Good Will-Hinckley trails:
Maine
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Description:
Good Will-Hinckley Campus trails, acessed behind the L.C. Bates Museum, are easily walked trails through forest and wetland. These trails -- built in the fisrt quarter of the 20th century -- have monuments to early leaders of the outdoor movement.

The bike trails start and can end on the 2,540 acre campus of the L.C. Bates Museum, although the trails also go onto other property. At the L.C. Bates Museum you can obtain free maps of the trails.

The area is great for bird watching and part of the walking trails goes through an arboretum. Educational signage and self-guides are available to enhance your visit to the Walter Palmer Hinckley Arboretum trails.
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Parking & Trail Access:
Free parking is available at the L.C. Bates Museum and at trail heads marked on trail maps available at the museum.
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Seasonal Restrictions:
Open year round, but in winter snow may make them impassable withour snowshoes or skiis.
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A different kind of trail
By Lyle Clugg on October 12, 2004
"We weren't expecting what we got when we did this trail, but we had an enjoyable ride. These are not rail-trails. We rode about 11 miles of the trail in early September 2004.

We started our ride at the L.C. Bates museum on the Good Will-Hinckley campus. This school for dis-advantaged boys and girls was founded in 1889. Before the ride, we watched an interesting film on the history of the school, and then toured the eclectic museum.

The map available at the museum is not very detailed, which tends to make the ride more interesting. The trails on the map are numbered, but we saw no signs or markings on the trail that related to the map. No scale is shown on the map. It was roughly five miles to the road north of the campus where we turned around.

We started behind the chapel on the large campus. With guidance from a helpful passerby, we headed up the road to the school's farm and the start of one of nine numbered trails. We missed the turn at the cemetery and got an extra tour of the farm, but we eventually found trail #4.

The trails are primarily geared to ATV's and snowmobiles, but our mountain bikes were easily up to the task, mostly on narrow double track. We wound past the cemetery, through fields and into the woods. There is an occasional blaze to mark the trail, but it requires some map reading skills and blind luck to figure out when you are at an intersection. Luckily, there were only a few of those. The trail crosses several creeks, some bridged, some not. Prepare to get a bit muddy. It must have rained recently, because we scared up lots of frogs as we splashed through the frequent puddles.

We eventually got to the paved road about five miles north of the campus, at the end of trail #3, and we turned right and rode, looking for the power line that marked the trailhead for #2.

That took us past the 100 acre field and down to the new 160 acre field (these are how the landmarks are described on the map). We came to a muddy creek of undetermined depth. Taking off the shoes and wading proved to be prudent, but unnecessary. Eventually, #2 met #5 and a bit more travelled road. From there, we easily found our way back to Highway 201 and an easy jaunt back to the campus. This unexpected but enjoyable ride is one we will remember for quite a while."
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