Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 10 : Fall 2011 | Page 60

Salmon Brook Lake Trail
by Vernon M. Labbe, Regional Lands Manager
Bureau of Parks and Lands

Folks living in Aroostook County no longer have
to travel to Bangor to experience a bog walk trail. Over the
past three years a trail construction project involving the
Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, the Town of Perham,
local volunteers and the Maine Conservation Corps has
resulted in the development of the Salmon Brook Lake Trail.
The trail is a unique opportunity to experience forested and
grassed wetlands without having to tread water, and the
hike is much less strenuous than mountain peak trails. The
combination of multi-use trail, hiking trail, day-use picnic
area, hand-carry boat launch, bog bridging, boardwalks and
a viewing platform located in the open grassland around the
lake makes this trail a must-see destination.

The Salmon Brook Lake Bog Unit is located in the
center of Perham, situated between the Woodland Center
Road (Rte. 228) and the High Meadow Road to the south
and the Tangle Ridge Road to the north. This 1,857-acre
Unit was acquired from The Nature Conservancy in 1993
through The Land For Maine’s Future Program. The Unit is
managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands, in consultation
60 FALL 2011

with The Nature Conservancy. Maintenance of the trail is a
partnership between the Bureau and the Town of Perham.
This Unit is truly a special place with nearly 700 acres of
extensive wetlands, six exemplary natural communities, and
six rare plant populations within the 1,055 acre Ecological
Reserve. Situated near the center of Aroostook County, this
trail is an outdoor classroom waiting to be experienced both
summer and winter.

To “get there from here” take Rte. 228 out of
Caribou, after a requisite stop at Alice’s Bakery, or Rte. 228
out of Washburn. Follow Rte. 228 to the High Meadow
Road, take the High Meadow Road, cross the Bangor
and Aroostook Trail to the Perham Town Office which is
immediately on the left. The parking lot at the town office
currently serves as the trailhead for the Salmon Brook Lake
Trail. The Bureau has plans to develop additional trailhead
parking with a connector trail at the north end of the Unit.
There are signs at both ends of the Salmon Brook Lake Trail
and the hiking trail is marked with blue paint.

From the town office parking lot trailhead walk a