Mar 22 2011

New Hampshire rail trails making the spring transition

Snowmobile and cross-country ski trails are quickly becoming hiking and biking trails with the click of a gate in New Hampshire.

According to an article from WMUR, southern New Hampshire trails are closing the gates on rail trails signaling an end to winter sport season and a start for spring and summer trail activities.

Two of the trails included in the seasonal transition are the Cheshire Rail Trail and the Rockingham Recreational Trail.

In other parts of New Hampshire, they will continue grooming the rail trails for winter trail usage.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/22/new-hampshire-rail-trails-making-the-spring-transition/

Mar 20 2011

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

What has Rails to Trails Conservancy done for you lately?

Chief Ladiga Trail in Alabama

A lot, as a matter of fact. RTC is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, and they have accomplished many incredible feats in those 25 years:

  • They have built 1,600 trails…
  • … for a total of 20,000 trail miles.
  • They now have trails in all 50 states.
  • They have launched the very successful and helpful traillink website…
  • … which documents over 30,000 miles of trail.
  • They have instituted a “Campaign for Active Transportation.”
If you’re not a member of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, please consider joining. You can contribute at whatever level you feel comfortable, and you’ll be supporting an incredible cause. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/20/rails-to-trails-conservancy-3/

Mar 18 2011

Red Cross Japan & Pacific Tsunami Fund

For a limited time, Living Social will double your $5 donation to the Red Cross Japan & Pacific Tsunami Fund. It is extremely fast and easy to make a donation on the Living Social website. Just click on any of the links provided with this blog post and it will take you to the Living Social donation page.

At a time like this, it’s nice to be able to help those in need. I love it when, instead of fighting and competing with each other, nations come together to help one another. This is definitely one of those times.

Sometimes we just don’t have the time or resources to get involved. That’s why I was pleased to see a reputable company offer a way to allow people to quickly and painlessly contribute a small amount to make a big difference.

Give ’til it feels good. How’s that for a motto?

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/18/red-cross-japan-pacific-tsunami-fund/

Mar 17 2011

A dozen reasons why bicycles are the best form of transportation

I recently found a great article entitled “12 reasons to start using a bicycle for transportation.”

A functional bike like this one
can be a real work horse and a
great alternative to commuting
via automobile.

You’ll want to read the article for all 12 reasons and the explanations, but some of the reasons include:

  1. cost effective
  2. less pollution
  3. improved health
  4. improved environment
These are the obvious ones, but the web page also shows a couple new reasons that I hadn’t thought of before. For example, it explains how bicycle commuting is sometimes faster than car commuting.
If you’re a skeptic, check out the green tech, transportation web page.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/17/a-dozen-reasons-why-bicycles-are-the-best-form-of-transportation/

Mar 17 2011

Water trails suggested for trailsnet.

“How about adding water trails?”

That was a suggestion I just received from Archie in South Carolina regarding the trailsnet website.

And it’s an excellent point. When I first began compiling information for the trailsnet website, my intention was to include every possible type of trail. So I collected information about mountain bike trails, rail trails, backpacking trails, and water trails. In fact, I still have files full of information about water trails all over the United States and a few international ones as well.

But alas, once I actually built the trailsnet website, it became overwhelming, so I decided to focus on multipurpose trails that were bike accessible and able to be used by people of all ages and abilities. I felt I could do more justice to the site and site visitors by having more of a focus.

My dad relaxes in his kayak on
the beautiful waters of Middle
Thompson Lake in NW Montana.

However, the trails network blog is much more diverse and includes other types of trails. Which brings me back to Archie’s suggestion: What about water trails?

I would love to include information about water trails. Some of my most enjoyable trail trips have included kayaking on the chain of lakes in northwestern Montana or canoeing on the Powell River lakes up in Canada. For at least a couple more years, I will continue focusing on bike/multipurpose trails on the website, but I will definitely begin sharing more information about water trails on the trails network blog.

So let me start by sharing this website for the Berkeley County Blueways in South Carolina. It looks like a great water trail system. Since I haven’t yet featured any South Carolina trails on trailsnet, I’m hoping maybe I can check out the B.C. Blueways when I visit S.C.

Thanks for the suggestion, Archie!!

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/17/water-trails-suggested-for-trailsnet/

Mar 16 2011

trailsnet wins its third award in a little over a year

Just a couple days ago trailsnet announced its nomination for the “Stylish Blogger Award.”

trailsnet wins another internet award

Today, American Trails announced that trailsnet won the award for the best “Personal Site” (relating to trails) on the internet.

No, these awards don’t involve red carpets, acceptance speeches, or limo rides. But they’re pretty darned special nonetheless.

It is especially gratifying to win an award from American Trails because it is such an important and influential organization.

So now both the trailsnet blog and trailsnet website have won awards. But much more important than that, trails are starting to become more and more important in American society, so people are starting to visit trail-related sites to get information about hiking, equestrian, running, inline skating, Trikking, and biking trails. In the long run, this will be very good for our country as people start to get in better shape and to rely less on automobiles.

So many thanks to American Trails for this latest award. Trailsnet will keep producing an awesome trail website that is useful for active travelers and hometown trail users alike.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/03/16/trailsnet-wins-its-third-award-in-a-little-over-a-year/