Hiking in Maine

Note: According to the Falmouth Land Trust web site, each spring, trails are closed during the transition from frozen ground to ensure that the trails are not damaged during the rain and mud season. This year, trails will begin to close March 25th. All trailheads will be cordoned off and signage posted.

The Blackstrap Hill Preserve, along with the Blackstrap Community Forest, is comprised of two separate properties totaling almost 600 acres, owned by the Falmouth Land Trust (FLT) and the Town of Falmouth, and divided by north and south. On a mid-March day, I parked at the Blackstrap Community Forest parking lot on Blackstrap Road, where there is a parking lot and map kiosk (see the FLT website for a map), and completed a loop of about 4.2 miles in a little under two hours, using the White Trail, Waterfall Trail, Red Trail, Greenline Trail, Saw Whet Trail, and Cross-Cut Trail. The Preserve is also accessible from a trailhead further up Blackstrap Road (same as for North Falmouth Community Forest), just north of Babbidge Road, as well as another small parking lot off Hurricane Road. A connector to the east (from the River Trail) extends to the Hadlock Community Forest, as well.

After a short walk across the grassy field to the White Loop Trail, I put on micro spikes to deal with the icy footing. The White Loop Trail led to the Waterfall spur trail, marked with purple blazes, which added about .7 miles out and back, with the pleasant sound of the creek leading downhill. The waterfall was not so much one massive torrent, but a pleasing series of cascades, and would be a nice, easy hike for young children in warmer months.

I returned to the White Loop Trail, continuing a counter-clockwise loop to the Red Trail, which was wide and sunken, making it a sort of frozen river in the winter melt. At the Red Trail intersection with the Yellow Trail (which I bypassed), you can begin to hear the highway again. The trail network is mostly self-correcting, with maps at major intersections, but placards have been torn or blown down from several stands along the way.

I turned left by a lazy bend in the West Branch of the Piscataqua River to take the Greenline Trail toward the Saw Whet Trail. The Saw Whet climbs a ridge next to a marshy area, and is not particularly well-marked, but I eventually re-acquired some white blazes, eventually returning to the Red Trail and then the White Trail, which widened out for the loop back to the parking lot.