QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 328 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~1.6 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: Royal River, marsh, mindfulness walk
Intervale Preserve is a large protected tract of land, about 328 acres, with a couple of developed walking trails.
At 568 Intervale Road, you can do a 0.5-mile walk that is flat and easy with one bog bridge and which brings you through fern glades and large trees to a point with a bench overlooking the marshy area.
A bit farther down Intervale Road, heading north, you can explore more trails near the Lower Village. Although the map indicates you can park at the ball field, which is just a few hundred feet beyond the trail at 568 Intervale Road, we were not successful in finding the connector path. Instead, we parked in the lower village and walked in along the access path that is directly across Church Street. Two boulders mark the path and block vehicles. There is another access path just south of the Village Market, too.
If you walk down either of these snowmobile paths, you will soon reach the preserve kiosk at a four-way intersection, and the beginning of the mindfulness walk! Several panels have been placed along the small meadow trails urging walkers to move, smell, taste, touch, and listen with a bit more awareness. There is also a nice shaded bench and a platform with the cardinal directions on it (maybe to ponder one’s place in the world?). The loop trail itself was a bit wet and very buggy in late July. At one point, it briefly follows a sylvan stream.
Directions: From the intersection of Intervale Road & Cobbs Bridge Road in New Gloucester Village, follow Route 231 one mile and look for a blue sign on a kiosk on the left, just after crossing the first set of railroad tracks. There is a big sandy pullover with ample parking.
