Hiking

Crossing New Hampshire, bit by bit: early spring, Ashuelot and Fort Hill Trails

/ Ellen Kolb / Leave a comment

This year’s sweet spot for spring hiking, after the mud and before the bugs and pollen, has lasted longer than usual in southern New Hampshire. It’s an auspicious beginning to a project I’ve started: walking across the southern tier of the state, from the Connecticut River to the Atlantic Ocean.

My situation rules out doing the whole thing with one long push. Instead, I’ll do a series of dayhikes as my schedule permits, each one out-and-back, and not strictly in west-to-east order. I recently headed to New Hampshire’s southwestern corner to get started.

Two rivers and a covered bridge

I took advantage of the recent benign weather to spend two fine days on the Fort Hill and Ashuelot Rail Trails in the towns of Hinsdale and Winchester. My private little ceremony to launch the cross-state walk consisted of taking the Fort Hill rail trail to a boat launch where I scooped up a little vial of Connecticut River water. I’ll empty it into the Atlantic when I reach the Seacoast, some weeks hence.

This just might be my favorite spot in Hinsdale, where the Connecticut River meets a boat launch and the Fort Hill Rail Trail. All photos by Ellen Kolb.

My route included town roads as well as the unpaved rail trails. From the Fort Hill trail, I walked into central Hinsdale via quiet Prospect Street. Once I reached Main Street (NH Route 119), I walked a short distance east to Depot Street, where I picked up the Ashuelot trail eastbound.

Before long I came to a spot that appeared to be recently repaired from a washout. Based on information on the state parks website, the Pisgah Mountain Trail Riders are responsible for that restoration. The Ashuelot trail took a violent hit from flooding in July 2023, and perhaps this was where some of the damage had occurred. In fact, the trail’s Swanzey section is still closed as of April 2026, awaiting repair of the three northernmost washouts.

(By the way – snowmobile clubs like the Trail Riders provide an outsized amount of rail trail maintenance. I’ve made modest donations to a club that maintains a trail close to home, even though I’m not a snowmobiler. I encourage other walkers and cyclists to do likewise.)

Where I walked, both trails were in remarkably good shape. I wondered if I’d find mud – and if I had, I would have swallowed hard and shifted over to NH 119 – but the trail surfaces were firm and well-drained. A few ruts on the Ashuelot trail showed that at least one local cyclist hadn’t been able to resist riding during mud season, but the trail scars were minimal. Vegetation was just waking up from winter, and no grasses or ground covers encroached on the wide paths.

While I had company on the Fort Hill trail, I experienced unexpected solitude on the Ashuelot trail. I was there midweek; would a weekend have been different?

I turned around at the Ashuelot covered bridge and walked back to Hinsdale where I’d left my car. It was a decent workout, even at my easygoing pace.

“Need a ride?”

The next day, I parked downtown near Winchester’s town offices. “Downtown” seems a grand word to use about a municipality with 4200 residents, but the area had two traffic lights as well as commercial and municipal buildings, so downtown it is.

The Ashuelot trail north of the town center feels different from the section closer to Hinsdale. It’s more open in spots, sandier but still well-surfaced. It’s closer to homes. It criss-crosses Old Westport Road, and I hopscotched between trail and road to stay close to the river with its pleasant views. Traffic on nearby NH Route 10 could be heard but for the most part not seen. I turned around before the trail crossed NH 10; further on is Swanzey, a destination for another day.

The red fruits of staghorn sumac shrubs were the brightest things in sight amid so much leafless vegetation. Spring will soon have every plant in sight bursting with fresh growth.

Staghorn sumac in early spring. Fresh leaves will be along shortly.

I took a break at a snowmobile bridge carrying the trail across the slow-flowing Ashuelot River, enjoying a serene view along with my snack. A lone bicyclist was the only other trail user in sight.

Snowmobile bridge in Winchester, a fine lunch spot…
…with a view of the Ashuelot River, which was in a quiet mood this day.

