QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: Not sure
- Trail Mileage: 1.2 miles one way
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: falls, dam, canal
Gilman Falls in blue; Cumberland and Oxford Canal trail in orange.
Gilman Falls: The 1.2-mile unmarked walk to a dam and rapids follows a Snowmobile/ATV track most of the way — including a stretch along the power lines. At roughly 0.5 miles, the ATV track veers right off the power line toward the river. A half mile or so from this point, look for a side path to your right. It’ll be marked by a pile of stones. Shortly after, you’ll cross a small bridge over a stream. Follow this path 0.2 miles to an open area in the woods where you can check out the falls and listen to their roar. (When we visited, a large tree had blocked this trail, forcing an awkward climb over.)
The part of the river closer to the bridge and parking area is popular with anglers, and there’s a rough herd path that follows the river edge for about 0.2 miles to give them access to the water.
The ATV track to the falls offers pretty good walking, but try to avoid it when it’s muddy (general advice applicable to most anywhere and everything!). Also, AllTrails suggests that the trail gets overgrown in the summer and can be tick infested, so it might be best hiked in the colder seasons.
The hydroelectric dam is called the Eel Weir Project, named after the V-shaped stone structures Native Americans and early colonists built to trap eels. Swimming, fires, alcoholic beverages, and firearms are forbidden. Additionally, a sign at the trailhead warns people to heed the warning of three blasts as they proceed a big discharge of water.
Canal trail: If you’re interested in doing a short walk along a 19th-century canal — the Cumberland and Oxford Canal — there’s a small pullover off Route 35, just about 0.36 miles south of the parking area for Gilman Falls. The path starts on a grassy lane before cutting over to a narrow footpath along the lip of the very straight canal with green water, before ending in 0.25 miles at a big hydroelectric dam. The canal is quite prominent still because it was widened to use as a feeder stream to the Eel Weir Dam. You can catch the other end of the C&O Canal at Fore Street Sanctuary in Portland.
Directions: The large parking area is off Route 35, and is 0.6 miles west of the intersection of Routes 35 and 302 in North Windham.
