Author: Larry Glantz

Saturday, April 13th – Celebrate Opening Day on the Eastern Trail, 10:00AM – 2:00PM, Biddiford and Kennebunk.
Southern Maine Medical Center – Physician Services, 9 Healthcare Drive  (map), or at Kennebunk Elementary School, 177 Alewive Road, Kennebunk
Bike, Walk or Run the Eastern Trail from Biddeford to Kennebunk roundtrip.

Enjoy Activities Along the way, including Yoga (Standing, Stretch and Stroll), Eastern Trail History, Bike Safety and Checks, and Trail Safety.

Activities at Kennebunk Elementary:

Bike from KES to Mousam River to experience the future trail! (Every hour on the hour – min 6 participants). Take a car to Mousam Embankment or hang out at KES to hear more about our southward plans and status. See the schedule for more details.

Please leave your four footed friends at home for this event, due to the amount of traffic expected on the trail.

Please also check our FaceBook page for more information.

[Ed. Note: The Eastern Trail is specifically mentioned in this article that appeared in USA Today on March 22]

East Coast Greenway will connect trails from Maine to Florida
The 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway connects biking and walking paths and will eventually create a park from the Canadian border to Key West, Florida.

In 2015, Florida cyclist Stefanie Boewe suffered a collapsed lung. During her long recovery she read an article about the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile route that connects existing biking and walking paths and will eventually create a linear park from the Canadian border to Florida’s southernmost point. Having grown up in Germany, touring by bike as a child, Boewe realized she missed long-distance cycling. As she recuperated, she began daydreaming about biking the greenway and visiting friends along the East Coast.

“I thought, ‘If I ever recover from this, I’m going to tell these lungs that they can’t say what I can and cannot do,’” Boewe said. “Plus, I had adopted this dog who goes crazy running with a bike.”

In 2017, over a stretch of 89 days, Boewe biked the entire greenway from Key West, Florida, to Calais, Maine, pulling a trailer and accompanied by her 6-year-old Australian shepherd, Murf. She joined a small tribe of cyclists and walkers who have taken on the whole greenway — even though it’s only one-third complete. For these pioneers, creating a patchwork route of protected paths and sometimes-busy roadways was a small price to pay for the adventure — and bragging rights — of being among the first to complete the East Coast Greenway.

Read the entire article on-line here.

Each year, the Gorham Savings Bank Maine Marathon/Half Marathon/Relay organizers select local charities to be the beneficiary of the race proceeds.

This year, the Eastern Trail Alliance has been chosen as one of the five selected local charities.  Several local newspapers have picked this story up (more information below).

The Gorham Savings Bank Maine Marathon is a Maine Track Club event. Founded in 1979, the nonprofit, all-volunteer Maine Track Club is Maine’s largest and most active running club. The 2019 event will be the 28th edition — making this one of the longest running marathon events in New England.

This year the races take place on Sunday, October 6, 2019.

Go here for see the local charities selected, and to get more information on the race.

Coverage of this story has appeared in several southern Maine local newspapers:

• Go here to read the story in the Scarborough Leader.
• Go here to read the story in the Kennebunk Post Community News (scroll down – it is the 7th story on the Community News Page.
• A similar story appeared in the March 15 edition of the Weekly Sentinel.

January 16, 2019 – FROM JOURNAL TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS

ARUNDEL – The Arundel Conservation Trust and the Eastern Trail Management District have signed an agreement that will connect the Eastern Trail to the planned trails on Arundel Conservation Trust’s Limerick Road property.

The connection is possible through the generous donation by Phil Labbe of an easement through his land that lies between the Eastern Trail and the Arundel Conservation Trust land.

“We’re thrilled that Arundel Conservation Trust plans to connect to the Eastern Trail from its property in Arundel,”said Carole Brush, executive director of the Eastern Trail Management District. “The goal of the Eastern Trail is to provide a safe, scenic off-road trail for transportation and recreation for users of all ages and abilities. The more connections we have to the trail, the more attainable this goal becomes.”

