Colby College trails, Waterville

Colby’s large trail system has something for everyone. Paved, wheelchair-accessible walkways cross the large campus (I’ve marked a few in purple on my map). The ones by the sports fields seem popular; I saw pairs of people walking briskly on them for exercise on a recent Saturday morning.

Additionally, the college maintains wide, easy unpaved paths (for cross-country running and skiing), as well as miles of blazed, winding footpaths through forest and fields that bring you to streams and views. All of these trail systems are adjacent to the main campus.

For a walk along a stream, I recommend starting at the Perkins Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary, a preserve adjacent to the campus on its southeast corner. Most of the trails in the arboretum are narrow footpaths. If you’re approaching the south end of campus on Mayflower Hill Drive, you’ll reach the first of two signed trailheads for the arboretum; you can park along a wide roadside shoulder on the right before the intersection with Mt. Merici Avenue. The preserve sign is set about 75 feet from the road, at the edge of the woods next to the start of a boardwalk. Soon the trail comes to a pretty spot along Perkins Stream with a small waterfall. The path continues along the stream to where it widens and splits. You can cross here via a wooden bridge and do loops through the woods, including sections along the railroad. If you want to do the small loop to just the waterfall and bridge, it’s about 0.6 miles.

Another beautiful place to walk is Runnals Hill. You can park at the top of the hill, midway (at the biggest lot), or at the bottom, along the street. At the top is Colby’s observatory and organic garden, and views over the city. Make your way along wide ski trails through meadows and woods. There are some narrower blazed paths (single-track, as they say) in the forest by the meadow as well.

Directions: It’s really easy to park at Colby, and some of the parking lots have EV chargers. For the best place to access the arboretum, you can park alongside Mayflower Hill Drive, on the south approach to campus. Or turn right from Mayflower Hill Drive into the first parking lot you reach and find the trails from here. You can also park at various lots around campus, depending on where you want to walk. The best place to park for Runnals Hill field is behind the president’s house. Turn off Mayflower Hill Drive onto Runnals drive, and look for the entryway to the parking lot at the bottom of the hill on your left.