QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 147 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~3 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy moderate
- Sights: forest, streams
There are about three miles of trails in this 147-acre parcel donated to the town in 1982 by Alice Cornwall as a woodland sanctuary. From one end of the preserve to the other, you can move from a deciduous forest with beech, birch, and maple trees and carpets of fern, to a dark knoll of hemlocks and some spruce. Streams trickle through the land (they can be dry at the end of a summer of drought). (If I’m reading the map correctly, there are two streams but it seems like more, the way they and the trails weave around one another.)
Trails are blazed with different colors, with the main paths being easier to follow than the side trails. The walking is fairly level, but you’ll encounter roots, rocks, and uneven ground. A break in the stone wall at the northeast side of the preserve leads to a trail leading off the public land.
Directions: Turn onto Paris Hill Road from Route 26. The large unpaved parking lot is about 1.85 miles on your right, if you’re coming from Paris. If you’re coming from West Paris and turn onto Paris Hill Road, look for the preserve on your left after 2.2 miles. Enjoy the gorgeous, historical Paris Hill community!
