Jay Recreation Area Trail System

This network of ten trails offers several easy to moderate hikes. It is a great place to picnic, hike, bike or snowshoe and features the foundation and orchards of the old Osgood Farm, a student-maintained tree farm, and an extensive geocaching network.
Trail Activity
Walking Hiking
Length
2.80 miles, Network
Difficulty
Easy, Moderate
Town
Jay
Surface
Dirt/Forest Floor, Rock/Ledge, Grass
Pets
Permitted
Fees
No

Description

This network of ten trails is owned and managed by the Town of Jay to provide outdoor recreation and learning opportunities for local families and school children. It also serves as a classroom resource and learning space for Jay’s elementary, middle and high school students. 

In addition to the property’s existing natural features, the town has added a butterfly garden, an adventure course, and a student-managed woodlot. The adventure course is used by students for confidence and team-building skills. The trails hosts the “Kids for Trees” program in which students in the elementary school plant Balsam Fir (the “Christmas” tree), tend them throughout their middle school years, and harvest them in high school. Youth groups have also set up a geo-caching network in the recreation area; once you find the first geo-cache (coordinates online), you open the door to finding the rest of the hidden caches in the network! The area also hosts the old Osgood Farm’s foundation, apple orchard, and huge oak trees. 

In addition to the public hiking trails, the area serves as an outdoor classroom for the Jay elementary, middle and high schools. Of the ten trails in the network, eight were named by students, grades one through eight. The process involved nominating and voting on the names before approval by the town’s recreation committee. This led to some fun and unique trail names such as “Trail Mix,” “Hemlock Hollow,” and “Rockomeka Trail.”

Read about MTF Accessibility Ambassador Enock Glidden's visit to the Jay Recreation Area using his wheelchair at MTF Stories.

Trail Manager

Visit the Town of Jay online for more information or contact:

Town of Jay

Town of Jay
340 Main Street
Jay, ME 04239
Phone: (207) 897-6785
Fax: (207) 897-9420
joffice@jay-maine.org
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Nearby Events

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Trail Tips

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Trailhead Information

Trails may be accessed from Water Tower Lane off Belleview Drive in Jay and from Jay High School behind the center field fence of Roland Ouellette Baseball Field or in the back corner of the field hockey field

Water Tower Lane: From the North or the South on ME Routes 4 and 17 turn onto Jewell Street, which is located approximately 0.5 mile north of Bridge Street in Livermore Falls and roughly 2.0 miles south of ME Route 140. Head  east on Jewell Street, turn left onto Belleview Drive, follow it to the end and turn right onto Water Tower Lane, which becomes a dirt access road to the parking lot next to the cell phone tower. 

Jay High School: From North: The school is on the left approximately 1.0 mile south from the junction of ME Routes 4 and 140. From South: The school is on the right about 1.5 miles north of downtown Livermore Falls.

Click on a parking icon to get custom directions
Please Log In or Create Account to add comments.
newenglandskier13
April 27, 2019
This is a very nice area to go for a walk, but can be confusing because of the many trails. Many trails are partially overgrown, but these are mostly the smaller ones which are not shown on the Maine Trail Finder Map. Here is an updated map with more trail names, and the new trails: https://jay-maine.org/maps/Jay%20Rec%20Area%20Trail%20System.pdf
muinmdw1
September 03, 2018
Very nice walk. The trails are not all marked with a name, and there is not map that shows the names of the trails. We found the map here corresponds with the map at the trailhead by the cell tower but that is very faded and very hard to read and, again, does not show the trails by name.
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