Rumford Community Forest

By Sam Shirley

Located on an unnamed 1,374-foot hill on the north side of Rumford, the Rumford Community Forest, owned by Inland Woods + Trails, currently offers three trails that opened in 2025.

The Scotty Brook Trail is a 0.2-mile ADA-accessible loop trail starting from the parking lot. It is well built and features a gravel surface, switchbacks, and extensive bench cuts. It winds through the forest and passes near Scotty Brook.

Heading north from the parking area, the Rumford Adventure Trail is a more traditional hiking trail. It forms a lollipop loop through relatively young forest and has easy grades. It is unblazed, but is marked with directional arrows at significant turns. From the trailhead and back, it’s about 1.1 miles in total.

Branching off from the Rumford Adventure Trail, shortly before its loop portion, is the Porcupine Ridge Trail. From the trailhead, the distance to the viewpoint is 1.2 miles. The path climbs easily through mostly hardwood forest to a point near the summit of the hill. Along the way, it crosses an old logging road (now a snowmobile trail) and passes an old cellar hole. Above the logging road crossing, it does get a little bit steeper, but is still quite easy going. At the end of the trail is a picnic table and viewpoint north toward the Tumbledown-Jackson Range and beyond.

This trail network is a great addition to the Rumford area and there is a lot of potential for future trails within the forest, as well as connections to nearby trail networks; it will be exciting to see what the next few years bring!

Directions: From the center of Rumford, head north on Maine Highway 120. After 1.8 miles, turn left onto Isthmus Road. Follow Isthmus Road for 1.5 miles, and you will see a small sign on the left for the Rumford Community Forest. The gravel entrance road soon leads across a bridge and to a large parking lot. The address for the forest is 161 Isthmus Road.