I am a West Bath resident creating Maine By Foot as a guide to finding as many of Maine’s wonderful trails as I can. Many of these are open to the public thanks to generations of generous land owners who have protected their land from development, and to the work and dedication of land trusts and other conservation organizations. A special thank you to the many trail builders and trail maintainers, who so often are anonymous. They contribute much to the common good!
Maine by Foot believes that Maine is a better place for humans and other wildlife when, as much as possible, its remaining undeveloped land remains open and wild.
I update this site as I discover trails or re-do old ones. I am not including snowmobile/ATV trails, but I encourage outdoor enthusiasts to contact your local club and get a map of nearby tracks — these can sometimes make for great walking or skiing.
I have added a link when I can to the organization responsible for protecting the land. These websites are often very informative and provide maps, as well as a bit of the history, ecology, and geology of the land. In addition, maps are often available at trailhead kiosks.
- Pets: Please check whether dogs are allowed on preserves and whether they should be on leash. Most land trust preserves and parks accept dogs; others, like The Nature Conservancy and Audubon sanctuaries, do not. It’s a good idea to generally keep your dog on a leash at the preserves that do allow pets to protect wildlife and prevent dog-averse walkers you encounter from getting nervous.
- Swimming: For those who like to combine their walk with a swim, I maintain a list of preserves that offer great trails and swimming holes. Additionally, if you do a search on my site for ‘swimming,’ you’ll see more sites I have tagged as potentially good swimming spots (but ones I haven’t tried myself). Finally, SeeSwim.com is a very helpful site if you want to find a new place to dunk!
- Accessible Trails: To find a list of trails that have been constructed to accommodate wheelchairs, see my list of wheelchair-friendly, all-access trails. Beyond these, I have tagged other trails that are not specifically designed for wheelchairs but seem as if they could be passable. You can find these by searching for “wheelchair” in my search bar.
- Maps: Because I value the experience of self discovery, I keep my trail descriptions relatively simple, adding a self-made map when I can of the trail to help you find the trailhead and to get a sense of the path’s route. My maps are not made by an expert, so please be careful not to get lost, and try not to wander onto private property! Additionally, I sometimes find my GPS trail distances are different than the official distances.
- Blue Dot technology with Google Maps: If you ever want to see where you are on a trail, you can see your location using the Google maps I embed on Maine by Foot posts. Just bring up the Maine by Foot site on your phone (assuming you have reception) and expand the Google map at the top. This will transport you into the Google map app, and the blue dot will show you where you are on my trail map! For this to work, you need to have the Google map app downloaded on your device, and your location services on.
- Downloading maps: If you want to download my trail map onto your phone before you go, here are some helpful suggestions (submitted by a site user).
- Trail grades: I include a quick description of a trail’s easiness with either easy, moderate, or difficult. Essentially I’m referring to how much uphill walking is involved and the trail distance. So my easy refers to preserves that don’t involve too much climbing, but they still may have uneven forested trails gnarled with roots and such. But if you search for wheelchair or wheelchair accessible in the search bar, a number of trails will pop up that are very gentle.
—Rebecca Goldfine