bike trail – Page 20 – Exploring by bicycle

Day 7 — 64 miles from Auburn to Portland

We capped off our week-long ride along the East Coast Greenway from the Canadian border in Calais to Portland with a victory lap around Portland’s Back Bay with an inspirational group from Maine Adaptive Sports. And we saw where a 10-mile trail could go between Lisbon and Brunswick.

These are people in wheelchairs, perhaps since they were born, who bike, ski, kayak and golf with the help of volunteers. I chatted with one who started skiing in 1999 and added the other three sports in 2009. He regularly does three loops around the three-mile route, cranking with his arms instead of his legs, on a customized 20-plus speed bike that is built like an upside-down version of an able-bodied person’s bike (except for the seat, which isn’t upside down, of course!) and just flies down the descents. He’s now a mentor to others who join the program.

I hope this is the first of many ways the Week-A-Tour reaches out to groups beyond the local trail advocates.

Watch this one brief TV clip about it.

Another highlight of the final day was a beautiful three-mile trail in the Lisbon area, at least part of which is known as the Papermill Trail. It went by schools and dropped us off in a residential area at the edge of Lisbon. Once again, we rode through woods and along the river — what a wonderful way to bike to school!

When the trail ended, we found ourselves on the shoulder of a road with fast-moving traffic and of course climbing a few hills. And I could see a rail line in spots along the river (flat!), with weeds that aren’t kept in check by freight trains. It turns out that stretch of many miles from Lisbon to Brunswick on the other side of the river is abandoned — and owned by the Maine Department of Transportation. The state, however, doesn’t want to convert it to a rail-trail because it sees its mission as preserving it for future rail service. Fortunately, it is open to a rail with trail, and I will thrilled to hear of progress there. And yes, the old railroad bridge is still up.

As we left Bruswick (home of Bowdoin College), we stumbled across a very popular farmers market. It’s in a field just outside town, with lots of cars pulling in and out and parked along the road — not the most family-friendly bike ride to reach it. It really could use a multi-use trail alongside the road.

But there are bike racks, and they were pretty full (not just with a good number of our group!). We fell into conversation with a family of four at the nearby picnic table. The mother lamented how difficult it is to find a place to take the kids biking (the youngest son is about to start first grade). Seems kind of odd since Brunswick is a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community, according to the League of American Bicyclists, but that says a lot about how families define bike-friendly (and how well or not the word gets out about area trails).

I encouraged her to drive out to Lisbon for those trails (such a shame you have to say drive to bike) — but of course also had to fill her in with what I knew about the saga of that abandoned rail line.

From the moment we got on the Lisbon trail until we crossed the river into Brunswick was 13.5 miles. Imagine if it was all trail — so there was an alternative to those 10 miles of road. OK, it might be a little shorter and more direct, but you could organize a half-marathon from Lisbon (the schools?) to the Brunswick waterfront or Main Street. Double back and you’ve got a marathon. The training routes runners would have!

Imagine the bike rides locals would do, with a stop for a snack at one end. And how families could get out and ride without worrying about cars speeding by with nothing but a line of paint to separate the two. There’s an Amtrak station in town — think cyclists coming up from Portland or beyond. What an impact that could have!

Peter Garrett, trailbuilder extraordinaire

One of the great things about the East Coast Greenway Week-A-Year ride is meeting passionate volunteers. Peter Garrett is one of those.

One of the great things about the East Coast Greenway Week-A-Year ride is meeting passionate volunteers. Peter Garrett is one of those. This soft-spoken Brit has lived in the Waterville area for nearly 40 years and has spent more than a decade building 40 miles of trails in Waterville, Winslow and surrounding towns for the astoundingly low cost of about $2.5 million (this article says $4 million, which is still cheap).

Peter has learned to be both patient and persistent. As he took a group of us along the Rotary Centennial Trail and the connecting East Kennebec Trail, he told us how his group, Kennebec Messalonskee Trails, asked the railroad if it could buy some land along the river that was no longer being used. It was told no .. and several years later, the railroad donated the land. Now I’m sure he left out a few details of how this gift came to be, but it is now a flat, grass-covered trail mowed by a volunteer we were introduced to.

If I’m remembering right, not only was the land donated but the company put up a fence at its own cost (rather than requiring the trails group to pay for it) to separate the trail and company land.

