Comment on Access isn’t always guaranteed on Maine’s privately owned land, even if it existed before

Ryan King of Stockton Springs is an avid hiker who loves the Hills to Sea Trail, a 47-mile footpath that crosses thickly wooded hills, farm fields, country roads and more as it traverses Waldo County from Unity to Belfast. Last year, though, a scenic stretch of trail that runs through privately owned land in Montville was closed until further notice, making it impossible for him to thru-hike the trail as he did three times in the past. “You have to work around it now,” he said of the closed-off section.