2026 Summer Trail Challenge

July 1 - August 31

DIscover New Adventures Close to home

Register for the Challenge
Pick up Your PAssport
Use the resources below to plan your visits
visit all the locations, earn a prize!
BONUS: Enter the Photo Contest

InStructions for The Challenge:

Get ready for a summer of adventure with the 2026 Trail Challenge! This community-wide challenge invites you to explore six sites at different PRLT preserves (and we reward you for doing it).

HOW IT WORKS: This year’s challenge is all about exploring and learning more about our natural world. Register now using the form above. Pick up your passport starting in late June (each person participating—kids and adults alike—should have their own passport). Visit the trails & record your journey. Each of the six featured sites will have a clearly marked sign featuring a fun fact about the natural world at play at that preserve. Record something you learned from the sign in your passport. You must collect a fact from all six locations to complete the challenge and be eligible for the prize.

PASSPORTS: You can pick up your passport at any of the following locations during their regular business hours:

PRLT Office – Unit 2153 in the Dana Warp Mill, 90 Bridge Street, Westbrook
REI – 90 Rock Row Suite 100, Westbrook, ME 04092
More pick-up locations will be announced

The passport will also be available for download, if you would prefer to print it at home. Note that it is designed to be printed double-sided and then folded into quarters.

REGISTRATION: Registration is required by all participants; you may do so with the above form.

PRIZE: Once you’ve completed your passport, bring it to REI in early September to receive your exclusive 2026 Trail Challenge patch—a badge of honor for your summer adventure. Registrants will be notified via email when prize pick up officially begins.

In past years the prize has been a Trail Challenge-branded Nalgene water bottle. We’ve heard feedback that people don’t want or need more water bottles, so we are making a swap to patches to reduce waste (and generate less plastic). Patches will still let you showcase your intrepid adventures by ironing them on to a backpack, vest, or anything else you can imagine!

PHOTO RAFFLE: Submit your best photos from this year’s Trail Challenge to outreach@prlt.org to be entered into a raffle to win one PRLT-branded merch! Make sure you tell us at which preserve you took the photo. By submitting, you consent to allowing PRLT to use your image in our marketing and event promotion.

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