The Aroostook Valley Trail gets as much use from ATV riders and snowmobilers as it does from mountain bikers as it winds through the forests and potato farms of northeastern Maine. It’s so far north that the United States and United Kingdom both laid claims to the area in the late 1830s in a dispute dubbed the Pork and Beans War, which ended without combat.
The rail-trail takes its name from the Aroostook Valley Railroad. (Local tribes translate Aroostook to “beautiful river.”) A lumber baron built the railroad in 1910 to haul logs to his Presque Isle sawmill and used the river to generate electricity to power the railroad to Washburn. Over the years, it expanded to Caribou and New Sweden and provided full freight and passenger service, though it hauled more freshly picked potatoes than anything else. Switching to diesel in the 1940s, the line struggled until it ended operations in 1996.
Today the 28.8-mile trail connects with the Bangor & Aroostook Trail in Washburn and is part of the Interconnected Trail System, which comprises thousands of miles of ATV and snowmobile track in the state. Although it passes through four towns with food and lodging, most of the trail is remote, and travelers need to pack for backcountry emergencies. Note that in addition to snowmobiling and snowshoeing, dogsledding is permitted.
Starting at a riverside park on US 1 in Presque Isle, the largest town along the route, the trail follows the south bank of the Aroostook River. (A private ATV and snowmobile route heads east for 23 miles toward the Canadian border along the Canadian Pacific Railroad right-of-way.) You’ll head through second-growth forests of spruce, fir, beech, poplar, and birch and, in the clearings, see the vast potato farms for which Aroostook County is known. The trail crosses the river in 5 miles, then rolls along the north riverbank for nearly 5 miles to its junction with the Bangor & Aroostook Trail in Washburn.
Leaving the banks of the Aroostook River and following the trail through town for a mile, you’ll take the right fork to remain on the Aroostook Valley Trail heading north. After passing through the Woodland Bog Preserve and arriving in Carson at 3.8 miles, the trail splits: the right branch goes east toward Caribou, and the left continues north to New Sweden.
Caribou is 6.7 miles down the right branch, and, like other towns along the route, many businesses there cater to trail users. You’ll find restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and even bed-and-breakfasts less than 0.5 mile east from the trailhead on Washburn Street. A branch of the Bangor & Aroostook Trail also ends in town.
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