PHILLIPS — Maine’s High Peaks Region will welcome its newest trail on Saturday, Aug. 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as the Fly Rod Crosby Trail is dedicated at the Phillips Area Community Center. The trail is a project of the High Peaks Alliance and will eventually stretch 45 miles from Strong to Oquossoc. It is being developed in three segments, of which Phillips to Saddleback Mountain is the first. The dedication will celebrate the completion of the first 20 miles.

The trail is based on the life and times of Maine’s first registered guide, Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby. Crosby was a famous fly-fisherwoman, journalist and the first person to market the Maine Woods as an early destination for tourism. Fly Rod lived in Phillips, where the first section of trail starts, and worked closely with the SR&RL, whose abandoned bed stretches north and west through Madrid and Sandy River Plantation. The trail stays close to the railroad bed, than takes off into the back-country as it follows Orbeton and Hardy Streams around the western shoulder of Saddleback Mountain, finally ending at the ski resort.

The Fly Rod Crosby Trail is a project of the High Peaks Alliance, a small nonprofit in northern Franklin County whose mission is “to ensure and enhance public access to recreation in Maine’s High Peaks Region.” HPA is made up of local people who hunt, fish, hike, ski, bike, ATV and snowmobile. The group advocates for collaboration and cooperation in order to preserve public access to recreation for current and future generations.

“This new trail wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of so many private landowners who gave permission for the trail to cross their land and wonderful effort by all of our volunteers,” said Ben Godsoe, who has been working on this project since 2010. “We are especially proud that we could offer a total of 11 jobs over three years to local youth to work on the trail.”

The dedication will kick off with a “History Walk” around downtown Phillips. The walk will leave the Old Gym on Depot Street at 10 a.m. and feature the Beal Block, Vose House, Paul G. Whittemore Building and Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. For a small donation walkers can take a ride on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, which will be giving rides starting at 10:30 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., Maine Sen. Tom Saviello will help dedicate the trail at the Phillips Area Community Center (Old Gym).

From noon to 1 p.m. there will be a cookout in the same location, music and lots of trail information available. From 1 to 3 p.m. there will be guided hikes on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail. Hikes leave from the Phillips Area Community Center at 1 p.m.

For more information about the dedication or trail,  visit www.highpeaksalliance.org or call 578-0306.