The Wilber Preserve in Phippsburg offers a short but highly enjoyable hike to the summit of Cox Head overlooking the Kennebec River and Atkins Bay.

From Route 1 in Bath take the exit for Route 209 and follow the road to Phippsburg. At Bisson’s Center Store make a left onto the Parker Head Road. This will take you by the Phippsburg Public Library and Congregational Church. A mile or so past the dike the road forks. Bear left. Not too far ahead you’ll see a street sign marking Cox Head Road on the left; it’s by the 1836 Old Stone Schoolhouse. Turn here and follow the gravel road to where it meets Green Point Road, which carries you to the preserve. A kiosk and parking area will be on the left.

Before starting your hike remember to sign the guest book. Several trail maps are available to borrow but aren’t necessary. The “Main Trail” to the right carries you to the top and is blazed in blue paint. It’s hard-packed and easy to follow. The other, shorter trail on the left is called the “Old Tree Loop” and is blazed in orange. It meanders through a wooded area in a circular loop of the lower elevations of Cox Hill.

The Main Trail runs northeast, rising high over the shore of the Kennebec River. The path is narrow along one stretch and fairly steep. The Phippsburg Land Trust, the non-profit organization that owns and maintains the preserve, recommends youngsters be closely supervised here to ensure their safety.

The path soon swings away from the shore in an “s” turn winding around a rocky overhang and continuing uphill. There are several more steep drop-offs before it flattens out.

The summit of Cox Hill was once the site of a timber and earthen fortification occupied by volunteers of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Later the local militia occupied the fort during the War of 1812. The fort’s outline can barely be traced today.

As we approached the summit we passed a small pond fed by a spring that perhaps once provided a source of freshwater. We noticed the pond was brimming with frog’s eggs. In a few weeks these will hatch into tiny pollywogs that will soon grow into frogs and leave the pond for dryer ground.

As we reached Cox Head summit, we came upon a dozen or so cedar waxwings perched in a tree. These birds have a soft brown color with a black mask and yellow-tipped tail and look somewhat like a female cardinal. They can sometimes be observed passing a berry from one bird to another in an interesting feeding ritual. They were content to remain perched where they were until we came within just a few feet of them.

The weather was ideal on the morning of our hike. Looking south we had a scenic view across the blue waters of Atkins Bay to Fort Popham, a state historical site and state park. Rising high behind Fort Popham a short distance to the right we could see Sabino Hill where the remains of still another fortification is located. This is Fort Baldwin, built for defense of the Kennebec River during World War I. It, too, is a state park featuring a hiking trail to the hill’s summit where the ruins of the fort can be explored.

Being a clear morning, we could easily see the lighthouse on Seguin Island and ocean surrounding it on the horizon. At the tip of Popham Beach we could also see the red roof of the former U.S. Coast Guard Station. East of Cox Head across the Kennebec River are Long Island and Gilbert Head, a part of Georgetown which itself is an island.

While you’re on the Cox Head summit, see if you can locate the three U.S. Geodetic Survey benchmarks. The bronze discs placed here in 1933 form a surveyor’s “Triangulation Station.”

This was our second visit to the Wilber Preserve, which was donated to the Phippsburg Land Trust in 2010 by the Rankin family. Our first visit last summer found us swatting mosquitoes from the time we left our car until we reached the hilltop. There was a stiff enough breeze blowing at the higher elevation for us to enjoy a picnic lunch. During that visit we surprised a small doe sunning herself in a clearing.

The Phippsburg Peninsula is just a 30-minute drive from Wiscasset. There are over 30 miles of hiking trails maintained by the Phippsburg Land Trust and other conservation groups including the Nature Conservancy and Maine Coast Heritage. To learn more, visit www.phippsburglandtrust.org.