SUN JOURNAL • October 20, 2025
The Pine Tree Trail, originally designed for vehicles, has been resurrected by a grassroots group hoping to persuade people on motorcycles and electric and peddle bicycles to explore and traverse much of what Maine has to offer. The trail was originally designed in the mid-1930s after the Great Depression. Maine felt it would help to promote tourism. Soon after, war broke out and the trail lost traction. Signs faded and fell, and the route was all but forgotten. Then, in 2012, Nathan Nipula found an old sign. Nipula and his fiancé, Robbie McKay, eventually started looking into the origins and began contacting former and current state officials. Eventually, the secretary of state at the time, Matt Dunlap, got things moving. Since then, there have been signs erected and a robust Facebook page has been established. Communities along the route have jumped on board and begun promoting what they all hope will help local economies by bringing more than cars along the route.