Seguin Island Light is the highest lighthouse in Maine. This isn’t because the tower is necessarily the tallest in Maine – that honor goes to Boone Light just off Cape Neddick. Seguin is the highest because the focal point of its lens is 186 ft above sea level. Most of that height is gained because the tower sits on the rocky top of the island that juts about 140 feet above sea level. Anyone who comes to visit Seguin gets to test their stamina and endurance by hiking the nearly quarter mile trail that runs alongside the old tram. It leads visitors from the dinghy beach in the cove, up a set of wooden stairs, all the way up a grassy hill to the steps of the museum and keepers’ quarters.
While everyone has to hike the tram trail if they want to visit the lighthouse, not everyone explores the other two miles of wooded and rocky trails that lead out to overlooks and rocky beaches. At the base of the tram near the Clivus (the composting toilet), there is an information board and the Cove Trail and Cobblestone Beach Trail branch off. The Cove Trail leads to a small camping area with a picnic table and little further up a bench where you can see the boats in the mooring field. The Cobblestone Beach Trail is a bit longer and more rugged. It dead ends onto a very rocky beach where we often find geese and ducks nesting in the rocks. At low tide, beautiful, ornate swirling patterns in rocks are revealed where the waves continuously lap up against the shore.
Further up the main tram trail, the South Trail branches off to the left just before you crest the hill to the lighthouse. Matt and I both agree that this is our favorite trail. It passes through fields of wildflowers and ungulates over rocks all while overlooking the entire south point of the island. After emerging from a short wooded section, the trail opens to a 360-vista of resting gulls and rocky cliffs.
Finally, the longest trail, the North Trail, starts just outside the museum door and nearly immediately enters fairly thick woods for the island. There are old stonewalls to navigate over and a very exposed loop at the northernmost point of the island where you can look up and see how far down you’ve had to hike to reach this viewpoint of Popham Beach out in the distance.
I’m running very long race in September, so I hike and/or run every single trail on the island nearly every single day. None of these trails are very easy to get moving quickly on, but I am starting to learn every root, rock, and hill on this tiny island. It feels very special to have such intimate knowledge of this place we’re calling home for the summer.
Daily Weather Report
Temperature: 70.2/61.3
Sunny and clear in the morning; clouds and scattered showers in the evening
Wind: NNE 3.8mph - 19.5mph
High Tide: 1:42pm
Low Tide: 7:29am; 7:33pm
