Mud Season in Maine: Why do hiking trails close?

After a winter of grooming trails for xc skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking frost is pushed deep into the ground under our trails. As spring temperatures rise the packed snow and ice begin to melt. This melting mixed with spring rains creates one big muddy mess on the trails. The frost layer under our trail bed, created by grooming, also takes longer to melt. Which in turn means, our trails take longer to dry up. We understand that spring is a time to be outside taking in the sights of nature, but if you check our trail conditions in April – May you might find that our trails and disc golf courses are closed. And you might ask, why can’t I just hike in my muck boots? To that, our answer is simply, we close them to protect our trails from damage.

Closing the trails ultimately keeps them in great shape for more activities throughout the year. When hiking is allowed on wet and muddy trails, mud becomes packed and rutted which holds onto more water on the trails, keeping the trails wetter longer. Imagine when the rutted mud does eventually dry, how difficult it might be to hike and bike next season on hard rutted trails.

By closing our trails and disc golf courses in the spring for a short period of time we keep them in the best possible shape for future activities.

So even though you could put on the old muck boots and go tromping through the mud, we ask that you please don’t when our trails are closed. Our campus is still open to the public though and you’re welcome to enjoy the mild spring temperatures and birds chirping around campus.

Let’s Work Together to keep our trails in tip top shape for a late spring and early summer of hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and orienteering! We do appreciate your cooperation and look forward to the public getting back out on the trail system at Pineland Farms.

When we close our trails, we post on our Trail Conditions page of our website. Please also feel free to call us at 207.688.6599 for trail status. Come visit us in the Outdoor & Fitness Center for indoor activities like open gym & candlepin bowling. We’ll announce on our social media pages when our trail systems open for the season.