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Max Watson, 10, left, from Yarmouth, his cousin Jackson Watson, 10, from Vermont; and Max’s father, Bret Watson, hose off one of their bikes at Bradbury Mountain.

Photo courtesy Melissa Kim

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A bridge on the Ragan Trail presents a heady challenge as well as a convenient bypass.

I leaned slightly to the left and then to the right to navigate around a few curves in the skinny trail. I ducked my head under a branch, then pedaled hard to get up and over a big boulder. A mud puddle proved to be shallow and easy; a narrow slot through a stone wall was trickier for me.

It was exhilarating. Morning sun broke through the trees, catching bits of dew on the leaves. Birds sang, and I was alone in the woods, except for a red squirrel who was hanging upside down on a slender limb, staring at me wondering what I was doing.

I'd dusted off my mountain bike to ride some of the relatively new trails at Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal. It seems like everything at the park is multiplying: the park's reputation as a mountain biker's mecca; amenities at the park and at the campsite; the community involved with the park; the number of people using the park; and even the park itself.

What's the most exciting thing happening at Bradbury? Mick Rogers, the park manager, doesn't hesitate for a second: "The expansion of the park."

The park has already expanded to the east, most recently by about 120 acres, and trails are already there for visitors to explore. That makes for 22 miles of trails, including an impressive 11 miles of singletrack. On the western side, new trails are being created as I write, as part of an exciting project to connect Bradbury Mountain and the Pineland Public Land unit in New Gloucester, across Tryon Mountain and along Chandler and Thoits Brooks.

The Pineland unit (not to be confused with Pineland Farms, the campus and farmland owned by the Libra Foundation) is a state- owned parcel of forest land and agricultural fields. There's an existing three-mile trail network with a trail head and small parking lot on Depot Road in New Gloucester. Linking these trails to Bradbury's will create a seven-mile multi-use "green" corridor that will benefit both recreational users and wildlife. It will also mean the park has almost tripled in size in just over a decade.

Whose idea was it? "The Pownal Land Trust had a vision for the park," says Rogers. "The whole plan and the impetus behind it came from the land trust. The trust did the proposal and took it to the Land for Maine's Future board; the trust is facilitating all the land acquisition and easements."

Now, that vision is almost fully realized. There is just one more 12-acre parcel to buy, one more 600-foot right-of-way to finalize and an agreement with Central Maine Power for land access to complete the whole deal. Rogers hopes it will all be done in September. "It's a done deal," he says, "but there are still papers to sign."

Trails are already open on Tryon Mountain, which you can access from Lawrence Road in Pownal. There's a small parking area and sign. Look for a big rock with a plaque honoring the people who sold the land to the state. From there, the riding is challenging, as it's basically all climbing, with a main doubletrack trail to the top and singletrack trails off of that. According to Rogers, " it's about five miles of climbing."

If that's your thing, look for a peak where there's an historic feldspar mine with a derrick and remains of a quarry. The views are to the west and the White Mountains; exactly the opposite of the views from the summit of Bradbury Mountain, which give you ocean views to the east. When the ink is dry, the Boundary Trail at Bradbury will connect to the Tryon trails.

I was there to explore the singletrack on the east, not the mountain on the west, so I started by riding along the Lanzo trail (your first left off the Link Trail). I admired the log rails lining narrow trails, drainage along wetter spots, crushed gravel before and after stream crossings and trail markers and maps at key intersections. I've been lost on plenty of mountain biking trails before, so this was the most impressive feature...