New Hampshire may become the next best bike state

I visited New Hampshire on a bike trip last fall. I was impressed by their great rail trails and had a wonderful biking vacation.

Although NH may not currently be the biking capitol of the world, I predict it may become the #1 bicycle destination in the not-too-distant future.

A friend of mine was there recently and brought back some New Hampshire Bicycle Maps. I didn't see these maps when I was there, so it was fun to peruse them and see the trails I missed. While I was there, I biked on the following trails:

• Ashuelot Rail Trail
• Ammonoosuc Rail Trail
• Cheshire Rail Trail
• Rockingham Recreational Trail
• Northern Rail Trail

After looking at the six regional bicycle maps from New Hampshire, I'm ready to go back and hit some more rails-to-trails. 

In addition to the awesome bike maps, I also recommend you look at  the New Hampshire trails web page by clicking on this link.

This fall, I recommend you visit some bike trails in New Hampshire. You'll see the fall foliage from a whole new perspective.

New Hampshire may become the next best bike state

Ashuelot Rail Trail in New Hampshire

The town of Keene serves as a hub to both the Cheshire Rail Trail and the Ashuelot Rail Trail in New Hampshire.

So I found it rather odd that a.) no two people seemed to pronounce Ashuelot the same way (so let's go with ash-wheel-ot) and b.) no one and I mean no one in Keene could tell me where I could find the trailhead for the Ashuelot Rail Trail. This became especially puzzling when I finally found that the trailhead was located pretty darned close to the heart of the town. So once you get to Keene, just find "The Center at Keene" and the trailhead is directly across Emerald Street from there. Another helpful hint for finding this trail and many other rail trails in the New England area is to get one of the tourist (illustrated) maps of the town (Keene, NH in this case) and they are sometimes easier to follow than other maps.

To start, if you are biking the Ashuelot Rail Trail, I recommend you use a mountain bike. Although a hybrid bike or recumbent bike may be possible to navigate on most parts of this trail, knobby tires and a little bit of suspension prove to be quite helpful on certain parts of the trail. Having said that, I wouldn't categorize this trail as a strictly mountain bike trail, and it's not too difficult to ride since it is fairly flat and is never far from one quaint community or another.

Speaking of quaint communities, I loved some of the towns and villages associated with the Ashuelot Rail Trail. For starters, Keene is a nice New England town with a pretty downtown area, a couple small colleges, and plenty of tourist amenities. 

Ashuelot Rail Trail in New Hampshire

Ammonoosuc Rail Trail in New Hampshire

While in New Hampshire, I overnighted in Manchester, Keene, and White River Junction (okay that one's in Vermont, but barely). After spending just a few minutes in Littleton, I wished I had booked a night (at least) there. It took me quite awhile to actually find the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail, but I had a great time looking. First I spent some time at the shops on the main street in town. There were lots of fun little snack & souvenir places. Finally, I found an information booth manned (or in this case womanned) by a friendly young lady who sent me three towns away, to the cog railway in search of the Ammonoosuc Trail. Turns out she was wrong, but it was a nice little drive.
Then, when I got back to Littleton, I talked to someone in Littleton Bikes & Fitness, and he told me how to find the trail. So, as I wandered down to the river on my way to the trail, I found even more interesting and enjoyable places to visit. Miller's Bakery had some incredibly good food to eat "in house" and even more to take on the trail. The cookies were "to die for." In addition to good food, they had great views of the river.
Another fun attraction on the way to the trail was the "old" covered bridge. Actually, it just looks old but was built in 2004. Either way, it was pretty and served the extremely useful function of getting pedestrians like me across the river. And once I got to the other side, I started my ride, right. Wrong!! They were having a farmer's market beside the river with more local foods and crafts. By this time, I was getting anxious to hop on the trail, but I couldn't resist talking to a few of the vendors and, of course, buy a few more snacks.
View New Hampshire's Ammonoosuc Rail Trail pictures, map, & information at trailsnet.com.

Ammonoosuc Rail Trail in New Hampshire

Northern Rail Trail

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

Northern Rail Trail

Clueless in trailtown

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.

Clueless in trailtown