Just-right snow on the Nashua River Rail Trail

February 17, 2021February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I’ve lived in New Hampshire for a few decades now, but I grew up in Florida. “Snow” to a Floridian is all alike, just cold white stuff that falls from the sky, ideally several states away. My first few New Hampshire winters were a revelation: powder, heavy slush, the dreaded “icy mix,” thawed-and-refrozen, and so on. I’ve learned to appreciate the variations that give each winter day its own personality.

Even for a onetime Florida girl, winter has its moments. A sunny day on packed powder, for example, is as wonderful for a walker as for any skier. A recent Saturday on the Nashua River Rail Trail was as good as it gets.

Nashua River Rail Trail in winter — _{Nashua River Rail Trail at New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line. Ellen Kolb photo.}

Snow on several bitterly-cold days had piled up powder along the trail. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the NRRT, and there’s no snow grooming, so users had to make their own paths. By the time I got to the trail, a few informal lanes had already formed. Cross-country ski tracks were evident, as was a packed-down lane suitable for walkers wearing snowshoes or cleats. There was plenty of untracked snow for snowshoers wanting to get a workout. Best of all, while the trail had obviously seen traffic before I arrived, hardly anyone was out there during my walk.

I’ve been on NRRT in every season. It’s shaded in the summer, colorful in the fall, and adorned with a succession of flowers from mud season until hard frost. It’s popular on summer weekends, when segments of it are as crowded as a carnival midway. Winter is its quiet time.

I drank in the quiet the other day. The prop plane from the nearby skydiving school was in its hangar; no one was mowing a lawn; the crowds were home awaiting warmer days. Snow covered the pavement, muted every sound, and concealed the ground where bluets and columbines will bloom a few months from now. I spent two hours on the trail and wished I could have spent two more.

Since that visit, I’ve seen winter’s messier side. The snow’s now crusted with ice. A few thaw-refreeze cycles in the coming days will leave roads looking much better than trails to me. That’s fine – but when the powder falls again, I’ll be ditching work for a few hours.

Nashua River Rail Trail in Dunstable Massachusetts — _{On Nashua River Rail Trail, Dunstable, Massachusetts. Ellen Kolb photo.}

Easing into the year on Granite State trails

January 13, 2021February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I wrote last October about a layered trail: ice, mud, and leaves underfoot. That’s pretty much what I’ve found in January in southern New Hampshire, minus the leaves. Things are pleasantly messy, as long as I have some traction on my shoes. Yes, even for the flat paths: slipping on an icy flat trail in Mine Falls Park left me with a concussion a few years ago. That’s one winter adventure I don’t care to repeat.

_{Rockingham Recreational Trail in Sandown; Sandown Depot. Photos by Ellen Kolb.}

I was in Sandown the other day, sharing a trail with some polite ATVers. The trail wasn’t so much layered as patchy: ice here, slush there, frozen tire tracks in the shade, and lots of mud down the middle. I accidentally hit on the best time of day to be a walker there, mid-afternoon, after most of the ATVers had finished for the day. Not every multi-use trail works out so well for me.

_{Not every trail gives me town line markers. I like it when the markers agree with my GPS.}

A short drive north: the Northern Rail Trail follows the Merrimack River in Boscawen and part of Franklin. On New Year’s Day there, I was surprised to see an osprey. I didn’t think ospreys were winter residents in this area. An unexpected sighting like that is always a treat.

I have many miles yet to discover along the NRT, which is one of the most popular trails in central New Hampshire. I’ve walked on each end, so to speak – Lebanon and Enfield at one end, Boscawen at the other – and there are about 40 more miles to go.

Norhern Rail Trail New Hampshire with signs for two snowmobile clubs — _{Where the work of one snowmobile club ends, another’s begins.}

While we’re on the subject of walking in January, let’s thank the snowmobile clubs that groom so many of the trails I enjoy. It’s not all snow grooming: when a club takes responsibility for a trail, the members also do things like clear away fallen trees and make sure the trail’s full width gets attention.

I haven’t neglected my town’s conservation areas. I spent a brisk hour on a big loop route starting in Grater Woods, connecting with an adjacent neighborhood with which I was unfamiliar, returning on busy Baboosic Lake Road. I’m not a fan of being a pedestrian on one of our town roads with little shoulder and no sidewalk, but sometimes that’s where a path takes me. As for Horse Hill, I’ve never had a bad day there. No matter how many cars are in the parking lot, the trail network is extensive enough to keep us out of each other’s way.

Do you have resolutions about walks you want to take this year? I always start the year with a list of destinations, more for inspiration than anything else. I don’t want to waste time wondering where to go, if I find myself with a free afternoon. I just dip into The List, which I admit is heavy on rail trails. I also keep a map of New Hampshire on my wall, with outlines of each town, and after I walk in a new town I color in its spot on the map. I get a silly amount of satisfaction out of that little visual record.

Picking it up: keep the trails clean

November 16, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

Picking up litter is such a little thing, and I’ve really appreciated that act this year in pandemic time. Increased trail usage in my area has meant more trash on the trails, as people unused to using public lands haven’t yet developed good habits.

Does that sound patronizing? It’s kinder than my gut reaction, which is that people sometimes behave like jerks. Not a neighborly thing for me to think.