Arundel Conservation Trust Board Members Leia Lowrey and Dot Gregoire worked closely, over several months, with both Brush from the Eastern Trail and Roger Barham, senior gas engineer from Unitil Corporation to design the connection to meet requirements to protect the underlying Unitil gas line and the construction standards of the ET.

Read the rest of the Journal Tribune article online here.

Read a related the article (SeaCoastOnline) online here.

[Eds. Note: The Eastern Trail was selected in this article as the best biking trail in Maine (but of course!)]
If a two-wheeled jaunt through scenic landscapes is your idea of a great time, you probably can’t get enough of a good bike trail. They can be a great way to see the sights and get a good workout in.

If you’re looking for a new trail to explore, we’ve got you covered with the best bike trail in each of the 50 states, based on length of the trails, options for beginners and experts, and acclaim from bikers.

For a quintessentially New England outdoor experience, take a ride on southern Maine’s Eastern Trail.

This 22-mile route goes through Maine. Facebook/ The Eastern Trail.
A 22-mile route spanning Portland to Kenneebunk, Maine’s Eastern Trail follows both paved roadways (ideal for newbies) and off-road paths to satisfy experienced cyclists’ thirst for a challenge, providing lovely views of parks, rivers, and bays in the process.

Read the entire article online here

ETA members will soon receive our 2018 Annual Appeal in the mail. Our focus this year is on the “Blazing the Trail South” project. Each Annual Appeal donation will be placed toward the $30,000 we need in order to complete the survey for Kennebunk thru Wells to the North Berwick border.

For those who are not members, please read our Annual Appeal and donate as well. We hope you will consider becoming a member, but if you would prefer to remain a donor, we thank you.
Go here for our Annual Appeal 2018 web page

By Ron Chase | Published October 9, 2018

My favorite part of the Eastern Bike Trail has always been the sector that traverses Scarborough Marsh. The Sokokis Indians of the Abenaki nation who hunted and fished the wetland called it Owascoag, meaning “a place of much grass.” For years, I’ve ridden the trail enjoying the beauty and serenity of the marsh often observing kayakers and canoeists paddling a stream that meanders through the expansive bog near the Pine Point Road Trailhead. Each time, I’ve had a sense of envy wondering what I was missing.

The 3,100 acre estuary is the largest salt marsh in Maine and habitat for a variety of plants and wildlife. Owned and managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, birds abound and numerous species can normally be encountered.

Recently, I resolved to stop speculating and act on my curiosity by exploring the marsh from the water. Research indicated there were several boat landings that provide access but none met my needs as I wanted to launch as close to the Eastern Trail as possible so I could conveniently finish the day with a bike ride. My choice was to depart from the Audubon Nature Center on the Dunstan River just a short distance from Pine Point Road Trailhead. From that location, it’s possible to journey inland or paddle southeast towards Saco Bay where there are several opportunities to investigate tributaries that flow through the marsh into the Dunstan.

Tides are a factor to be considered when planning a trip. When I arrived for my excursion, the tide was flowing out and low tide was scheduled for an hour later. Deciding to ride the tide towards Saco Bay, I could take advantage of an incoming tide on the return trip. There are numerous ways to obtain tidal information. I rely on the website www.saltwatertides.

For my outing, I used a twelve foot Casco 120 flat water kayak. Possessing a durable plastic V-shaped hull, it is quite maneuverable yet tracks well enough to provide decent boat speed. Two roomy hatches offer sufficient dry storage for a day trip. From my viewpoint, the Casco was ideal for the intended expedition.

Shortly after commencing, I encountered the deteriorating wooden remains of what appeared to be an ancient structure. Prehistoric Sokokis Indians used weirs to trap fish in the marsh and 19th century farmers built tidal gates to prevent tides from flooding extensive areas providing more acreage for growth of what was then lucrative salt hay. Without specific knowledge, it seems logical to conclude that it was the frame of a primitive fish weir or the remnants of a tidal gate.