At one point as I walked along Old Westport Road, I heard a car behind me slowing down. I turned around to see what was up, and the car stopped beside me, with a worried-looking driver at the wheel. Was I okay? Did I need a ride? I assured him that I did not, as I wondered how awful I must have looked to elicit such concern. “I had to check,” he said with a look of relief. “If I didn’t, my mom would kick my butt.” I realized then that it was only my age, shouted to the world by my silver hair, that made him stop. God bless him.

I love living and walking where people care enough to check up on each other. At the same time, we need more baby boomers on the loose in the great outdoors, so our younger neighbors won’t be so surprised to see us. I’m doing my part.

About the area

An excellent map and guide to rail trails in southwestern New Hampshire is available from the Monadnock Rail Trail Collaborative. Their website includes an online map. Contact that agency directly about availability of printed maps.

Parking is limited along the Fort Hill and Ashuelot trails. Along the sections I visited on this trip, I found parking in Hinsdale at the boat launch on Prospect Street and Millstream Riverfront Park on Main Street (NH 119). In Winchester, I parked in the town hall lot, a block or so away from the trail via Elm Street.

Public restrooms were scarce on this route, and I didn’t find (or expect) portajohns along the way. Facilities are available in Walmart (north end of Hinsdale, almost at the Vermont border) and at a gas station/Dunkins at the southern NH 10/119 intersection in Winchester.

There are restaurants and convenience stores in the town centers.

I’ll use “Across NH 2026” as a tag on this and future posts about my across-state project, so interested readers can search the blog quickly.

The Piscataquog Trail, Manchester NH

/ Ellen Kolb

Judging from this year’s traffic on Granite State Walker, there’s been a surge of interest in the Piscataquog trail in Manchester. That’s fitting for a trail that’s conveniently located in New Hampshire’s largest city. The two-mile-long path crosses the city’s West Side, with interesting features along the way.

What do you need to know to appreciate this urban trail?

It’s a rail trail

The Piscataquog trail was built on an old rail line, one of many in New Hampshire converted to recreational use thanks to the vision and commitment of community members. As you travel along the path, watch for markers honoring some of the people who were instrumental in the trail’s development.

It features a pair of notable bridges

The trail is only a couple of miles long, but it features a pair of bridges that would be standouts on any longer path. At the east end near Delta Dental stadium where the New Hampshire Fisher Cats play baseball, the Hands Across the Merrimack bridge spans the Merrimack River, offering a fine view of Manchester’s mills and downtown towers. A bridge at the western end, near the West Side ice arena, crosses the Piscataquog River.

"Hands Across the Merrimack pedestrian bridge over Merrimack River in Manchester New Hampshire
The Hands Across the Merrimack bridge, where the Piscataquog Trail crosses the Merrimack River in Manchester NH. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

Both bridges are closed to motorized vehicles apart from e-bikes, providing cyclists and pedestrians a safer alternative to busy nearby streets.

Stay right

This is an urban trail, and it’s a busy one. Good trail etiquette promotes safety for everyone. Stay to the right side of the trail. Cyclists, yield to walkers and runners. That goes double for people on e-bikes, where speed and power can quickly lead to dangerous conflicts with other trail users.

If you’d like to learn more about peaceful coexistence on trails and roads, check out the Bike-Walk Alliance of New Hampshire.

Approach Main Street with caution

Manchester NH skyline with Merrimack River in foreground

Most of the Piscataquog trail’s road crossings are in quiet neighborhoods. Main Street on the West Side is in a class by itself, busy at all hours. Fortunately, there’s a pedestrian crossing beacon there that can be activated with the push of a button, triggering flashing lights to warn drivers of activity in the crosswalk.

Cross the city limit and you’re still on a trail

If you’d like to add miles or time to your outing, you’re in luck if you’re headed west. Just west of the Piscataquog River bridge, the trail changes from pavement to a neatly-maintained unpaved surface as it crosses the town line into Goffstown. Same old rail line, different town! The Goffstown Rail Trail extends west for five miles, all the way to the town center.

pedestrian bridge with wooden railings, on an urban trail
The Piscataquog trail bridge over the Piscataquog River…with the Goffstown Rail Trail just ahead.