At any rate, I see folks rising to the challenge and picking up the trash. Some do so individually. (I keep a trash bag in my pack when I’m out and about, so I have one less excuse for passing by a dropped can.) Some people form or join crews, with the single purpose of cleaning up after thoughtless hikers.

woman picking up trash — _{Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay}

I have always admired people who are useful on trail crews. Someone has to cut the trails, build the bridges and boardwalks, and replace the bridges and boardwalks after they wear out. Someone has to clear deadfall every year. There’s always work to do. I’ve helped out in minor ways on such projects.

As far as I’m concerned, the people clearing trash on the trails this year are in the same league.

I learned from social media about a group close to home, whose members had dubbed themselves “The Litter Crew.” A few times a month, they announce a trail location and a date and time, and welcome anyone to come. They provide bags, buckets, gloves, and “pickers,” handy claws-on-a-stick.

A few days ago, the Litter Crew called for a cleanup in my town on a trail that I mistakenly thought had been abandoned a long time ago. Not abandoned, as it turns out: it’s a bit of a party spot as well as being a well-defined path through the woods. I collected a single bag’s worth of trash, but that made me an underachiever in this crowd. The total yield, as reported later on the Crew’s Facebook page: “21 Full trash bags, 3 tires, 2 back seats from a car, a bike tire, tons of beer cans, and we found multiple old TVs and a refrigerator.”

That’s one trail on one day in one town. You get the idea. Sometimes, teamwork is the way to go.

I’m grateful to everyone helping to keep New Hampshire trails tidy in this stressful time. It’s not just an aesthetic or environmental thing. It’s a kind and thoughtful act in a time when kindness and thoughtfulness can be hard to come by. Not a bad return on the small investment of picking up some trash.

November in Boscawen, NH: Northern Rail Trail

November 13, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

One of the southernmost trailheads for New Hampshire’s Northern Rail Trail is on Depot Street in Boscawen, just north of Concord. A little informational sign on the stretch of road shared by US 3 and US 4 points to the side street.

The unpaved well-maintained trail surface is fine for walking and biking. The ambitious traveler with the right kind of bike could go clear to the other end of the trail in Lebanon in one trip. In the winter, the NRT is a popular snowmobile trail.

I found the Depot Street trailhead on an overcast November afternoon that was warm enough for me to walk without my jacket. In the hour I was there, I covered about three miles. Along the way: colorful berries on leafless vines, a bend in the low-flowing Merrimack River, and a wide path carpeted in crunchy autumn leaves.

autumn leaves on a rail trail with a mileage sign left over from the path's days as an active rail line — Northern Rail Trail, Boscawen, 60 miles from White River Junction.

oriental bittersweet berries in autumn — Northern Rail Trail, Boscawen, 60 miles from White River Junction.

For more information: Friends of the Northern Rail Trail

Fall day on the Rockingham Trail in Candia, NH

November 10, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I drove down Depot Road in East Candia a little slowly, wondering if I’d be able to find the parking lot where the Rockingham Rail Trail crosses the street. I needn’t have worried; the nearly-full lot was impossible to miss. I tucked my car into one of the few open spots.

East Candia New Hampshire railroad depot sign — _{No depot building here, but a sign marks the spot where a depot once stood. All photos by Ellen Kolb.}

The lot was a busy place. Couples and singles and families were taking bikes off car racks or putting them back on. Hikers were setting out, many sporting seasonal blaze orange vests. It was as warm a day as November ever brings, and everyone wanted to take advantage.

Pick a direction: should I go east into Raymond, or west through Candia? Seeing several parties setting off to the east, I wished them well, and then turned my back to them to walk west.

rail trail granite walls — _{Rock cut along Rockingham Rail Trail, East Candia NH}.

The Rockingham Rail Trail between Manchester and Newfields is more than 20 miles long, making it one of the longer New Hampshire rail trails. It’s a piece-at-a-time endeavor for a walker. I picked a winner of a day to amble out-and-back on a three-mile segment in Candia.

Temp in the 60s: what kind of November is this? Sunshine, few clouds, air as dry as could be.

There were more bicyclists than walkers on the trail. That didn’t mean walkers were overwhelmed; traffic was light to moderate. The few walkers kept their cheerful distance as we passed each other with smiles and nods – you stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine, we seemed to be saying.

Where houses were visible as I approached Main Street, the sounds and smells of a sunny late-autumn weekend took over: raking, leaf-blowing, the last round of mowing for the season, a carefully-tended fire to burn the clippings.

New England rail trail autumn — _{A sign along the way hints at the winter traffic to come.}

My turnaround point was Route 43, or more precisely the tunnel under the ramp linking 43 with Route 101. The parking lot in East Candia was nearly deserted when I returned. I decided to spend a little time walking toward Raymond, but I was racing the sunset: after half a mile, I returned to my car.

I think I saw the trail at its most inviting for walkers. Once the snow flies and piles up, the Rockingham Rail Trail will become a snowmobile corridor. Until then, all you need there is your bike or your walking shoes.

*My turnaround point. West of Candia, the trail continues through Auburn into Manchester.*

In praise of short walks

November 3, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

My polling place is at a nearby school, adjacent to the Grater Woods conservation area. I was scheduled to work on Election Day as a ballot clerk. I had a long wait to vote, then a short time before my shift began; what to do?

Go to the Grater Woods trails, of course.

The trails were nearly deserted. The day was chilly, breezy, and sunny. I lingered for a few minutes at a little pond that’s usually a busy spot. This day, it was all mine.

I was ten minutes away from a polling station where the line of voters wrapped around the building, and I felt like I was in another world. A mental reset: that’s the power of a short walk in the woods, even on Election Day.