Boot Head Preserve Gets an Upgrade
Over a year and a half ago, MCHT began planning a major trail restoration project at Boot Head Preserve. This is one of our most popular preserves in Washington County — deeply loved by visitors and our local communities alike. If you’ve ever visited Boot Head, it is easy to understand why! The trail meanders through moss-covered coastal spruce fir forest, a spectacular coastal peat bog, two beaches, and offers incredible bold coast views.
As use of the trail has increased over time, the condition of the trail, particularly the main trail that leads to an iconic overlook, became increasingly compacted, eroded, braided, and over widened. The increasing severity of these conditions led us to explore options for mitigating the impacts to the property and visitor experience. After a lot of conversation, we made the decision to do a major trail restoration on the main portion of the trail that was most impacted.
Partnering for enhanced sustainability and accessibility
MCHT contracted with OBP Trailworks to complete a comprehensive trail assessment and design plan, which was critical to understanding how to best move forward and to apply for project funding. Through developing this plan, it became clear that in addition to making the trail much more sustainable, we had an opportunity to make the trail much more accessible, and to provide a spectacular experience for visitors by bringing a boardwalk (which replaced over 100 sections of bog bridging in half a mile of trail) through the peat bog, giving visitors not only a view of the bog, but an immersive experience.
Cathy Lookabaugh, MCHT’s community outreach manager for Washington County, collected data from over 150 Washington County residents that highlighted the need for improvements to the accessibility of our preserves. The data clearly shows some of the top barriers to people accessing our properties, including very rooted trails, narrow bog bridging, and a lack of resting spots, which would be addressed through this work and meet the demonstrated needs of our community. We were also able to reduce the steepness of the trail and eliminate the need for stairs by relocating significant portions of the trail to better and more sustainable locations.
Implementing community input and securing funding
With the plan and community data in hand, we secured funding through the Maine Trail Program, which covered a significant portion of the cost, supplemented by other grants and generous individual donations. Following a bidding process, OBP Trailworks was awarded the contract and began work in July 2025. The project installed more than 1,000 feet of elevated boardwalk and more than 1,500 feet of gravel-hardened trail. The crew worked diligently over a series of 80-hour work weeks to complete the project.
“One thing I loved about this project was the synergy that developed,” says Kyle Winslow, MCHT’s associate director of stewardship. “We had some great data on hand to inform so many of the decisions we made and input from community members prior to the project starting that made it clear people really cared about the character of the trail and hoped we could preserve the experience they loved.”
Audio recordings from the Island Soundscape Project demonstrated that the bog was a remarkably quiet place, largely free of human-caused noise and one of the quietest places the research collaborative recorded on MCHT properties, so we paid close attention to the details of the boardwalk decking to preserve that experience. “All of the information gathered prior to this project came together to help inform detailed decisions that ultimately helped shape a phenomenal outcome,” says Kyle.
Our Washington County stewardship team put a lot of time into the project, particularly on the boardwalks, and Cathy will continue to lead outreach in the months ahead. We’re grateful to Jed Talbot and the OBP Trailworks crew for being incredible partners that were talented, professional, detail oriented, and did an outstanding job on a challenging project.
