One of my favorite trails in New Hampshire is the Northern Rail Trail. It starts in Lebanon, NH and follows the Mascoma River through Grafton County to Danbury at the Merrimack County line. Some of the bridge crossings are absolutely gorgeous.
I was there in early October and the fall foliage was just barely starting to change colors. It gave me just a hint of how spectacular it must be in its full autumn apparel. I have got to make it back to New England during the fall leaf show.
The weather was perfect for biking when I rode the Northern Rail Trail. As a result, there were quite a few trail users inside the town of Lebanon. Keep in mind, when I say “quite a few” it was still far from being crowded. It was mostly families out for a morning stroll.
However, once I got outside of town, the trail population dwindled radically until I pretty much had the path to myself within a couple miles of town.
Besides the pretty bridge crossings, some of the highlights of the trail included verdant greenery (a bit redundant), interesting history, and lovely towns. One of my favorite towns was Enfield. It had New England style and good places to eat. Another nice town was the Canaan town center with a depot and freight house that was reminiscent of the old railroading days along the route of the Northern.
If you decide to ride the Northern Rail Trail sometime, you should be able to find lodging in Lebanon. I saw a number of hotels and bed & breakfasts. Someday, the trail is scheduled to run all the way to Concord. When that happens it would be perfect to spend the night in Lebanon, ride the length of the trail, spend a night in Concord, then head back to Lebanon.
I would recommend this trail anytime from mid-April to mid-October. Of course mid-October would be best for viewing the fall colors along the trail.
Northern Rail Trail information, trail map, & trail photos available at trailsnet.com
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Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/02/15/northern-rail-trail/
I just found an interesting website called Crazy Guy on a Bike. It features user-generated information about bike trips including information by category such as recumbent bike trips. I didn’t see anything specifically for rail-trails (multi-use).
I checked out the daily log page (it wasn’t quite what I’d call a blog) of a guy who toured the perimeter of Britannia on a recumbent bike. It was a fascinating trip and he was an excellent photographer.
If you’ve found any great trail/bike websites, let me know.
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Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/02/13/crazy-guy-on-a-bike/
Okay, here’s a little homework assignment for you. Don’t worry, it’s easy and doesn’t involve any math or writing, just talking. All you have to do is talk to people in your home town, or better yet, in a town you’re visiting. Ask them where X trail is located. The X in this equation represents the name of a fairly major trail in the town. (Okay, so the assignment involves a little algebra.)
Here’s what I/you want to find out. How many people do or don’t know the trail exists. You may be surprised to find out that most people, even long time residents, have no idea where the world class trails in their own community are located. The only thing I can think of that is worse than that is if they don’t know where the library is.
In my many “trail travels”I’m amazed how hard it is to find trails. For those of you looking for the trails found on trailsnet.com, it’s easy. You just look at the trail map on the bottom of each trail description page. For example, take a look at the trail map on the bottom of the Mineral Belt Loop bike trail information page. (a rail-trail in Leadville, Colorado)
But on most of my bike trips, I have to rely on directions from locals to find the trails. And more times than not, “the locals” have no idea where the major trails that run through their towns are located. For example, when I was looking for the Ashuelot Rail Trail near Keene, New Hampshire, I asked over a dozen people where the trail/trailhead was. Not one of them could tell me. Four of the people I asked were within a block of the trailhead when I asked them. Not a clue. And in the same town, absolutely no one knew where the Cheshire Rail Trail was located. Granted this one starts about a half mile out of town, but the Ashuelot Rail Trail started in the center of town.
So back to your homework: Let me know what you find out. Are the people in your town aware of the wonderful trails available to them? If not, it’s a shame.
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Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/02/12/clueless-in-trailtown/
Sorry I haven’t been including a daily blog on the website. That is my future intention, but you know how that goes. I am currently making a list of future blogs and that will allow me to include a blog every day. I could really use your help. Let me know what blog topics are of interest to you: specific trail information, recumbent bike group information, rail-trail history, trail updates, health benefits of active travel, environmental benefits of bicycle travel, vacation destinations, rental bike shop reviews, lodging information, camping ideas…
Let me know what you want to read about.
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Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/02/11/apology-for-missing-blogs/
