Residents enjoy the new trail on a sunny day. Joe Viger photo
BETHEL — Inland Woods + Trails, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the building, maintenance and promotion of multi-use recreational trail system in the Bethel region, has created an extension to Grover’s Grind Trail as well as added in a loop and another assistance trail to Millbrook Trail for this winter season.
Volunteers have built two short connectors that connect with Millbrook Trail so people don’t have to cross the road which, Eric Boyle-Wight, operations director at Inland Woods + Trails, said “is better for skiing because you don’t take your skis off and it is one of the beginner trails so it’s going to increase it; it’s gonna be a better experience for beginners.”
The new part of Millbrook Trail is right near the end of the condominiums near The Bethel Inn Resort. The Millbrook Trail goes into the woods, around the outside of the golf course and into the woods, and then comes back across the fairways and back in front of the condominiums.
“So it’ll be just a different intersection, but there’s two or [so] crossings so the walking path and then crossing the road. That’s really hard for skiing,” says Boyle-Wight. “So yeah, we kind of made that adjustment, I say. And then we built a new expert trail farther out which is connecting Grover’s Grind in I-95.”
Grover’s Grind is an intermediate trail.
The additional new trail is called The Skyline, a black diamond trail for experts. It is mostly uphill because of the terrain at the beginning. The views from the top are scenic. It is a panoramic view,” Boyle-Wight said.
“It’s steep near the bottom. [It’s] really going to be for people who want a really hard climb workout.”
“This is really a panoramic view of all the mountains,” said Boyle-Wight. “Pretty much run across the whites and all the way out across Maine. You can see from the top of Grover Hill. You can really see the whole Western and Northern view. So lots! [It’s] quite a deal.”
It took two years to build and develop the trails. The majority of them were put in last year. Most of the work was done with the help of Jeremy Nellis and his trail building company, Wundrous Trails. The team removed a lot of rocks on the new trails, fixed up a lot of bridges and spent the summer making the ground smooth. Once it is excavated, they’d like to get hay or mulch down to cover the soil so it doesn’t wash away.
The land was purchased by the Chadbourne Forestlands Conservative Funds. The land is going to be conserved for tree growth
“We have a recreation license to use the trails,” says Boyle-Wight. “And so the trails are actually woods’ roads that were a part of the forest land. So that’s why they’re their roads for wood roads or gravel road for timber harvesting. Oh, and so we were able to quickly get trails just by using the existing roads. Now it’s a conservation … they’ll still be logging to be maintained for a no sustainable forestry, but the roads be maintained for that purpose.”
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