Follow the Fore River
A transit-to-trails dream in Portland
This week, I’m wrapping up a newspaper story about how public transportation can be utilized to bring people to the outdoors—specifically, outdoor recreation destinations where gatekeepers try to prevent public access. It’s an idea I’ve been thirsting to write about for some time. While there aren’t that many high profile examples of “transit-to-trails” in the United States quite yet, there are promising glimmers. Seattle currently offers a public bus program that transports hikers from the city to some of the most popular mountain trailheads within the metro region. In Boston, there’s this company called RIDJ-IT which runs a bus from the city to the Lafayette Place parking lot in the White Mountains, where you can pick up the Falling Waters Trail or the Old Bridle Path to Mount Lafayette (the bus then returns to take you back home in the late afternoon.)
Mind you, these are official examples of transit-to-trails. But you don’t have to wait for more municipalities to embrace the concept if you want to experience it now. In the northeast, we’re fortunate to have a lot of regional transit authorities and a ton of trails that run through population centers. You can design your own transit-to-trails journey with a bit of Google Maps sleuthing. To get you started this week, I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite transit-accessible hikes in New England. For those of you who’ve been suffering through this infernal heat wave, you’ll be happy to hear that this day hike is located in Portland, Maine, steps away from the Atlantic and its sea-breeze.