First new trail in Lowell opens this weekend!

Working with Presumpscot Regional Land Trust & the Town of Windham, we are underway building the first phase of the Lowell Preserve Redevelopment Project — an effort to revive the trail network in Lowell to make the most of the terrain, utilize best practices for trail design, construction, and sustainability, simplify navigation, and make for a thrilling and unique riding experience that still preserves the raw and rugged historical Lowell character and interconnects with East Windham and North Falmouth to create a huge variety of ride options.

Opening this weekend is #8 Extension (aka “Keep Groovin'”, orange trail above), a short but fun machine-built connector from the bottom of #8 trail in East Windham down to the intersection in Lowell Preserve of the Red Loop, #7 trail, and the new 2-mile singletrack trail Chris Cyr of Sanctuary Trails is building right now. This is intended as a bidirectional multi-use trail that also makes for a fun pedal-free descent, including a fun A-line with a mint rock drop (see photo above). Get some tires on it and have fun!

Meanwhile, Chris continues to work on a nearly 2-mile continuous, interrupted singletrack trail (yellow trail above) flowing in, around, and over the ridgeline and rolling contours in the middle of the current Red Trail loop in Lowell. This trail will aim to feature three continuous descents connected by climbs, trail that keeps you moving left, right, up and down, and which will integrate several optional A-lines integrating some of the awesome rock features in the area.

It will replace the current 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 trails while maintaining or increasing overall mileage, making better use of the available terrain, and greatly simplifying navigation. This trail was funded through a $20,000 grant from the Davis Family Foundation, and nearly $40,000 in donations from individual GPNEMBA supporters over the past several years.

As a head’s up, starting Monday 9/15, the existing trails in the interior of Red (the #2,3,4,5,& 6 trails) will be closed to make way for trail construction. Plan your rides, hikes, or runs accordingly. We’re really excited about the experience this trail is going to provide, and can’t wait to open it up to y’all later this fall (assuming the weather cooperates). More next week on this project!

We hope to see you at these events! Learn more at the links below: 

• Thursday, 9/18: Maine Outdoor Film Festival & Skills Clinic
  • Riverton Trolley Park, Portland
  • GPNEMBA-led skills clinic from 5:30-7:00pm, film screening from 7:00-9:00pm including short docs about the creation of Riverton Bike Park and Gorham trails!
• Saturday, 9/27: Blackstrap Group Ride & Trail Fest
  • Blackstrap Trailhead in Falmouth for the ride, followed by TrailFest at Wander in Cumberland
  • Group Ride from 1:00-3:00pm, TrailFest 3:00-7:00pm with our friends at Falmouth Land Trust and Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust.
• Saturday, 10/4: Group Ride/Clinic for Westbrook Bike Fest
  • Rock Row, Westbrook
  • 12:00-6:00pm
• Sunday, 10/5: GPNEMBA Women’s Ride
  • Lavoie Bike Park, Gorham
  • 4:30-6:30pm