to help us a ton.
But before you do…please consider subscribing to this blog! All this month I am going to be sharing about our camping journey and dropping new campground reviews in anticipation of campground reservation systems starting to open up for the 2025 camping slots!
Having you follow along on my blogging journey means the world!
Ok, back to the essentials. These exterior essentials are less about the towing and hauling of our camper (more on that in a future blog) and more about how we set up the outside of our camper (which is really just an extension of the interior, in my opinion).
Exterior Essentials
Griddle Accessories:We have a camp kitchen attached to our camper and griddle accessories are a MUST! In my personal opinion, I find griddles to be messy and if you don’t immediately clean them, they can just get down right gross. We use dedicated tools for our griddle and always travel with a griddle scraper. On travel days these get their own travel bucket that is kept in the sink inside our camper.
Portable Propane Grill: We spent one season cooking everything on the griddle and it just got super dirty, and to be honest, there were foods that we didn’t particularly enjoy on the griddle..mostly meats. I scored this exact grill on Facebook marketplace and it was a splurge item. It’s pretty bulky so we store this grill in the garage when not camping and it travels in the truck bed with us. And yes, because it’s not stored full time in the camper, we have forgotten it at home. However, we really love having the option to grill meats and veggies instead of using the griddle. We have two propane lines on our camper so if you end up purchasing this grill, double check how you want to set it up. Do you have two lines? If just one, do you need a longer line? If you can’t hook up from your camper, you will need to bring a dedicated propane cylinder for it. We really like the propane growler from LL Bean. It is refillable and has its own storage bag. And because it’s refillable, cuts down on those single-use cans.
Bamboo Cutting Board: With our small space and limited storage, I really love to have items in the camper that can have dual purposes. This board is great for its primary purpose of slicing and dicing food but also serves as a great snack tray, s’more maker board, etc. I also love a good bamboo cutting board with non-slip grippers on it; making it a safer option when chopping veggies and other foods on slippery picnic table covers.
Food Covers:We love to eat outside whenever possible and snacks are always more of an afternoon graze. Food covers are ESSENTIAL when camping. I love these food covers because they fold up and take minimal space in our camper.
Picnic Table Covers:Picnic table covers are an ABSOLUTE MUST for us! This was another trial-and-error journey. We started our first camping season with a more traditional picnic table cover. You know the one..the checkerboard cloth with the table clips. Yup, that one. But..sometimes it was the wrong size or the table was too thick to fit the clips. But we changed that last year and ordered these picnic table covers that include seat covers! We do have them in two sizes..both the 6 foot and 8 foot covers. I ordered two different colors to help distinguish between the different sizes.
As always, every time you click on any of the links above and purchase from Amazon, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
For more on our camping adventures as well as all of other activities, check out my stories and reels on Instagram and Facebook.
We had a wonderful camping season this past summer and I can’t believe that we are going to embark on our third season of camping next year! It feels like yesterday that we were just going to go pick up our camper.
While we will always be learning about how to do things more efficiently and effectively, we have picked up a couple of essentials that I wanted to share with you.
But before I share our essentials with you, make a list (it will be long at first) of everything you need for the interior. If looking for sample lists, I follow the Keep Your Daydream couple, Mark and Trish, and they have some great lists on their website.
Sometimes people can forget the start-up cost of getting into a camper. All those items on the lists you have created add up. And anything you can do to reduce that start-up cost is going to pay off for you!
First thing you will want to do, is ALWAYS consider what you have around the house. Do you have bedding that you no longer use taking up space in a blanket chest? We have a queen short (five inches shorter than a typical queen) and I REFUSE to buy the expensive sheets for those mattresses. Instead, I took a sheet set that was I ready to upgrade in our bedroom and shifted it to our camper. And to accommodate for the size difference, I used a…hair elastic to gather up the extra bulk of the sheets.
Next, consider those “Buy Nothing” or “Community Gifting” groups on Facebook. Check them daily or put out an ISO post (In Search Of).
After that, look at places like thrift stores. I scored all of our dinnerware and cookware at Goodwill and thanks to those 50% off colored tags, I got it all for under $30.
Finally, after you have exhausted all those options, it’s time to consider buying new. For example, the vacuum mop you will see below. It just made sense to buy that new. It was a very specific item and we preferred to buy it new (think… return policy, warranty, etc.)
The essentials below became our essentials through trial-and-error and frustrations of spending money on things that didn’t end up working out. So…I wanted to pass them along to YOU in hopes to minimize any of your frustrations, especially if you are just starting out. Or, if you are seasoned pro at camping, to peek at what works for us.
OK, here are my top 5 INTERIOR essentials we use every time we go camping! Let’s jump into them!
