What’s going on in Lowell Preserve?

There’s been a lot of exciting activity in Lowell Preserve in our partnership with Presumpscot Regional Land Trust and the Town of Windham to extend the trail quality of East Windham further East along the Falmouth-Windham Corridor into Lowell by revamping much of the singletrack trail network there.

New Windham-Lowell connector is open: Chris Cyr of Sanctuary Trails has completed and opened a new connector trail from the base of #9 trail in East Windham down into a key intersection in Lowell between #7 trail, the Red Loop (which connects over towards North Falmouth), and the new trail we’re working on right now. It’s a great flowy rip that can be ridden both ways, and which features an awesome optional rock roll or drop partway down (see above).

New 2-mile XC trail within the Red Loop (yellow trail above) is under construction (and closed to riding!):  The Sanctuary team has been building a nearly 2-mile machine-crafted XC trail with three distinct descents and tons of variety—including spicy A-line rock rolls and features. It starts at the intersection mentioned earlier and winds across the Red Loop ridgeline multiple times. I previewed it recently—it’s going to be a blast! We aim to open it before the end of the season, and it’ll eventually connect to a new trail next year that will descend to McIntosh Brook.

This new trail is closed to riding, as are the old singletrack trails that used to populate the Red Loop: We know everyone’s excited about the new trail, but riding it while it’s still under construction isn’t the way to show it. We’ve seen tire tracks and even Strava posts—please don’t. The trail isn’t finished, is actively being worked on, and isn’t ready for public use.

Also, in partnership with PRLT, we’re closing the old singletrack in the Red Loop (trails 2–6) to make room for this new, continuous trail with the same mileage but fewer confusing intersections. Help spread the word!

Max Southam & Mt. Abram Trails start building two descents (purple above) soon: Max/Mt Abram will be breaking ground by the end of the month on two dedicated downhill mountain bike trails this fall — both longer than Bustamove. One will be a faster, lower intermediate rip with longer sightlines and the other will be a steeper, more advanced descent with natural tech, selectively-placed berms and features, and which we hope will set a new benchmark for bike-specific trails in the region.

With $20,000 already committed, we’re raising $30,000 to finish construction by season’s end. We are nearly halfway to our goal, and your donation will help bring world-class trails to a totally underutilized corner of the Greater Portland region.

Donate today and help shape Greater Portland’s mountain biking future!

We were excited to submit our first Maine Trails Program application this fall — the first round of grants available following the passage of the Maine Trails Bond. We targeted four miles of singletrack (green above) that will be a mix of revamped and realigned segments of existing trails and new trail segments. Highlights include rebuilding half of the current Blue Loop (the first trails you hit as you leave the parking lot) as singletrack with a more approachable and sustainable grade designed not for logging, but for recreation, which should make a fun climb into and descent out of the Lowell network. 

We also plan to realign, regrade, and extend parts of both the #11 and #8 trails, along with the segment of the Red Loop that offers the most seamless connection between North Falmouth Community Forest and East Windham. We also plan to add the aforementioned descent from the 2-mile XC trail under construction down to McIntosh Brook and the base of the Max Southam/Mt. Abram descents, and bring back to life a descent from the top of the current 8/10 trails down into North Falmouth.

If we’re successful, we’ll start construction in 2026. After a lot of hard work with the Town and PRLT, we believe this project will greatly enhance the recreational value of Lowell while offering a huge variety of rides that can be had from East Windham, Lowell, and North Falmouth/Blackstrap. Stay tuned, and consider donating to our fundraiser in the meantime.