For adults, the roads that lead through the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray aren’t much of a mystery.

Signs point in various directions. Want to see some bears? Hang a right. Moose? Turn left. Bobcats? Lynx? Mountain lions? All on your left, as you make your way down the hill to the intersection of Moose and Bear.

To children, though, the popular facility is a bit different.

Signs? What signs?

To the younger-than-six set, each turn is a mystery. Each road leads to something. But exactly what that something is isn’t nearly as apparent.

“What’s down here?” one eager youngster cried earlier this week, tugging her mother’s hand toward the deer enclosure.

Soon enough, she surely found out … and soon enough, she was surely grinning from ear to ear.

The Maine Wildlife Park, which is located on Route 26 in Gray, may be the state’s not-so-well-kept secret.

Until Tuesday, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the park’s new Tree Trail and Outdoor Classroom, I’d never visited. Now, I’m already planning a return trip.

The park, which is run by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, provides visitors the chance to see nearly all of the larger animals that live in the state.

The park has live moose, deer, bears, lynx, fisher, bobcats, porcupines, raccoons, and coyotes. They have salmon and trout and bass and perch and sunfish.

And they even have mountain lions, the species that remains the topic of plenty of campfire debate.

Do they live in Maine? Or don’t they?

I can tell you this: They do … at least in Gray.

“Our principal goal is for conservation and wildlife education,” according to Lisa Kane, a natural science educator for the DIFW. “It’s a great place to come see a live moose, a live bear, a live eagle, a live mountain lion. But what our goal is to educate people about the programs and projects of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.”

The park achieves that goal. And after the opening of the Tree Trail and Outdoor Classroom, it does so even better than it did before.

The tree trail, Kane explains, is a one-third-mile trail that focuses on forestry, including forest practices and tree measurement.

It’s an interactive trail, with plenty of things to see and do.

And the Outdoor Classroom will teach visitors a few more things about forestry, including how much wood a cord is, and how dimensional lumber is taken from a tree.

Best of all, it’s wheelchair and stroller accessible.

“What we’ve found is that people love these nature trails,” Kane said. “They just love it. And even though this is just a third of a mile, and it’s not really the deep dark woods, people love to be able to stroll right through, and it’s nice and cool on a hot summer day.”

Baxter State Park is known as the people’s park. Katahdin is the people’s mountain.

Jay Robinson takes those terms a bit more literally than most.

Robinson grew up around the park and spent endless hours tromping trails, exploring ponds, and catching fish.

Now, as an adult with an 11-year-old son, the Registered Maine Guide still spends several hours a week in the park each week, visiting his favorite haunts … with or without clients in tow.

On Thursday, I got the chance to spend another enjoyable afternoon and evening with Robinson. And he got the chance to talk about one his favorite places: Baxter State Park.

“I learned to swim right over there,” he told me while we sat, anchored, in canoes he and his father have stashed at Rocky Pond.

“Taught myself. I was 30, and hadn’t learned, so I came out here three or four straight days, climbed up on those rocks, and taught myself,” he said.

A day afield with the Robinsons – Jay or his well-known father, Wiggie – is guaranteed to be an educational experience.

Jay Robinson showed me favorite spots to pick fiddleheads and wild mushrooms. He talked about the mountains and forests. He told the story of a famous rock, and a local man named Buffalo.

And he took me fishing.

Fishing in the rest of Maine is fantastic. Take me to East Outlet or Grand Lake Stream, West Grand Lake or Beech Hill Pond, the West Branch or Branch Pond, and I’ll talk about the experience for days … and remember it for years.

As a relative newcomer to fishing in Gov. Baxter’s park, I’ve got to admit there’s something even more special about wetting a line up there.

Maybe it’s the fact that in order to get to many of the fishing spots Robinson favors, you’ve got to do a little bit of legwork. Perhaps the notion of angling for native trout makes the experience richer. And certainly, the fact that you’re more than likely to be one of the only two people on a given pond makes the trip worthwhile.

Adding to the enjoyment, however, is Jay Robinson’s unbridled passion when it comes to sharing knowledge about Baxter State Park.

On some trails, he stops and tells you about a particular tree. On others, it’s a rock that’s caught his eye.

On the ponds, he can tell you about the fish he’s caught … and those he didn’t. And he can tell you exactly where … and when … he was when he learned how to swim.

All in all, a day well spent.

What a storm! If you want to experience the fury of a thunderstorm but don’t relish the idea of getting wet … or turning into an electro-fried human S’more, I’ve got an idea for you.

Head to camp. Preferably an uninsulated camp, where a few raindrops on the roof are loud, and a downpour can be nearly deafening.

That’s where I was during Thursday’s seemingly endless light show as hours of rain, lightning, and thunder made the walls at our family camp on Beech Hill Pond seem frighteningly thin.

Lightning bolts illuminated the foggy lake. The walls shook. The rain beat off the roof in sheet after sheet of tangibly soggy noise.

Folks at the office were still talking about the storm on Friday afternoon, and few of us could remember such a spectacular storm with the staying power of this one.

And rain? The National Weather Service can give you the official total, but I’ll provide the anecdotal one: On Friday morning, I swam out to my dad’s boat to engage the pump and get rid of all the water that had ended up below the deck during the storm.

Usually, that’s a two-minute affair. On Friday, it took 20 minutes to dump all the water back into Beech Hill.

Which reminds me: If you’ve been “in town” and haven’t had a chance to visit your own camp since the storm … you may want to do so soon.

I think you may have some bailing to do.

Have a great Fourth.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.