RANGELEY — As summer winds down and autumn approaches it’s a good time to remember that this is perhaps the very best time to enjoy a hike in the forest, a paddle on the lake, a picnic by the lakeshore or a leisurely scenic boat ride. To that end the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust suggests, do it all and on the same outing.

Thanks to a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, RLHT now has several sites on Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic lakes where this is not only possible, but easily accomplished.

RLHT has built lakeside landing sites offering trailheads and picnic areas at four separate trail systems on Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic lakes. These sites offer visitors docks to conveniently tie up to and disembark from. All the sites feature connectors to RLHT’s hiking trails as well as a picnic table to relax and enjoy a lakeside picnic.

The public is invited to enjoy three landing and picnic sites recently completed at Bonney Point, Hatchery Brook and Hunter Cove on Rangeley Lake.

The Hunter Cove Sanctuary Trailhead dock is inside the cove itself (under the causeway bridge). This wetland area is a great place to view wildlife and is best suited to those traveling by canoe or kayak due to the wetland habitat and shallow water conditions at the site. The new Hunter Cove landing has a picnic area and offers 1.5 miles of looped trails to additional picnic sites and birding opportunities.

The Bonney Point landing trailhead is located at the head of Smith Cove; there is a little beach and a gradual sloping sandy bottom perfect for families with small children. The trail connector provides access to a pleasant 1.5 mile loop trail. The picnic area is on a small shady peninsula. Just look for a gray three-section dock at the head of the cove.

The Hatchery Brook Preserve landing site has a double section of dock at the lakeside trailhead and offers three picnic tabled sites along the west shore of Russell Cove. Hatchery Brook is a short distance across Town Cove and Rangeley Town Park. The one-mile loop trail system is ideal for hikers looking for scenic forested glades with little change in elevation.

RLHT expressed its appreciation to the Rangeley Public Library for installing a new feature at Hatchery Brook called Story Walk (the story begins at the Manor Rd. trailhead). This new interactive reading program features a nature-based children’s book presented on weather proof pages at sequential locations along the trail. The books will be offered year-round and the nature based themes will change with the seasons.

For more information about Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust’s landing and picnic sites or trails, contact Shelby Rousseau at srousseau@rlht.org or 864-7311 (ext. 4).