Friday’s hike. Feb 13, 2026

Our scheduled hike for this coming week is to the Smith Bridge Preserve. This area is part of the Western Foothills Land Trust and includes just under 500 acres of land including 185 acres of wetland along a 4 mile stretch of the Little Androscoggin River.

Trailhead Parking is at 577 Allen Hill Rd, Oxford

It looks like it will be about a 40- minute drive from Denmark to the trailhead parking so assume that the carpool group will arrive at about 9:10 AM

In preparation for this coming Friday’s hike around the Smith Bridge Preserve Dale and Kitty Nelson drove over and checked the place out.  Below is Dale’s account of what they saw:

“Kitty and I did a reconnaissance hike around Smith Bridge Preserve
yesterday and it was wonderful. Dog friendly. The trail was packed as it
is shared mostly with snowmobiles. The short bushwhack along Webber
Brook where there was old beaver activity was not broken out and we did
not do that. It is mostly flat and we bare booted the entire way. I
would suggest leaving micro-spikes at home but bringing snowshoes with
the new snow last night. We did it in less than 2 hours easily. I think
it says 5 miles but seemed much shorter. As it is much closer to us, we
will meet the group at the trailhead at say, 9-9:15AM . Possibly post this to the
site. Thanks and hope to see you there.

Dale”

Link to Hike description: https://denmarkmountainhikers.com/2026/02/07/smith-bridge-preserve-friday-the-13th/

The current weather forecast for Oxford, Maine suggests it will be partly cloudy, a high of 33 degrees, but come evening, dropping down to 7 degrees. No snow is forecast between now and Friday. Thursday’s high may reach 34 degrees so there is the possibility that some snow melt may occur and refreeze so the trail could be icier than when Dale and Kitty walked it. .