Birdwatchers, bring your binoculars

The trail’s proximity to rivers and wooded neighborhoods mean it’s a fine route for spotting waterfowl and songbirds. If you’re lucky while you’re on the Hands Across the Merrimack bridge, you might even see a bald eagle! Eagles have nested not far downstream, and they like to feast on the river’s bounty.

Other connections: maybe someday

Perhaps in a few years the South Manchester trail will connect with the Piscataquog. For now, there’s a gap between the Delta Dental Stadium and South Willow Street near where the South Manchester trail begins. It’s hidden behind the shopping centers, and it continues south to Perimeter Road near the Manchester airport. That trail features a beautiful trestle bridge crossing Little Cohas Brook near the Perimeter Road end.

On the east side of the city, about two and a half miles from the stadium, the Rockingham Recreational Trail begins at Mammoth Road and continues east for more than 25 miles to the town of Newfields.

A note on trail safety

Whether you’re on an urban trail or miles away from the nearest town, the best practices for safety are the same: maintain situational awareness, and always let someone know where you’re going before you launch your adventure. Avoid anything that would prevent you from listening to (and watching for) what’s going on around you.

If you’re a Manchester resident and you enjoy using the Piscataquog trail, be sure to tell your representative on the Board of Aldermen. When local officials know that their neighbors support recreational trails, those trails are more likely to be maintained – with help from volunteers, of course.

The Granite State Walker blog will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2026 – and more people have visited the blog in the past 12 months than ever before! With your support, GSW will keep highlighting some of the best non-motorized recreational opportunities in the Granite State, with an emphasis on southern New Hampshire.

“Open eyes and sturdy shoes”

/ Ellen Kolb

“Today, you hike… I go because I want to and also because I can. I go because life doesn’t end once you’ve done enough. It keeps unfolding. And I intend to meet it with open eyes and sturdy shoes.”

That’s from the Blissful Hiker podcast by Alison Young. After my recent journeys recounted on this blog, her message resonates with me. I heartily recommend this nine-minute episode called “Aliveness”, for inspiration and encouragement.

Open eyes and sturdy shoes: I’ve been working on that here at Granite State Walker for nearly two decades now. It’s always good to meet fellow hikers similarly equipped. Walk on!

From blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike: Aliveness, Jul 3, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blissful-hiker-inspiring-you-to-hike-your-own-hike/id1515744759?i=1000715549476&r=269
This material may be protected by copyright.

Header photo by Ellen Kolb. Mount Kearsarge (south), NH.

Hike Safe card: not just for mountain hikers

/ Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

For my New Hampshire readers, here’s a plea from me: if you haven’t purchased a Hike Safe card, please do so now. Even if you’re sure you’ll never need to be rescued, buy one anyway. It will be a small way of supporting the state’s Search and Rescue fund. Sadly, demands on the fund never let up.

Take out a credit card, go online to the New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Hike Safe page, and plunk down $25 for a virtual card covering an individual, $35 for a family. If a Hike Safe cardholder needs to be rescued in the course of an outdoor activity, she or he will not in most cases be assessed for the cost of the rescue. Just get the card. Don’t wait.

I write this as I hear news about a hiker who perished upstate while attempting a solo hike on a mountain ridge in winter weather. A few weeks ago, another hiker lost her life in the same area. Rescue attempts, which became recovery missions, involved professional conservation officers from New Hampshire Fish and Game plus many volunteers.

Those same volunteers and first responders would come out even if the trail were less challenging. They don’t write off any of us. Missing hikers, once reported overdue by family or friends, spark a search-and-rescue mission.

I know from experience that hikes can go awry even in good weather on heavily-traveled trails. (A particularly embarrassing day on Monadnock comes to mind.) While I haven’t yet inspired any rescue missions, I’m uncomfortably aware that this could change anytime. I carry simple essentials even for short hikes, but even so, bad stuff happens now and then.

