Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Connecting Sebago Lake to Casco Bay

— It can take years to build a mile of trail. So says Portland Trails Executive Director Nan Cumming.

However, Cumming believes the effort to create a nearly 28-mile trail from Sebago to the sea is a mere five years from achieving success.

The Sebago to the Sea Trail coalition, a relatively new group of 15 nonprofits and agencies, is finishing its second year of working on this project. And the excitement over the trail is as deep as the lake where it starts.

So far, 17.6 miles of a 27.5-mile hiking trail that will extend from Sebago Lake to Casco Bay are completed, and another 1.3 miles is close to being completed. And while there is no clear picture when the next chunk of trail will be protected and built, there is no doubt in the coalition that one will.

''I'm very confident. The key is patience,'' said Cumming, a 10-year veteran of coalition member Portland Trails.''

''This is an exciting trail for Mainers, for people in Portland who love to go to Sebago,'' she said. ''It's a great idea to ride a bike from Portland to Sebago, but you wouldn't think of it now.''

The trail will follow the Presumpscot River as much as possible. Portland Trails has five miles of the trail completed there, most of it along the river, and some sections that dip alongside the Presumpscot's falls and rips.

The trail also has support from Healthy Portland, the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, the National Park Service, the Mountain Division Alliance and several state and town agencies.

Tania Neuschafter, the coalition's coordinator and manager of the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, said every one of the coalition's members sees the trail as an important symbol, as much as a transportation corridor.

Cumming agreed.

''I think it is important, because it will produce lots of trails in the various communities,'' he said.

So far, the 15 partners have formed volunteer committees in each town to identify and pursue viable sections.

At this time, gaps in the trail are in Falmouth and Standish, Neuschafter said, although alternative routes may send the trail into other towns. Neuschafter said it is only a matter of time before routes are found, protected and created.

''The trail idea was talked about for years,'' she said. ''We've been doing mostly community building and working on how to get this done. Now we are finding ways to link the communities. The entire group is volunteers.

''But every one of the members that is involved is really involved. They are at every meeting. That tells the story of something that is growing.''

Neuschafter said the coalition hasn't considered the 27-mile trail as a truly long-distance hiking venture, although certainly that idea may be embraced by some Mainers.

At the very least, Neuschafter said, the trail will bond communities and remind people why trails are so loved in Maine.

''In Cumberland County, it's a way to connect the urban and the rural,'' she said. ''In a way, that is for recreational purposes, but it also will connect towns and cities. This process alone has brought together towns and city planners and local nonprofits, as well as the state.''

While the coalition's current goal is to make the Sebago to the Sea trail a footpath, Cumming said in Greater Portland it is amazing how Mainers make great use of skinny, rocky trails.

''I'm surprised how many people, when a trail is built, commute to work on mountain bikes,'' she said.

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com