This summer, eight-year-old Rylan Phillips buckled his helmet under his chin, climbed atop his new bike, and pedaled through the woods for the first time. His dad, Russ, led the way while guiding him over the packed dirt and coaching him through the turns. For this father-and-son duo, mountain biking became an escape from the…
As 2020 draws to a close and we take a moment to reflect on this wild year, what are the moments where you found ease? Rejuvenation? Joy? For tens of thousands of community members throughout Greater Portland, the trail network became a space for connection in the midst of isolation and a place of comfort…
How did Portland Trails find its way into a virtual surprise birthday party turned Jeopardy game turned marriage proposal this spring? As with most things this year, it started with cancelled plans due to the coronavirus pandemic. Libbytown couple Jon Kleiman and Leila Pike had planned on celebrating Leila’s 30th birthday with a trip…
Lin Lisberger’s 2019 sculpture, Fore River Sanctuary, feels familiar the first time you see it. With understated detail, her woodcarving evokes a memory of standing on a long, curving bridge stretching across the sanctuary’s grassy marsh. “The Fore River Sanctuary trail is a really beautiful walk because it crosses so many different microcosms of land,”…
Portland Trails volunteer David Fitz is quite the renaissance man. He’s a retired plastic and hand surgeon, a canoe maker, a backyard trailblazer, a mountain biker, and, as of this spring, a volunteer heavy-metal bridge builder. The trails behind the Riverside Golf Course, owned by the City of Portland, are a popular winter destination…
In this audio story, you’ll hear the stories of Burl Hall and Martha Haskell. They’re both residents of the senior living facility Woods at Canco, and they both spend hours every week on the nearby trails in Canco Woods. For the past few years, Jaime Parker (Trails and Transportation Manager for Portland Trails) has met…
On January 1, 2019, Ann Hitzrot traced the dotted line on her Portland Trails map from Willard Beach to Bug Light in red permanent marker. She had spent her sunny New Year’s Day walking along the South Portland shoreline, the first step of her 2019 resolution to walk every trail on the Portland Trails map.…
On a recent winter afternoon in the Presumpscot River Preserve near the falls, Daniel Bishop (Portland Trails’ Trail Steward & Volunteer Coordinator) and Sami Wolf (Falmouth Land Trust’s Stewardship Coordinator) formally marked the boundary between the two land trusts by hammering stakes into the ground. The trail runs seamlessly through both properties, but this boundary…
When a trail volunteer group from Idexx met at Portland Gear Hub on August 29th, they thought they were in for an afternoon of trail work in the East Bayside neighborhood. However, instead of shovels and rakes, the volunteers were handed paint buckets, rollers, and large cardboard stencils and were asked to paint flowers on…