Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Maine, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Back into biking again we found this trail a great ride. Very little motorized traffic and all those where very courteous to us on bikes. Driven by this trail many times and never knew it was there. Hard to believe that your never more than a few yards for a road, but you hardly every hear the traffic. Lots of history and great views. Take a trip to northern Maine and enjoy this trail.
Great trail to bike ride on. Never more than just a few yards from Rt 161, but you almost never see it. Lot's to see, and a lot of history. Take a ride and spend an afternoon.
Didn't absorb the fact that eastbound from Presque Isle that the trail is private. After barely riding over a short bridge with exposed spaces between the planks and nails sticking out, I came across a section that was mudded out (in late July) and the ATVs had run over posted signs stating that the soils were too saturated for use. I turned west and it was much better. Hard packed dirt, smooth sailing. At worst there were a few rocky areas but nothing major. Very little horsefly activity when compared to the Ellsworth end of the Sunrise trail. Very well-maintained by the Star City ATV club.
I rode this two weeks ago but forgot to review. Before going, I read the review by potterdunn from Oct 2021. Their review was awesome because it gave me the exact details I needed. I rode the Scarborough to Saco leg which is number 3 or lll in their review. There were some Sandy parts but I found them doable and I am not a sand rider! I will ride this section again before the end of summer!
We have used the kennebunk section (to the southern Maine medical center) often over the years. We just returned and someone put down an excessive amount of loose sand that frankly made a 1/2 mile stretch treacherous and I’m not sure what the point was of adding that much sand.
Don't be intimidated by the atvs on this trail, the drivers we encountered on the 4th of July were polite and the trail was just wide enough. Machias is the most "settled" for 35 miles around on the north end with stores and restaurants, which is where we tried it out. Absolutely LOVELY! Plus--the U.S. Bikeway #1 of street routes has an easy section here that crosses the Downeast at Rim Rd, East Machias and heads into Machiasport, passing the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution. PLUS!--there is a "Sculpture Trail" that intersects here as well, at Roque Bluffs state park and at the U of Maine in town. This well maintained trail needs an itinerary!
This trail itself is well maintained and easy to ride on. The views are beautiful! If you start behind the Sugar Bowl .. you get a view at the end of Sugarloaf! We also dipped our feet in the Carrabassett River.. So Fun!!
This, so far, has been the roughest trail I have been biking on since arriving in Maine. As stated in other reviews, portions of the trail, especially on the southern end, are tremendously sandy. This makes it very difficult for biking, even with a good mountain bike. I actually was getting bogged down so bad today that I gave up about 4 miles from the end (I started on the north end at Farmington).
In addition, this trail seems to be a "highway" for ATVs. I probably would have dealt with less traffic riding along US Route 2. In some cases, I had convoys of 5 or 6 ATVs passing me at a time. Getting blasted with exhaust fumes, and being pelted with sand and grit as they sped away was not my idea of a good time. Granted, most everyone was friendly and slowed down while passing me (with just a few exceptions). During my ride, I only encountered one other bicyclist.
Finally, the scenery is so/so. For Maine, its nothing specially. There are a couple of nice bridges. And, I did encounter a beaver den and dam. But otherwise, I have enjoyed several of the other trails much more.
Last weekend we did this so-called shared trail (bikes, hikers, horses, 4 wheelers). Unless you like to inhale the whiff of gasoline from ATVs and the din of their engines, avoid this trail like the plague. We had the bad idea of ¿¿doing this trail back and forth...I believe we must have passed at least 60 ATVs. If some drivers showed civility, by slowing down when they passed us, the majority demonstrated that the words civility and courtesy are not even part of their vocabulary. They make it clear to you that you are not welcome on THEIR path. The majority pass by you without slowing down and I do not recommend this trail for families with young children for obvious reasons. In addition, it is a very rocky trail that requires at least a hybrid bike with good tires, or even a mountain bike.
I'm trying to find a positive to this trail but even trying to be objective I can't find one. There are no infractrustures (no picnic tables, no toilets, nothing). I imagine my review is going to be deleted as it probably won't appeal to everyone but until then hopefully it helps other people not to waste their time on this tasteless trail.
Twas a lovely way to start the day, walking above & beside the river with the dogs. Very accessible hard packed stone dust path & fairly smooth bridges. Highly recommend for those visiting Belfast.
Initial trail has a lot of barberry blocking it, then the entire trail became deep mud, and finally it was reasonably clear for the rest of the path. The path had about 5 bridges, 2 were completely rotted through, but I just passed under them since the stream was only a trickle. One area was marked with a Poison Ivy sign, but I did not see any, I think it’s just starting to come out so I may have been lucky and gone early enough to miss it. Evidence that a beaver was munching on some rather large trees. Beautiful view of the river near the end.
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