The surface on other parts of the trail was hard-packed soil or crushed stone, all at least as smooth (and sometimes more so) than the D&R Canal towpath near me that is a long section of the East Coast Greenway. Certainly none of that reddish-brown dust that caked my bike a month ago! And it was lovely to be in the shade (something we appreciated even more as we biked down U.S. 201 with none) and get a break from hills.

It got me thinking about what makes a good trail, and what makes a good trail segment for the East Coast Greenway. I don’t claim to be an expert, and I certainly don’t have the educational credentials. But that’s not going to stop me from offering my thoughts.

I thought: who is this for? As a cyclist, I think of the East Coast Greenway one way, but it’s also for runners, walkers and more. And even among cyclists, road warriors would look at it one way (they stick to the roads), touring cyclists another and recreational cyclists yet another. Do I personally prefer paved? Yes, because my road bike likes that better, though I then curse the bumps created by tree roots. Still, I took it on unpaved trails in Connecticut. I just can’t go as fast (and probably shouldn’t even on paved trails, the better to share with walkers and their dogs). But my hybrid can take anything. And give me these surfaces over the C&O Canal! I liked these trails.

If I was hiking a section of the East Coast Greenway, I would love this. There were scenic vistas and even a place to sit and eat. If I was running, ditto. And we saw a woman running alone, a sign that safety isn’t a concern. Is it wheelchair-accessible? Certainly the area where we exited isn’t — too steep, perhaps, and I would definitely pave it to avoid deep ruts from the rain flowing downhill. (We walked up — but that was no more than 10 yards.)

Can't miss this! This is where we exited. — Can’t miss this! This is where we exited.

You can see only a tiny bit of the fence on the left. It’s an automated gate put in by the business next door (the railroad? remnants of the paper mill?) to keep trail users from parking on its property. Peter tells the story better, but it seems like more proof of how this community group works well with others.

I like that the trails connected to the schools. Does it mean it meanders a bit for a through-rider? Yes. But the added distance really isn’t much, and you could have jumped back onto the road for what I expect is less than half a mile if you wanted to skip that.

Peter’s trail is an “orphan” trail and not part of the main route. But given that tourism and the economic boost it provides are among the selling points for this national trail (and, of course, encouraging exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle), it seems to me that if it doesn’t become part of the main route, it should be listed as a loop or spur. The same goes for Donna’s Air Line South trail and the Lawrence Hopewell Trail near me. After all, the more there is to bike in one area, the more likely you are to linger or plan a weekend around it.

Peter’s group has great ambitions to connect to the Waterville side of the river using old bridge pilings. It’s a long way across, but given what this group has already accomplished, my money is on this one day happening.

The route that exists today led us to the Two-Cent Bridge, an unusual pedestrian suspension bridge that is more than 100 years old — and which Peter and co. got fixed up and re-opened. The name comes from the two-cent toll to cross the bridge.

Look at the fun sculpture (wearing my bike helmet) and bike rack on the Waterville side!

Not only did Peter show us his trails, but he played tour guide from Unity to his trails, entertaining us with little stories along the way.

If you like reading about passionate advocates, I’ve written about others here and here.

Day 6 — 50 miles from Augusta to Auburn

We rode on two trails today — the Kennebec River Trail and the Riverside Greenway in Lewiston.

Today started and finished on wonderful trails. In between were mostly quiet roads, that evil 15% grade on part of a two-mile climb and a press event with the Maine Department of Transportation. Oh, and a lobster roll at a hole-in-the-wall. Properly toasted, unlike the one at the non-descript deli on Day 0 in Portland.

It was hot again, but we seemed to have more shade and the day didn’t end with a brutal climb. All told, we “officially” climbed 1,816 feet (but descended more — yay!). We pretty much behaved ourselves — no crazy detours today. And once again thanks to another wonderful SAG who kept us well-supplied with water.

The Kennebec River Trail in Augusta was lovely, with the river on our left and taking us blissfully traffic-free (and hill-free!) about 6 1/2 miles to Gardiner. It’s somewhat unusual in that it’s a rail with trail, rather than a trail on a former rail line. Notice there’s no fence between the rail and the trail.

This photo of two Kennebec Trail users comes from a fellow rider. The mother is 90 years old. Her daughter can’t walk. Just two reasons why we need more trail!

Before we took off on the trail, we met with Maine DOT to thank them for their support of the East Coast Greenway and for the wayfinding signage we’ve used for much of our trip. (Once again, the route essentially overlaps with U.S. Bicycle Route 1.) Watch the local TV’s station report here and read the short AP story that somehow is illustrated with a photo from my blog.

