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

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