NORWAY — The Roberts Farm Preserve Nordic trail system grew by 2,300 level-feet this summer because of a grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation.

The trail was designed by Mike Cooper of Caribou Recreation and create a flat 2k loop for practice or races. The new trail, which will be named the Rust Trail after town founder Henry Rust, winds from the parking area behind the old Roberts Farmstead, around the school garden and through the woods on both sides of a small perennial stream.

The Rust Trail connects with the Stephens Trail at the Tucker Trail intersection. Skiers can choose to loop back on a flat trail or ski into the hillier main system.

Abutting land owners Suzanne Best of Well Point Veterinary Service and her father Girald Haviland agreed to donate trail easements to the trust so that the loop could be completed.

Volunteers David Greenleaf, Bob Story, James Miller and Bob Van Nest cut in the new corridor. Mike Cooper, trail designer, used a mini-excavator to machine the trail surface. Volunteers seeded and mulched the new trails to prevent erosion, and two bridges were built by the Oxford County Conservation Corp. The two platform bridges were designed to support skiers, runners and grooming/maintenance equipment.

Patrons at Well Point Veterinary Services will be able to walk their dogs on the Rust Trail in the summer, and will have easier access to the Noyes trail during the winter season.

While waiting for the grass seed to sprout and stabilize, the rust trail will be closed until winter.

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