Interior Essentials
Label Maker: Label, label, label! It might be the teacher in me or my type A personality, but with everything labeled, it just makes things easier to locate! While the label maker does not go on our camping trips with us, we label every tote, bag, and containers that holds anything related to camping.
Plastic Spice Jars: Camping can produce a LOT OF WASTE. One of the ways that I try to cut down on that waste is at the beginning of each camping season, I pour some of our essential spices from our spice draw into these mini jars. I use the label maker to write which spices are in what jars. I travel with about 5-6 jars each season. And then, at the end of the camping season, I pour the unused spices back into their respective home-based jars. Plastic jars help during travel days too; no need to worry about breakages.
Portable Sound Machine: Even though those baby years are long gone, my daughter continues to use one to sleep. We picked this one up a long time ago for those nights away at hotels, grandparent sleepovers, etc. The sound machine is rechargeable and therefore doesn’t need a direct electrical connection to run. It is also compact and easy to store for travel days. We find it helpful especially because it cuts down on the noise coming from campsites at night and in the morning helps reduce any noise I may make when I’m getting ready for my morning walks.
Yeti Mugs: If you have been following along for a while, you know that our camping coffee journey. First, a french press followed by a compact 4 cup coffee maker, and now, despite the waste it produces, we have landed on a single-cup Keurig. Well, the same kind of goes for our journey with coffee mugs. First, we brought some ceramic ones from our house (again to reduce waste) but..they didn’t travel well (hello, ceramic!), and then we tried enamel mugs. Loved the designs but they were hot to the touch and cooled off quickly. So…we landed on Yeti Mugs. While the Yeti Mugs are somewhat bulky, they travel well because they are stackable, keep our coffee warm and our hands not burned.
Shark Cordless Mop:This cordless vacuum is a god send! Again, we have been on a journey to find something that works for our camper. We have tried cordless dusters and a Swiffer wet jet. We have gone with nothing and just waited until we were home to do a deep floor clean. But nothing was really working…until we found this. This Shark device is a vacuum and sprayer in one so…perfect for dirt and spills! We are storing this bulkier item in our underbed storage.
As always, every time you click on any of the links above and purchase from Amazon, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
For more on our camping adventures as well as all of other activities, check out my stories and reels on Instagram and Facebook.
Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park is located in Freeport, Maine and is about a 5 minute drive from the bustling outlet shops and the LL Bean flagship store. This park was created by the generous donation from Eleanor Houston and Lawrence Smith in 1969, who donated more than 200 acres of land that contains pine and hemlock forests, a salt marsh estuary, and beautiful shorelines on Casco Bay and the Harraseeket River.
The highlight of this park, however, is its resident OSPREYS! These ospreys nest on nearby Googins Island, which is off limits to visitors, and sometimes, there is a Park Naturalist on site who can help you spot the baby ospreys with some telescopes.
Osprey Fact: Osprey summer in Maine and then make an annual trek to South America each fall.
Continue reading below for great information on the many trails of Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park including… an ACCESSIBLE one! And why this is another one of our favorite picnic spots!
Parking Details:
You can access Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park by heading out on Bow Street/Flying Point Drive and turning right on Wolfe’s Neck Road and driving for about 2 miles. Entrance to the park will be on your left hand side.
The parking spots are plentiful here and the lot itself is a one-way lollipop connecting back up with the main entrance road.
If you are coming with a camper or RV, you should have no problem parking here. I suggest by-passing the first parking spots you see and parking your rig on the backside of the lollipop. It’s always less crowded there!
Playground Details:
There is no playground at this park.
Hiking Trail Details:
Great trails for kids! Credit: Maine Bureau of Land Management
Hiking trails are plentiful here at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park and there is something for EVERYONE here! What makes this trail system so inclusive is connecting/side trails along their hiking trails so that you can really tailor your hike to fit who is in your hiking group and your time constraints.
I would also describe these hiking trails as more…nature walks. The lack of any real elevation change or difficulty makes it hard for me to classify these as hiking trails but…for the sake of how they are identified as hiking trails on the Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park map, we will call them that for today!
Accessible Trail: The White Pines Trail is a FULLY HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE trail and provides access to osprey overlooks and interactive panels. When my daughter was a baby and I was still on maternity leave, this was the trail I would frequently come to and I would just do loops with the stroller on this trail. It was a place I felt safe being a new parent, and the fresh air and being in nature did wonders for my postpartum emotions. It’s also close to the bathrooms and that’s always a win for me!
White Pines Trail is a fully handicapped accessible trail
Easier Trails: Just looking to do a short hike or have young ones with you? I recommend, in addition to the White Pines Trail, the Casco Bay, Casco Bay Connector, Northern Loop and Ledge trails. If you did all of these trails, the mileage is about 2 miles so you can definitely pick and choose to make your hike work for you and those with you!
