Rumford Community Forest

Gravel-surfaced trails in red, in the above map.

By Sam Shirley

Located on an unnamed 1,374-foot hill on the north side of Rumford, the Rumford Community Forest is owned and maintained by Inland Woods + Trails. An initial network of three hiking trails opened in late 2025. Three more new trails, including two mountain bike trails, followed in 2026. Expect to see continued trail improvements and expansions in the coming years.

Accessible trails: 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 another gravel-surfaced trail, although the gradients in a few places make it not as accessible at the Scotty Brook Trail. It forms a lollipop loop through managed 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.

For a view: 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.

The Ironwood Trail is a 1.25-mile long trail connecting the viewpoint at the end of the Porcupine Ridge Trail to the loop portion of the Rumford Adventure Trail. It makes a pleasant ~3 mile hiking loop possible and has a very similar character to the Porcupine Ridge Trail. There is a very restricted viewpoint along the Ironwood Trail where is passes a trail-side boulder.

Mountain biking: In addition to the hiking trail, there are two mountain bike trails which make a loop of just under a mile starting from the parking area. Upsy is the easy climb trail, switchbacking up the slope at easy grades with a few bridges near its start. The descent trail is called Daisy and has a series of well-built berms, a few rollers, and one bridge which flow back down to the parking lot. The mountain bike trails are machine built and are well suited for novice mountain bikers.

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.