Join Queerly ME at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s and the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands’s Winter Outdoor Extravaganza Saturday February 15th at 11:30am to 12:30pm for a LGBTQIA+ Trail Mixer!
Trail Mixers are casual, outdoor gatherings guided by light conversation starters meant to facilitate meaningful and new community connections out on the trails! Periodically, a new conversation starter will be proposed and attendees will be encouraged to "mix it up" and find a new person to chat with. There is no guided tour, no cost, no registration required. Just an open invitation for Queer/LGBTQIA+ folks (and allies) of all ages and backgrounds, to gather in a natural safe space, connect with one another, and spend time outside!
We will be meeting at the boat launch at Range Pond State Park, 26 State Park Road Poland, ME. where we will walk the Green Trail near the Winter Outdoor Extravaganza event.
Directions: After passing through the state park booth, walk over to the first parking lot to the left. The Registration Tent will be all the way down on the left side. The boat launch is just beyond that. The trail loop will be marked with green arrows in the snow from the registration tent location. The trail ground will be packed down by a snow mobile, but please bring supportive winter footwear or traction pads for this walk!
Some things to keep in mind:
Please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early! We will be leaving for our walk from the trailhead soon after 11:30am and may not be able to respond to messages if you are late and trying to catch up to us.
We highly encourage carpooling!
There is no registration, you can just show up.
Bringing some kiddos? Great! Please make sure they (and you!) are dressed for the weather and terrain.
Bringing a camera? Fantastic! Just make sure you have consent if taking photos of other people.
Trail Mixers are our most popular and most frequent program! Trail Mixers began in 2022 through an intentional collaboration between Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust's Lydia Coburn and Queerly ME's Kyle Warnock. Since then, hundreds of LGBTQIA+ community members have found connection with nature and one another on these seasonal walks at various Brunswick-Topsham area properties. We're delighted that the Trail Mixer model has now expanded to other partnerships and natural spaces across Maine.