Walking for a cause

August 12, 2024November 11, 2025 / Ellen Kolb

Update, October 2024: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the formal fundraising walk for Light of Life has been put off until 2025. That’s not going to stop me from walking the 13 miles anyway on October 19, the date originally planned for the event, as described below. Long solo hikes suit me well.

I interrupt my trip reports to invite your support as I walk in late October to raise funds for Light of Life, an agency providing emergency shelter and transitional housing for women in Manchester NH. The agency’s annual fundraising walk is on the delightful Rockingham Recreational Trail between Manchester and Newfields. I’m aiming for 13 miles on what’s sure to be a fine autumn morning. If you’d like to donate, please go to this link, with my thanks: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/lighthouse50/account/1808092

Ellen Kolb, a woman walking on a leaf-covered trail. — _{The Granite State Walker at #Lighthouse50, 2023. Photo by an unidentified event participant.}

Granite State Walker makes a move (and it’s not a hike)

April 11, 2024June 8, 2024 / Ellen Kolb

trail junction sign on Oak Hill trails, Concord NH — *_{Trail junction, Oak Hill trails, Concord NH}*

My Substack newsletter Braided Trails will soon include excerpts from Granite State Walker as well as original material inspired by New Hampshire trails. I hope you’ll subscribe.

Mt. Kearsarge in New Hampshire, seen from the Northern Rail Trail — _{Mt. Kearsarge seen from the Northern Rail Trail, Wilmot}

So why the addition? Here’s an excerpt from my intro to Braided Trails:

Readers have been curious or kind enough to follow me down various paths through the years. New Hampshire hikers have kept Granite State Walker going. At Leaven for the Loaf, I’ve reported on pro-life projects and legislation at the state level. My eponymous blog has been a promotional portfolio where I’ve also explored aspects of my Catholic faith.

But omigosh, what if the hikers don’t like my politics or my State House readers don’t care about my hiking or somebody somewhere is put off by a portfolio from a Catholic scribbler? I’ve tried to keep you all a secret from each other.

Enough already. Welcome to Braided Trails.

“Braid” is a nod to the three distinct blogs I’ve launched since 2006. This Substack is a place where each theme can get its due, in context with the others: braided, not fused. It’s about time I found a space big enough to bring the whole blessed lot of us together. It’s big enough for new readers, too.
https://ellenkolb.substack.com/p/intro-so-whats-a-braided-trail

Intrigued? Then I welcome you on board. Subscribing is free. And if you’d prefer to stick with this blog, plain and simple, that’s fine, too. I’m delighted to write for you in either case.

Thanks – and I’ll see you on the trails.

Spring is here, summer’s coming…and so is *Braided Trails.*

Golden Time

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 / Ellen Kolb

As Octobers go, this one has been a beauty in my corner of New Hampshire. We’re in that annual golden time, post-bugs and pre-ice. Literally golden, too. The trees are glowing.

October on Nashua River Rail Trail

Pulpit Brook Trail, Bedford and Amherst

Pulpit Brook trail, Bedford NH

I hadn’t visited Bedford’s Pulpit Rock conservation area in years. A recent mailing from the Bedford Land Trust advised me that the Pulpit Brook trail from that property now extends into Amherst and the Joppa Hill farm. When I compare a newer map of the Pulpit Rock area to my old map from 1997, it’s striking to see how much the conservation area has been expanded with the cooperation of area landowners. I like seeing a greenway linking towns.

Mid-October: some leaves are just starting to turn.

Silver Mountain, Lempster

The Forest Society’s Five Hikes in Five Weeks program led me to this unassuming little hill with fine autumn views. The drive in was a little hairy: Lempster Mountain Road is paved and fine, and from there South Road is unpaved and sort-of fine, until it isn’t. The last few tenths of a mile of road before the trailhead feature a single lane with deep ruts. It must be all kinds of fun in mud season. At least it’s dead-flat.

But after a couple of minutes of bouncing along…what’s this? A parking area with decorative stone posts. On a dirt road in Sullivan County, no less.

From the parking area, the woodsy walk up to the open summit of Silver Mountain is easy.

Autumn on Silver Mountain, Lempster NH

Silver Mountain summit cairn; Mt. Ascutney in the distance at right

Kidder Mountain, New Ipswich

Here’s another spot I hadn’t visited in ages, just off the Wapack Trail. I had hiked up to Kidder with my son about fifteen years ago, and I recalled it as another one of those easy hills with great views (like Silver Mountain, come to think of it). I’m sorry I waited so long to come back.

