HARPSWELL

In celebration of National Trails Day, the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust will be hosting its sixth annual Hiking Challenge this Saturday and Sunday, where community members will have the chance to walk eight coastal trails in Harpswell.

The selected trails present some of the best waterfront views in Harpswell, as the town itself offers 216 miles of oceanfront, which is more than any other town in Maine.

According to Julia McLeod, the outreach coordinator at HHLT, the trails will allow residents to be “right on the coast the whole time; it’s just very pleasant,” she said.

Challengers are encouraged to pace themselves and enjoy the trails over a span of two days, as the challenge is self-guided and covers more than 10 miles.

Although community members are not required to walk all eight trails, they can mark the sites they visit on the registration form, and completed challenge forms can be returned to the Harpswell Town Office, where prizes will be given out.

McLeod said there were about 160 participants last year, based on the number of completed forms that were passed in at the end of the event.

“It’s a pretty popular event every year,” she said. “The nice thing about Harpswell is that most of the trails are short, so it’s pretty doable.”

The trails incorporated in this challenge vary in difficulty and include the Cliff Trail, Mitchell Field, which offers a wheelchair accessible loop, Long Reach Preserve, Devil’s Back, Widgeon Cove Trail, Giant’s Stairs, Houghton Graves Park and HHLT’s newest preserve — the Curtis Farm Preserve.

Residents are invited to kick off the challenge by attending the grand opening of the Curtis Farm Preserve, which will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Harpswell Neck Road parking lot.

The 86-acre preserve is the largest undeveloped property in South Harpswell and was purchased by HHLT, made possible through a fundraising campaign that involved more than 160 local donors, and state and federal grants, according to a press release.

This event will occur rain or shine, and community members will be introduced to the history and special features of the preserve, which includes its 2,000 feet of shoreline on the Curtis and Basin Cove, a six-acre field, a pond, views of Mt. Washington and 1.25 miles of trails.

The hiking challenge will give community members an opportunity to explore this new preserve, as well as HHLT’s other trails.

“I think some people enjoy a challenge and enjoy an excuse to get out. This is a good time of year to appreciate these trails,” she said. “Volunteers have put in an incredible amount of hours to get (them) ready.”

More than 50 HHLT volunteers helped work on the trail system at the Curtis Farm Preserve to prepare it for public access.

Both the preserve’s grand opening and the hiking challenge is free to the public.

Interested community members are encouraged to download a registration sheet from hhltmaine.org/harpswell-hikingchallenge or visit the town office and pick up a registration form between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on June 6 or 7.

More information can be found at hhltmaine.org or by calling 721- 1121.

dkim@timesrecord.com

The challenge

THE TRAILS incorporated in this challenge vary in difficulty and include the Cliff Trail, Mitchell Field, which offers a wheelchair accessible loop, Long Reach Preserve, Devil’s Back, Widgeon Cove Trail, Giant’s Stairs, Houghton Graves Park and HHLT’s newest preserve — the Curtis Farm Preserve.