UPDATE!!
The hike has been cancelled due to thin ice conditions. A slide presentation will be held instead on the same date and time at the Bath City Hall Auditorium.
DATE: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29 at 10:00AM
Join us on Saturday, February 29th for a brisk walk along the Peterson Canal in Bath. This 2.5 mile (one way) hike is only possible when the water is frozen and takes approximately 2.5 hours.
If we do not feel the ice can be safely relied upon, then a “Virtual Tour” of the Peterson Canal will take place instead at 10 a.m. at the Bath City Hall Auditorium.
The canal was built to around 1790 to connect Merrymeeting Bay with the New Meadows River, facilitating downstream transportation of logs- “Lumber and Masts…directly into Casco Bay and to Falmouth without going to sea or running the hazard of going down that rapid torrent, the main Stream of the Kennebeck,” (from the petition to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for permission to cut a canal from the head of the New Meadows River into Merrymeeting Bay, dated January 1, 1786).
“You who enjoy a stroll in the country these crisp winter days can find no more interesting and enjoyable tramp than that along the old canal which was built over 100 years ago to connect the New Meadows and Kennebec Rivers”; – Bath Independent in 1911
Meet at 10:00 across from the boat launch to the New Meadows Lake on Old Brunswick Road in Bath. Click HERE for a Google map!
Participants are encouraged to use snow shoes to tramp through the deep snow or wear some type of traction (e.g. ice spikes or cleats, stabilizers) on their feet to provide grip on ice.
We ask that pets do not attend the hike.
For more information and to confirm that conditions are appropriate, contact the KELT office at 207-442-8400 or email bbarrett@kennebecestuary.org.