Starting in early 2020, Six Rivers NEMBA began trying out grooming some of the awesome trails in South Bath with our SnowDog. It was a lot harder than grooming the Topsham Pond trails and it proved to be every bit as fun as riding South Bath during dirt season. It was so good, that towards the end of winter in 2020, the chapter purchased a second SnowDog to make grooming South Bath more consistent.
Fast forward to this winter. We went into the season ready to go with a freshly tuned groomer and even a grooming plan. It started off great, with the large storm pre-Christmas dropping well over a foot of snow. We got it all groomed in with considerable effort only to see it all disappear within a couple days after some 60 degree temps and heavy rain. Then, it just didn’t snow almost all of January. Well, February has delivered the goods. We are currently sitting on 9ish miles of perfectly dog groomed ATV and singletrack trail, plus a few extra miles of both snowmobile groomed ATV trails and stomped/ridden in singletrack. And we are hoping to groom in more as we go and conditions allow.
So, we have some really good winter riding to share… but it seems many don’t know how to best access the trails. We had grand plans in 2021 to share the goods in South Bath with weekly group rides as a way to help folks learn the area without making it fully “public”. Then the pandemic happened and that went out the window. South Bath isn’t as well marked as some other local trails and has a decidedly more “backcountry” feel to it. Unlike Topsham Ponds (town land) or Bradbury (state park), South Bath trails are situated on a hodge podge of land trust, town and private land parcels. We have written and verbal permission to have trails on the majority of it. However, without full permission, we haven’t felt comfortable marking trails for navigation or uploading to apps like Trailforks.
All that said, times have changed and we need to figure out ways to share all the awesome we have been working on with the local riding community that has supported us. Below, you will find a map and guide of what we have groomed along with details for parking and access. We’re looking at having better trail status updates on our website moving forward so stay tuned!
3 big things to remember!
THINK BEFORE YOU SINK - If you are punching through the groomed surface and leaving ruts because it is too soft to support you and your bike, please stop and turn around. Running fat tires at low pressures will certainly help in this regard. Skinny tires, whule great, have a narrower window of viability. Expect to be curtly “educated” by other avid trail system users who respect these trails should you not be able to grasp this very basic concept. Bring your XC skis or snowshoes with you so you have options should conditions not be ideal for biking. We put in the work so all can enjoy and will engage those who selfishly choose to ruin.
NEVER park on Nichols Street…ever. And please don’t drive up to the end of the road to “check” on the trail. The end of the street is literally someone’s door yard and we don’t want to irritate our neighbors.
NEVER park on Hyde School property or ride through the campus to access more traditional access points. With Covid, they are asking us to let folks know they do not want MTB folk on campus until things are more under control. Hyde gives us crucial permissions for access yo their land, so please respect their wishes.
Parking
P1 - Fisher Mitchell School - Great parking spot for outside of school hours. Easy access to Nichols St. (E1)
P2 - Goddard Pond - Good place to access the trails on Weekdays. When there is ice skating parking is sparse and we want to play nice with the town so please use an alternate lot if there are a lot of skaters and on the weekends. Easy access to Lily Pond (E2) and also just a short ride to Nichols St (E1) and Breezy ATV (E3) in a pinch.
P3 - Washington St. Boat Launch - Large lot that is pretty much good to use anytime. Especially in winter. Good access to Breezy ATV (E3)
Entrance Points
E1 - Nichols St. - Easiest access point and where we start our grooming runs presently. Please avoid lingering at the “trailhead” here and try to keep a low profile out of respect to the folks who live at the end of the road where the trail starts.
E2 - Lily Pond - Climb the stairs from High street to access the Lily Pond Community Forest Trails. We don’t groom up to the top of the stairs but there is a ton of foot traffic via this well known access point. If you follow Marshall Way you will come across the groomed stuff less than a mile in.
E3 - Breezy ATV - A little tricky to find but you will see tracks going in if you look right across the street from the Breezy Way private road on the east side of High Street. Please don’t use the driveway of the red house just to the south as the access point. From the High St. it’s a 2 minute walk up the hill to where we have groomed. We will be trying to groom down the hill as well in the future but it’s on the steeper side and can make it tough to groom. This access point has the quickest access to the good stuff In the southern end of the trail system.