Here’s an impressive theater in Monmouth — too big to fit into my photo! With an impressive list of productions for the summer season. And the town has just 4,100 people.

At the end of our ride was the Riverside Greenway in Lewiston, with the Androscoggin River on our right, before we crossed over to Auburn and our hotel:

Food picture of the day is my $8 lobster roll, with nice chunks of lobster:

What else I’ve learned about food in Maine: For ice cream, Gifford’s trumps Hershey’s. Much better range of flavors. And not much cookie dough in the Hershey’s ice cream version.

One more day to go — hard to believe this bike adventure is almost over.

Ready to ride!

We’ve made it to Calais. Now the biking starts.

We’ve made it to Maine — and taken the five-hour(!) ride in a school bus to Calais from Portland. I was last on a long ride in a school bus in Alaska — and before that to corn detassle as a teenager in Indiana.

But it gave us lots of time to get to know each other. One rider is from Maine (another Maine rider joined us at dinner), and another is from Florida, and the rest of us are from Pennsylvania north. There are quite a few who are on their first East Coast Greenway ride.

As we went up and down the hills on Highway 9 between Bangor and Calais, the group started wondering about Sunday’s route. We knew it would be hilly — but this hilly? Should we have come with fatter tires after all and taken the Down East Sunrise Trail, with its imperceptible 1% grade? Maybe a third of the group has planned to take the trail. One person even brought a second set of tires, so she could swap out for something more road-friendly after two days. Why didn’t we do that?

At least it’s only a 46-mile day.

The Down East Trail is the longest trail on the East Coast Greenway, at around 85 miles. The nonprofit that runs it is now finishing up an extension into Ellsworth, the gateway to Acadia National Park, and is envisioning an extension in the other direction, into the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Pull out and sell the rails to build the trail seems to be the way it’s done.

And just how isolated is this eastern part of Maine? Our bus driver said you wouldn’t take this highway in the winter because of the snow — you’d stick to the coast. He pointed out signs with the letters TWP and a number. That’s how areas of forest and or other “town without people” get identified in rural Maine. We went through an area where there used to be a lot of logging and paper mills, but there’s much less of that here. A few homes, small — small — grocery stores (think the size of a trailer), one little elementary school and lots and lots of forest and not much else, until we finally saw a sign for a proper supermarket … 7 miles away. That would be in Calais, a town of about 3,000.

And between Calais and Machias? We’re heading out with boxed lunches because there’s nowhere to buy food.

Closing some of the gaps from the 2014 ride

It’s always exciting to read about gaps in the East Coast Greenway being closed. There’s been good news in Delaware and Maryland (and of course Connecticut, which I’ve written about earlier).

Gov. Markell and the riders from NJ — Delaware Gov. Markell and the East Coast Greenway ride in 2014

Back in 2014, I took part in my first East Coast Greenway Week-A-Year ride, pedaling from Philadelphia to Fredericksburg, Va. We rode on some great trails, of course, but we also were on roads plenty of times (some good, some bad).

So I was excited to come across two items Friday that show gaps on the trail are being closed.

In Delaware, the state’s General Assembly just approved a record $20.7 million for bicycling and walking improvements, and the state has a very pro-biking, pro-East Coast Greenway governor (who took the time to meet us on the 2014 ride). As Bike Delaware reports:

One of the most ambitious projects that will now be completed with this authorized funding is the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway, a safe, direct, paved, flat and nearly uninterrupted non-motorized six-mile travel route between the Wilmington Riverfront and downtown New Castle. Another project that will gain additional momentum is the Lewes-Georgetown Trail, a 10 foot wide paved trail that will extend a total of 17 miles all the way from Lewes to Georgetown, creating the longest trail in Delaware.

The East Coast Greenway goes from Wilmington to New Castle; maybe one day there will be a direct Wilmington-Newark route. No word yet on how quickly construction can happen, but it’s still a great step.

The Lewes-Georgetown Trail isn’t part of the East Coast Greenway but it’s about getting people to and around the beaches. and of course people already are biking on vacation — here’s a recent news article about some badly needed signage down in Rehoboth. Another bonus: it connects to New Jersey and the Cape May area via the ferry at Lewes.

Some of the group before the crossing in Perryville — Some of the 2014 group advocating for a safe crossing in Perryville

The day’s other news is that the bridge over the Susquehanna River between Perryville and Havre de Grace opened for bikes on Friday. This is a great victory! Sure, there are some complaints (and yes, we have to pay the toll too), but it’s far better than being barred. When we were here in 2014, the boats that were to shuttle us over never showed (they got the wrong day), so we were bused over the bridge.