Ninety percent of my trail miles are on flat trails within an hour of my home. I buy a Hike Safe card every year anyway. It’s cheap insurance against being assessed some hefty costs arising from my own negligence. More importantly, the card lets me as a hiker contribute to the readiness of search-and-rescue teams.

Hunters, anglers, and anyone registering a boat, OHRV, or snowmobile already contribute to the Search and Rescue fund as part of their license and registration fees. Hikers don’t need a license. We can pull our weight, so to speak, by purchasing the Hike Safe card.

Image by yinet gomez from Pixabay

Finding something new on the familiar Nashua River Rail Trail

/ Ellen Kolb

How did I not see this before? It’s a granite marker along a trail crossing the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, plain as day. Somehow, I had never seen this, even though I have walked this trail maybe a hundred times.

Granite marker on old railroad grade, etched with "D Mass 1894" to mark state line in Dunstable, Massachusetts
“D” for Dunstable…
Granite marker on old railroad grade, etched with "N N.H. 1894," marking state line at Nashua, New Hampshire.
and “N” for Nashua

I saw that there was a knocked-over lightweight fence nearby; had that concealed the marker all these years? Or have I just not been paying attention?

Years ago, I first saw markers like these along the Wapack Trail. I noticed that the letters referred to the town I was in as I looked at the marker, not the town I was about to enter. Having spent more time on interstate highways than on trails, this surprised me, but I’ve since gotten used to it. It’s remarkable to see these markers in such good shape after more than a century.

Anyone looking at my walking history can see that there are a few paths and parks to which I return again and again. There’s a sort of comfort and ease in being someplace familiar. This marker reminds me that it’s good to stay as alert on such trails as I am on new ones. Little delights abound, if I pay attention.

Spring on Cheshire County NH roads and trails

/ Ellen Kolb

Cheshire County, New Hampshire is best known to outdoors enthusiasts for its most dramatic geological feature, Mount Monadnock. I have nothing against the mountain, except that I can’t seem to get to the summit and back without an injury of one sort or another. That’s not a problem. The Monadnock region offers plenty of options that have nothing to do with hiking uphill.

Rockwood Pond in Fitzwilliam , New Hampshire, with Mount Monadnock in the background.
Seen from the Cheshire Rail Trail in Fitzwilliam: Rockwood Pond with Mount Monadnock nearby. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

As part of the New Hampshire Rail Trails Challenge, I’ve been exploring rail trails all over the state – but I’ve barely touched southwestern New Hampshire, aside from a few miles in the town of Troy. This is the year I’ll get busy out in that direction. I got off to a modest start recently on a short segment of the Cheshire Rail Trail in Fitzwilliam.

What a day! Weather was pleasant. The flying insects were not yet out in force (but alas, the same couldn’t be said for ticks; I came prepared with permethrin-treated clothing). Deciduous trees hadn’t yet leafed out. That left the hemlocks and pines to shade me, and as a bonus, the breeze through their boughs was like music.

Parking along long trails like the Cheshire can be a problem. Not every road crossing has room nearby for cars to pull over. I decided to begin my walk at Rhododendron State Park, a mile away from the trail. No trouble parking there. The park’s signature rhododendrons won’t be in bloom until July, but spring wildflowers abounded in the park’s grove and along its trails.

daffodils and violets, flowers

Spring flowers at Rhododendron State Park

From there – pull out your maps app now – it’s a mile along unpaved Rockwood Road to the the intersection with rail trail along Rockwood Pond. Rhododendron Road provides a shorter but less interesting link.

The scenic highlight of the day was the view of Monadnock seen from the shores of Rockwood Pond. Pine trees tried to obscure the view, but I found my way through them.

From the pond, I headed south. The trail was unpaved, wide, and shaded. It’s a snowmobile trail when there’s snow cover, but motorized vehicles are supposed to stay off the rest of the year. Wide ruts in some soft sections of the trail told me that an ATV driver or two had ignored the restriction. Aside from that, the trail was in good condition between the pond and state road 119. South of there, the trail was full of roots and rocks, looking like a typical New Hampshire woods walk. I got as far as Royalston Road before turning around.