Presumpscot River Preserve

So, forget the trails. Someone else can review that. I’m here for floating down the river, which is one of the most fun, free summer activities that you’ll find in the Portland area.
When you’re bored on a summer’s day, grab a friend and head to Walmart for tubes and a few beers (in cans, of course). Take two cars. You can drop one car off after the bridge on Allen Ave Extension (a couple miles after the intersection with Washington Ave). Take the other car to the sandy parking lot before Hannaford in West Falmouth that’s on the river. This is where I use for the entry point.
The next two hours are absolute perfection. Floating down a mild current, bright sun beaming on your face and complete silence besides nature. The water is warm, somehow, even early in the season. It’s a fairly wide river and very deep (yeah I may be the loser who wears a life jacket… I blame that on my parents for not investing in swimming lessons!). There’s also rope swings at various points that you can jump off.
After about an hour, you’ll see signs warning of dangerous rapids and it will scare the living **** out of you. That’s the time to head to shore and walk the trail for a few minutes. The signs aren’t joking and I’d love to see a kayaker navigate those serious rapids. Hop back in the water after and keep relaxing until you reach the dock, which leads up the hill to your first car.
I hope too many people don’t discover this river because it’s been so peaceful the last few summers. But it really is a great group activity and I’d highly recommend it if you want a break from the usual beaches/​lakes.

This is a walking trail not for the faint of heart, especially as the leaves fall and the ground gets wet. Some of the sections of trail are steep and slippery. I learned my lesson a few times about walking quickly on wet leaves.
Once I parked at the end of Overset Rd, I had a hard time figuring out where the trail started. There appear to be a couple of different entrances that aren’t really well marked. I eventually found one and realized that I could just wander through the woods for hours without finding the river. The usual paint blazes on the trees weren’t really visible at all. I walked for awhile until I realized that if i follow the stream, I’ll run right into the river and I did. Once you come down a hill, the Presumpscot River is out in front of you and the trail either goes upstream or downstream.
For my first visit, I went downstream because I knew there were waterfalls and what used to be a dam in that direction. The trails starts out wide and then rapidly narrows and becomes very steep in sections. The payoff of traversing the trail is well worth it though. As I was walking, I started to hear a rumbling noise and thought I was coming up on a major highway which didn’t make any sense. It was only when I came out of the trees that I saw the fairly rough rapids churning up the water. It was beautiful to see. I could see myself finding a rocky perch with a book in the summer and sitting out here for hours just listening to the river.
For the scenic views alone, this walking trail is totally worth it.