Bridges. That’s the costly and really time-consuming part. If it had taken a new bridge to close this gap, we’d be waiting a long time. It’s also the gap in the WB&A trail from Washington to Baltimore. We rode part of this trail in 2014 too. The East Coast Greenway route goes from Baltimore to D.C. via Annapolis, and the vision is have a traffic-free route there too. A 1.7-mile gap on that leg closed in May because a developer realized it made sense for his own project (no doubt with some prompting).

A bridge is also the $1 million question in closing a gap in South Portland, Maine. The Eastern Trail runs 65 miles with gaps from Portland to Kittery, the border (with a bridge) to New Hampshire. The group is fundraising right now because state funding could otherwise disappear. I did my small bit. Had I won the Mega Millions jackpot last night, I’d have done much more. (The good part is no one did, so I could try again.) I hope they’ll win some grant money from People for Bikes and Rails to Trails via the Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund.

But I always wonder what could be done to make bike bridges less expensive. Would more prefab parts help, vs. constructing on site? Do construction standards require that they be able to support something as heavy as an ambulance and that adds to the cost? Can anything be done? Or is this just the unfortunate reality?

Trail dust

On Sunday, a group of us headed north from Princeton on the D&R Canal towpath.

I haven’t ridden north on the D&R Canal towpath from Princeton in a long time. So on Sunday a group of us headed out that way.

The D&R Canal towpath is part of the East Coast Greenway, and the trail was busy — maybe busier than I’ve ever seen it. We had plenty of shade, and having the canal right there made it even more pleasant. Loved the turtles lined up on a log — the same family as some Week-A-Year riders spotted three years ago?

But unlike some of those Connecticut trails from last week, this trail isn’t paved. It’s also not quite as smooth as the Hop River Trail and Airline South, so it’s not something I would want to do on a road bike.

And the closer we got to East Millstone, the more we encountered a dusty red surface. Everything got caked. This is what my bike looked like before I washed it:

And

My panniers also were in need of a wash, and my once-white sneakers now have an orange-brown tint. Oh well.

We also rode over a bridge repaired (replanked?) by some East Coast Greenway volunteers earlier this month. Thank you, guys! Though as a friend pointed out to me, a “path closed’ sign at the point where you had a detour option would have been a nice touch.

Total miles on the trail: 30

Total miles for the day: 39

Connecticut’s trails east of Hartford

We finally got off the Farmington trails and explored the Hop River Trail and Airline Trail South.

Day 3 in Connecticut — we finally got off the Farmington trails and headed east of Hartford. There are a series of trails — the Charter Oak Greenway, the Hop River Trail, Airline Trail North and Airline Trail South. All but Airline South are part of the East Coast Greenway “spine” and together take you almost to Rhode Island. (The Airline trails get their name from an old train line that connected Boston and New York as if a line was drawn through the air.)

There’s work being done here too — we saw construction along I-384 for a trail that will connect the Charter Oak and Hop River trails (and eventually include some costly bridges). Barb, one of my ECG buddies and a trail angel, told me another project is tying the northern end of the Hop River Trail in Vernon (where it’s no longer part of the ECG) to the Charter Oak Greenway in Manchester. And it’s all because of this man, a true trails advocate and East Coast Greenway champion. Thank you, Bill O’Neill.

We rode a 39.5-mile loop of trail and road from Bolton Notch State Park to Willimantic, then to Hebron and back to the car. Unlike the Farmington trails, these trails were stone-dust trails and every once in a while a bit bumpy on our road bikes. Still — road bikes with skinny tires!

Continue reading “Connecticut’s trails east of Hartford”

Closing the trail gaps in Connecticut

A big gap on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail will be closed by the end of the year. More is in the works.

An inspiring part of our three days in Connecticut was seeing gaps in the trails being closed. And East Coast Greenway advocates are a big reason.

We had heard that work was being done to turn the 4.7-mile section of railway line into more of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail north of where we parked on Cheshire on the second day of our Connecticut exploration. So of course we had to look.

There’s no sign of anything in the first section, between Cornwall Avenue and West Main Street; in fact, there is at least one active business. Willow Street, just around the corner, is a quiet road, so easy to ride (but no sidewalk or shoulder, so less easy to walk). And this newspaper article says the work will be done next year.

