'Like a Norman Rockwell painting'

'Like a Norman Rockwell painting'
Cyclists, pedestrians and off-road enthusiasts enjoy former rail beds converted into recreational paths.
By DEIRDRE FLEMING
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

JAY — Moose, beavers, horses and hawks are only some of the travelers that can be found along the Whistle Stop Trail running from Farmington to Jay.

There also are bulls and donkeys, not to mention plenty of dogs.

When the Maine Department of Conservation converted this 10-foot-wide raised railroad bed into a corridor for pedestrians and bicyclists 10 years ago, it allowed slower travelers to go great distances through the woods and farmland.

Cyclists can avoid the busy double-lane roads of western Maine and cover 14 miles in a different world -- if they put the time and muscle power into it.

This kind of gravel path that meanders along streams, over waterfalls and past farms also exists elsewhere in the state along old, out-of-use railroad beds from Bingham to Fort Kent.

And in the Down East region, the department is working on its twelfth and longest rail trail yet. The Ellsworth to Ayers Junction trail will stretch 85 miles through blueberry country, offering stopovers for campers in Public Reserve Land. (The current longest, the Presque Isle to Van Buren rail trail, runs 53 miles.)

Each of the state's 11 existing rail trails are open to a variety of outdoor enthusiasts, from ATV riders and equestrians to cyclists and campers.

The paths not only offer views of Maine's northern mountains and farm fields, they each tell a story not necessarily found in the towns they pass through.

For example, the Farmington to Jay Whistle Stop Trail runs by the site of the now defunct North Jay quarry that was built in 1886. The large white granite blocks mined here a century ago were shipped by train to major cities for stately buildings, such as the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco and the Bowling Green Building in New York City.

The Newport to Dover-Foxcroft trail has its own historic features, such as the ornate culverts that allowed water or cattle to pass underneath, said David Rodrigues, director of the state's division of off-road vehicles

"As we have time and money, we want to create stops with signs to show off the old culverts built from granite," Rodrigues said. "They were beautifully constructed. Some have cattle passes, when the railroad built big tunnels so the cattle could go under."

For the most part, the Whistle Stop Trail, western Maine's rail trail that runs through Farmington, Wilton and Jay, is peaceful in its plainness, which is reason enough to ride it.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=187988&ac=Outdoors








Photos by Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer