Note: Most Newman Hill trails are closed April 1st-August 31 due to nesting birds.
The OLT purchased the 88-acre Newman Hill property in 2002. The parcel contains forest, wetlands and portions of the old Veazie Railroad Bed. It is managed, with a stewardship plan, by the OLT. This area also provides access to 900 acres of land acquired by the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, with the help of conservation buyers Jim Hinds and Steven Keleti. Major funding was provided by the Land for Maine’s Future Fund and the Outdoor Heritage Fund. It provides access to an adjacent conservation easement of 123 acres and two easements at 37 acres and 48 acres (donated by Jim and Pat Hinds). In 2013, OLT purchased 315 acres from Chris Dorion, who had already established several wonderful cross-country ski trails on the property. In 2018, the Town of Orono donated 112 acres. Between 2019 and 2024, the OLT purchased all 43 acres of the former Taylor Bait property from the Orono Economic Development Corporation (OEDC). By this time, OEDC had fully renovated the building as the Caribou Bog Outdoor Center (CBOC) and had provided expanded public parking.
The well-marked Caribou Bog Ski Trail, as well as snowshoe, biking, and hiking trails (including intermediate flow trails on Bangor Hill) provide excellent public access to this area of diverse habitats and wildlife. The bird-watching is excellent, and you can see heron, osprey, geese, ducks, and woodcock. Wildlife we’ve seen includes moose, bear, deer, coyote, fishers, porcupines, otters and beavers.
To access: From I-95 North, take exit 191 and turn left onto Kelly Road. Turn right onto Stillwater Avenue. At the traffic circle, take the 3rd exit onto Forest Avenue West. Drive approximately 1 mile and turn right onto Taylor Road (look for the Town of Orono wood chip pile and sign(s) that says Taylor Road, that is where you turn). There are two parking location options. To access the Hinds/Keleti conservation property, drive approximately 0.3 mile, and turn left at the split onto Putnam Road (landfill road). Park in the parking lot at left. See the kiosk at this site for more information. To access Newman Hill, Bangor Hill, and the greater CBCA properties, continue straight on Taylor Road, past the Putnam Road split. Turn right at the entrance gate into the CBOC parking area.
Winter Etiquette
Once the snow flies, usually December, until the snow mostly goes, usually April, the wide trails on CBCA are ski trails. The trails are groomed for skiing by volunteers and it takes a tremendous amount of their personal time.
For the use and enjoyment of all, do not walk or mountain bike on designated ski trails during the ski season. Snowshoeing is permitted along the edge of the ski trails. If you are sinking in more than 2 inches on the groomed surface of a ski trail, regardless of whether you are snowshoeing or skiing, the trails are too soft and you should come back when the conditions are right. Snowshoers should use the narrower bicycle trails as much as possible. Summer bicycle trails are shown by the black dotted lines on the map.
THANK YOU for following these instructions so all may enjoy these trails.
Maps
- CBCA Summer Map (updated November 2024)
- CBCA Winter Map (updated November 2024)
- CBCA Trail Distance Map (updated Jan 2018)
- Area map (IF&W, Hinds/Keleti CE, Newman Hill)