Outdoor-related organizations and businesses across the state have once again joined together to plan more than 100 events for the sixth Great Maine Outdoor Weekend, Sept. 26-28, statewide.

BDN photo by Aislinn Sarnacki.
The Saco Valley Land Trust lead a nature walk to a cranberry bog located on one of their many easements on Sept. 28 in Biddeford as one of the many events scheduled for the fourth Great Maine Outdoor Weekend.

There’s no way I’m listing all the exciting offerings, but you can search them by date, activity type and location at greatmaineoutdoorweekend.org. If fact, the easy-to-navigate website also allows you to sort events by whether they’re dog-friendly or wheelchair accessible.

This fall, Great Maine Outdoor Weekend coincides with National Public Lands Day, the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands. Several federal agencies will offer free entry to their lands on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Most outdoor events planned for the weekend celebration are free or low cost.

Events have been planning in all 16 Maine counties. Here are a few events that stood out to me as being particularly interesting:

• A sea kayaking trip to Fort Gorges with Portland Paddle
• Zipline tours at Sugarloaf
• Free bike rentals at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport
• A star party in Acadia National Park
• A hike of Speckled Mountain in Evans Notch
• Waterfall discover hike in Baxter State Park
• Edible and medicinal mushroom workshop in Jefferson

And for those of you in located in the Bangor area, like me, there are quite a few events happening close to home:

• Hirundo Wildlife Refuge paddle and walk in Alton
• Great Maine Outdoor Weekend Celebration at Fields Pond Audubon in Holden
• “Turtles of Maine” workshop at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in Alton
• A guided tour of natural communities at Northeast Penjajawoc Preserve in Bangor
• Group bike ride at the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands in Orland

If you decide to participate in one of the events this weekend and want to share your photos or social media posts, join the Great Maine Outdoor Weekend community by using #GMOW and following “Great Maine Outdoor Weekend” on Facebook.

The Great Maine Outdoor Weekend is a project of the Maine Outdoor Coalition, which is a network of partners — such as Appalachian Mountain Club, Campfire Magazine, L.L. Bean and WinterKids — as dedicated to increasing connections to the outdoors for all people in Maine by identifying, promoting, and amplifying opportunities for statewide action and impact. To learn more, visit www.maineoutdoorcoalition.org.