But a section beginning at West Main Street in Cheshire was just about done. The new crosswalk signals and barriers to keep motorists from getting on the trail still had to go up. A fence was up, but that wasn’t stopping locals from taking their bikes on the trail. One man told us about a new 70-car parking lot (I predict it will be busy) and solar-powered restrooms along the new section.

Further up, a section needed a second coat of asphalt.

And at the very northern end of this section, the trail was marked out but had absolutely no asphalt. But it’s all supposed to be finished this year.

Finally, the southernmost leg in New Haven is in construction too.

The bottom line: Best I can tell, come the end of the year, all but less than a mile of a 26-mile stretch of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail from New Haven (accessible by train from New York) to Southington (all part of the East Coast Greenway) will be complete.

Fantastic!

And two breweries apparently are coming to Southington — could there be any better bicyclist magnet beyond that ice cream shop at the edge of the trail?

After that, there’s still one big remaining gap to close on this trail — essentially between all this construction in Southington to where we parked on Friday. And planning has started for that. Then it will be easy to bike traffic-free from the Connecticut coastline to Massachusetts.

The bad news is it’s supposed to be five years until it’s done. Planning alone will take two.

In the meantime, it looked like you could ride on the road. You just need to feel comfortable with traffic. We just didn’t have time to try it out.

Here’s a full “state of the trails” report from the Farmington Valley Trails Council on what done and what’s not, including the Massachusetts section we barely saw.

There is an organized ride this Saturday (June 25) leaving from New Haven if you want to try out the entire 56-mile stretch. A grand opening ceremony is planned for that new piece in Cheshire.

Given what we saw, once finished, this new section should be popular with Connecticut residents. It hopefully lure in plenty of out-of-staters too, bringing in some extra tourism dollars.

We saw more trail construction east of Hartford, but that’s part of my next post.

Discovering New Haven

The East Coast Greenway took us to New Haven pizza.

On our second day in Connecticut, we biked more of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, heading from Cornwall Avenue and Willow Street in Cheshire 16 miles south to New Haven and then back. It’s all part of the East Coast Greenway.

Here’s some of what struck me:

The parking lot we used was full before 10 a.m., and the overflow lot (really a local business’s lot) was pretty full too. (And when we came back late in the afternoon, the main lot was still pretty full, just with different cars)

The trail was heavily used by young and old, thin and fat, people on bikes and people on foot. The entire stretch was paved and while not as wide as the widest sections of the Farmington River Trail, still plenty wide. We did see a dirt section on the side for those who wanted to skip asphalt.

Because it was hot and sunny, the heavy shade along much of the trail was greatly appreciated. The downside of biking through the woods is that you don’t see as many businesses, so the economic impact isn’t quite as obvious as in Collinsville, for example.

And Connecticut drivers are generally polite. Although we had stop signs at intersections, so many of them stopped for us.

Once in New Haven, we rode to the coast, past the Puerto Rican food trucks parked along a fairly busy road and through a small nature preserve before deciding to head back to the New Haven Green. Of course we found some East Coast Greenway signs — thank you, Rob Dexter. (We also found Rob in between two bike rides he was doing that day, so I got to see another person from the Week-a-Year rides.)

At this stage, you’re probably thinking “You’re in New Haven. What about the pizza? How could you of all people pass up trying New Haven pizza?”

Of course I didn’t. One of our first stops in New Haven was Frank Pepe’s, one of the oldest New Haven Neopolitan-style pizzerias. It has a super-thin crust and comes on a sheet pan lined with wax paper. Personally, I thought it was pretty similar to a Trenton tomato pie (I guess the difference is sauce first, then cheese, instead of cheese, then sauce like in Trenton). Fwiw, the typical New York pizza has a slightly thicker, chewier crust.

Here’s something we found that we haven’t seen elsewhere. Clive said it really did have a birch taste:

Connecticut’s gold-star trails

We spent three days riding our bikes on Connecticut trails. Day 1 was the Farmington River Trail and part of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Connecticut section of the East Coast Greenway over the past two years and knew I wanted to see these trails. But after I was put in charge of the ride-on-your-own section of a “Discover the East Coast Greenway” event in NYC a group of us organized in April, I knew I had to go.

So we took a three-day weekend and toured the trails with the help of some ECG buddies.

WOW!

We just loved them. (One of my nieces might call them “epic”.) Judging by how busy they were, so do lots of other people. And then to see gaps being closed along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail (which runs from New Haven into Massachusetts) — well, this is why I ride in support of the East Coast Greenway.

Continue reading “Connecticut’s gold-star trails”

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