The summit vegetation has grown in over the past few years, but the views to the south and southeast are still satisfying. There’s a great view of the southern Wapack Range from Barrett Mountain to Mt. Watatic.

Southern Wapack Range seen from Kidder Mountain, New Ipswich NH

On my recent visit, I shared the summit with a young family. One of the children was a boy, maybe five years old. He surveyed the Wapack Range, and announced excitedly, “I see a volcano!” His dad took the news calmly. The boy wanted a livelier response. “I see lava!” At that point, I thought okay, I’ve got to see what this is about.

At right: Mt. Watatic, faintly marked with old ski trails that spark the imagination.

I moved a little closer to see what the boy was pointing at. It was little Mt. Watatic just across the border in Massachusetts. It had a ski area long ago, and there are still faintly-discernible ski trails. To a five-year-old, those old trails looked like lava flows. I hope I never forget the look on that little boy’s face as he watched Mt. Watatic expectantly, hoping against hope that it would blow its top and show those Monadnocks who’s boss.

Sometimes the best part of a hike isn’t the hike.

Happy October!

When the temps hit 100…

July 3, 2018 / Ellen Kolb

My state is having its annual heat wave. My car’s thermometer registered 104° today. It’s hot enough to make me forget for a few days that icy driveways are only a few months away. It’s even hot enough to make an indoor treadmill look appealing. But I found a good place for a half-hour walk today: a rail trail under a nice shady canopy of trees.

Summer day Goffstown rail trail

The Goffstown rail trail was my destination today. You might have a shady refuge just like it near you. Packed sand underfoot, trees overhead, river nearby. Restful and cool, until the trail crossed a power line cut and the shade disappeared for a hundred yards or so.

From the trail’s bridge over the Piscataquog River, I could see a couple of kayakers who were no doubt in for a whopping case of sunburn. Still, the river was their refuge from the heat, so good for them.

Piscataquog from Singer bridge

As I turned around at the bridge to return to my car, a smiling bicyclist flew past me. She called back to me over her shoulder, “isn’t this a glorious day?”

Yes, it was.

More ideas: Five years ago, I made a list of five of my favorite southern New Hampshire hot-weather hikes.

Cool and Shady

June 18, 2017June 18, 2017 / Ellen Kolb

Another northern foray, another walk on the Cohos Trail’s Falls in the River segment. No trip to Pittsburg, New Hampshire on a 90-degree day would be complete without this through-the-woods walk to the unnamed flume on the Connecticut River, a half-hour walk south of the Second Connecticut Lake Dam.

Falls in the River, Pittsburg NH, June. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

Cracks in the granite give some tiny blossoms a home.

A peek at Second Connecticut Lake from the parking lot by the dam.

Notes on this trip: no moose. I figured the hot weather would keep them from being out on the roadside at midday, but I thought for sure I’d see one in the woods. I saw only their prints in the mud.

Bring your bug repellent of choice. It’s mosquito season. Also, it seems to be a fine year for ticks, which is bad news for the moose.

I was determined to get ice cream at Moose Alley Cones, but alas! It’s closed on summer Mondays. The fudge at Treats and Treasures next door was ample compensation. So was T&T’s air conditioning.

Re-collection

November 9, 2016 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

I walk for fun, to explore, to more-or-less exercise. I also walk to keep my head on straight. I wouldn’t have gotten through today without a couple of miles outside.

I’m a political critter, you see. I’ve been a campaign staffer, an activist, a blogger from the State House, to name a few pastimes. Yesterday was election day after the nastiest campaign year I’ve ever experienced. This has been a backed-up-sewer of a season.

Nothing will flush it out except time on the trails.

All I had today was time for a couple of local miles. Manchester’s Piscataquog rail trail came through for me. There were enough leaves left on the trees to serve as a canopy. The overcast sky suited me; bright sunlight would have left me with a slashing headache.

Piscataquog trail, in another season.

Forty good minutes: enough time to escape agitation. Time to block out the noise, turn away from the news feeds, take lots of deep breaths, recall what’s important.

A man biked past me. I recognized him as the unofficial adopter of the trail, picking up bags of trash, neatly hanging fresh plastic bags every hundred yards or so. Seeing him was oddly consoling and reassuring. He has a simple, selfless volunteer’s dedication to an unsung job that consists of keeping a public area pretty.

Beat that, candidates.

Decompression is going to take awhile. Today’s walk was a good start.