Notes: The Casco Bay Trail is bookended by some stairs making it a bit of a challenge if bringing a jogging stroller but my Bob jogging stroller has handled the other trails with no issues!
One of the trail stairs that bookend the Casco Bay trail
All the other trails are the same difficulty as the ones I recommended as “easier” it’s just that their lengths are longer. I have personally enjoyed the Harraseeket trail with my girlfriends and would recommend this one for any group that is looking to do 3+ miles on their hike.
I wouldn’t recommend doing the longer trails with a jogging stroller. These trails have a bit more roots and some climbing via rock stairs.
Be sure to grab a trail map (as we always should). The trail signage could use some improvements and the mileage stated on the maps and my Garmin watch are always a bit off here.
Beach Details:
Visiting at low tide is BEST for treasur h
While there is no beach in the traditional sense, there are several access points along the White Pines and Casco Bay trails to explore the rocky coastline. If planning on coming with kiddos, come for low tide as this is definitely a MUST DO. With rock scrambling, low tide treasures, and osprey coming and going, it makes for a pretty idyllic day on the coast.
Save beach exploration for last and bring water shoes and buckets for treasures! 🙂
Picnic Details:
Another great feature about this park is the various picnic options! Similar to how I felt about Two Lights State Park, Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park offers wonderful locations for their picnic tables; many come with charcoal grills too! You have a lot of privacy, which I can only describe as feeling very campsite-like.
We love a charcuterie-style lunch courtesy of Hannaford
Location of the Passport Station:
If you are working towards collecting stamps for the Passport Program, you will be able to find the Passport Station on the building of the bathrooms. I owe the Park Ranger at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park a HUGE thank you! It was this wonderful ranger who introduced us to the Passport Program!
Fees:
Adult Maine Resident
Adult Non Resident
Children 5-11 Years Old
Children under 5 & Adults 65 and older
Senior Resident
Senior Non Resident
$4.00
6.00
$1.00
FREE
FREE
$2.00
There is a ranger station/entrance station at this Park and it is usually staffed during the season. Plan to bring exact change so if you need to drop your fee into the canister, you can!
*Maine libraries often have free Maine State Park passes available to their patrons. Check my blog to see if your library participates!
If you don’t see the pass listed with your library, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask them. Libraries frequently add museum and park passes to their offerings!
Bathroom Low Down:
Actual bathrooms are accessible at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park! Adjacent to the bathrooms are privies that are accessible after the Park transitions to the off-season. In the bathrooms, there is a handicapped accessible stall that also includes a baby-changing station.
The baby-changing station has seen better days but it works. Here is a tip: Always have dedicated adventure bath towels in your car. Whether they are towels that are done in your home and are ready for semi-retirement in your car or brand-new towels that are dedicated to adventuring, you won’t regret having a stash in your car.
I have used mine for baby changing stations, playground equipment drier, picnic table covers, and for those unexpected beach days!
Visitor Accessibility:
The Parks and Sites are rated on an overall basis with a 1-3 star rating and then individual aspects of the park assessed with a description of accessibility and a 1-5 star rating.
For my rationale for including this in the blog and the definitions for the descriptions of accessibility, head to my State Park Series Intro Blog where I share why it’s important to include this and how you can help make Maine State Parks more accessible for future generations.
Accessible with Assistance *White Pines trail is ACCESSIBLE
★★ out of 5 stars
Group Picnic Shelter
Accessible
★★★★★ out of 5 stars
Overall Accessibility: ★★★ out 3 stars
Overall Impression:
I have visited Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park many times. My very first visits were in my early nannying days when I had the privilege of hanging with some great kids during the summer. I love the solo time with friends in the woods here as much I love exploring it through her eyes.
View of Googins Island. Credit: Kayli Primiani
I also think I’m a little biased to this park because of the special place it holds in my heart. It was a place where in those early days of sleep deprivation and needing to be outside to regulate both of our bodies (and my emotions), to have a fully accessible trail where I could put her in the stroller and walk…it was a game changer for me in those early days of parenting.
This is why accessibility matters.
Entrance the White Pines handicapped accessible trail
There are a group of people who need these trails to be accessible to enjoy them and another group of people who benefit from their accessibility. My situation falls into that second group and is just one story why improving accessibility to our state parks matters.
Ok, I digress..
If you are looking for a place to help your child build some stamina with hiking, I think Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park is a great place to do this! The connecting/side trails off of those main ones make it easy to extend your hike if things are going well and ….bail when they are not.
With beautiful picnic spots and access to the shoreline, you can easily spend 3+ hours enjoying all that this state park has to offer!
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