Rounding the next bend, I passed under the Eastern Trail Bridge from which I had often viewed boaters in the past. Looking back, I watched a succession of walkers, runners and cyclists crossing the bridge on their recreational and exercise endeavors.

Read the entire article online here.

The goal is a 3,000-mile bike and walking trail safe from vehicles, but only a third of it is off-road so far.

BY DICK WOODBURY – SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD (Dick Woodbury, a resident of Yarmouth, served 10 years in the Maine Legislature and is on the board of the East Coast Greenway Alliance). Posted August 21, 2018.

YARMOUTH — My biking adventure began in Calais, just this side of the St. Croix river from Canada. Calais is at the northern tip of the East Coast Greenway. From there, I biked the Greenway corridor through Machias, Ellsworth, Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston, Brunswick, Portland, Saco, Biddeford, and Kittery; and on through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and into Connecticut. My wife, Debbie, and son Sam joined me for much of this journey.

The vision of the Greenway is a 3,000-mile bike and walking trail, safe from cars, that connects urban centers from the top of Maine to the bottom of Florida. Think Appalachian Trail, but accessible for everyday biking and walking, as well as longer treks, and positioned where people live, running deliberately through population centers in the 16 East Coast states.

After Maine, the East Coast Greenway continues through Portsmouth, Boston, Worcester, Providence, Hartford, New Haven, New York City, and on through Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville and Miami, finishing at the bottom tip of the Florida Keys.

I love the vision of the East Coast Greenway for its health, recreation, transportation, commuting, environmental, economic and lifestyle impacts.

I refer to it as the “vision” of the East Coast Greenway because it is just 32 percent completed so far, meaning that 32 percent of it is fully constructed off-road trail, while the remaining 68 percent is temporarily on-road, while new off-road segments are gradually added and interconnected over time. Of the 569 miles I rode, 204 miles were on off-road trails.

Every one of the off-road segments I rode was wonderful. The 87-mile Downeast Sunrise Trail passes through forests, small towns and national wildlife lands from its southern gateway in Ellsworth. The Kennebec River Rail Trail weaves along the river, connecting downtown Augusta with Hallowell, Farmingdale and Gardiner. The Eastern Trail has 22 off-road miles from South Portland through Scarborough, Saco, Biddeford, Arundel and Kennebunk.

Read the entire article online here.

The very successful (and fun!) 2nd Annual John R. Andrews Memorial 5k race showed up in the news again last week.

There were two separate articles – Check them out:

Gap Band – the Scarborough Leader online

People & Business: July 18- The Forecaster online

This is in addition to the other earlier news coverage about the event that we listed on this page, and also on our Facebook page.

[Ed. note:Maggie Warren, Trustee Emeritus for the Eastern Trail Alliance, submitted this Letter to the Editor to the Portland Press Herald in response to its recent article (June 6) “Downeaster rail pass offers low-cost service between 6 stations in Maine”]

Natalie Bogart, Downeaster marketing director, is on the right track (no pun intended) with the Discover Maine Rail Pass, but her group has totally failed to consider a very important customer base that would use this pass: Bicyclists!

Years ago, when the Downeaster began running, there was a baggage car that accommodated bikes, strollers, camping gear – anything that a customer brought on board.

Boston, Wells, Portland and Old Orchard Beach in season were stations for loading and unloading from this car. A group from the Eastern Trail Alliance put our bikes on board in Portland, got off in Wells and rode the Eastern Trail back to Portland. The possibilities are endless.

Maine tourism would benefit greatly (as would the Downeaster) with cooperation and inclusion of bicyclists in their marketing strategy.

We can’t all walk long distances from the station to a downtown or an attraction, and we don’t want to rent a car upon arrival. We want to get on our bikes and Discover Maine. Help us!

Maggie Warren

Hallowell

Read the Letter to the Editor online at the Portland Press Herald website.