Each week, around a dozen members of Trails for Rangeley Area Coalition circle up in Rangeley, discuss the coming hike, apply bug spray and sunscreen and take off to a trailhead.

Each week brings a different outing. Some days bring paddlers out on Rangeley Lake; others see hikers in the alpine zone of Saddleback Mountain.

Throughout the summer season, the coalition, also called TRAC, meets for twice-weekly hikes, paddles and bike rides across the region. What started as a trail conservation club has grown into one seeking to promote recreation, socialization and education, according to the president, Jeff Zapolsky.

To a lot of people “this is their social network,” Zapolsky said. “They make friends and friends that they do other things with.”

Zapolsky joined the club in 2013. Originally, he tagged along on outings to learn new hikes to do solo, but after three summers of hikes with the groups, the club grew on him and he found he preferred excursions with others.

The club first began around 40 years ago, founded by Dave McMillan, as a way to create and maintain the region’s vast network of trails. With a group of volunteers, members of TRAC would hike out with their chain saws and create paths that are still used today, but as time went on, other groups took over the upkeep, and the club morphed into a recreational group.

Today, the club has more than 100 people on its mailing list, with up to 20 joining the weekly meetings. Morning outings start at the Rangeley Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce parking lot on Tuesdays and the Oquossoc kiosk lot on Route 16 on Fridays before leaving together to a trailhead or boat launch.

Teri Palmer has been hiking with the club for eight years. She said the weekday meetings are a way for her to escape the world for a few hours.

“I love it in the woods,” Palmer said. “I love getting away from civilization. It’s quiet and peaceful. It’s spiritual as well. We’ve gotten to know so many people going on these hikes. People we would never know normally. And we have the same interests.”

Membership has been on a steady increase, especially since 2020, when the year-round population in the area increased. Stacey Varney, who manages the Facebook page for the club, was among the members who joined around that time. Like many others, the social aspect was a draw to TRAC.

“It’s such a wonderful opportunity for people to have this social connectedness by doing something with others,” she said.

For Varney, that connection is part of a larger benefit of getting people outdoors together. She hopes the club can continue encouraging people to try activities they might not otherwise do while improving their physical and mental well-being.

“If we could say that TRAC has, in some way, really helped, you know, both the physical and the mental well-being of people that live in our area, what a fabulous outcome that would be,” Varney said.

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