Going the (short) distance

August 31, 2015February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

August was a low-mileage month. That’s fine. This has been as lovely a month as I’ve seen this year, and I know things will only get better as autumn approaches.

Crotched Mountain (Greenfield, NH) from Gregg Trail, August. Ellen Kolb photos.

The Gregg Trail is accessible from the trailhead at Crotched Mountain school (take Crotched Mountain Road off of NH Route 31) in Greenfield. (You will not be looking for the Crotched Mountain ski area, which is on the other side of the mountain in Bennington). It’s a wheelchair-accessible path to a wonderful western overlook toward Monadnock. Even on a hazy day, it’s a pleasant walk. Past the overlook, trails continue to the summit ridge, though I didn’t go that far this time.

Mt. Monadnock from Gregg Trail overlook on Crotched Mountain, hazy August day

More short hikes on recent road trips

Rhode Island

I joined my husband for a trip to Narragansett, Rhode Island. While he had a road race, I enjoyed a quiet walk along Ocean Road. Sunny inland, clouds building offshore.

rocky shoreline, choppy ocean, low grey clouds — Off the Rhode Island coast. Ellen Kolb photo.

Alton and Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

I may be the only person on record to hike Mt. Major in Alton without getting to the top. Despite being in good energetic company, I was out of breath as the last ledge came in sight. I sent my companions on as I found a comfortable place to sit: a breezy bit of ledge with a few blueberries nearby (how did earlier hikers miss them?!). Another hazy day, but even a murky view of Alton Bay and Lake Winnipesaukee is better than no view at all. Bonus: after the hike, we went to the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro. I’d never been there, and it was a treat. I recommend it to anyone interested in World War II history.

A view from not-quite-the-top of Mount Major in Alton, NH

Manchester-Goffstown rail trail connector: the new span is in place

August 13, 2015February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

August 2015: new span will soon link the Goffstown and Piscataquog (Manchester NH) rail trails. Ellen Kolb photo.

I take back every pessimistic word I ever wrote about the difficulties that would have to be overcome in order to link the rail trails in Goffstown and Manchester, New Hampshire.

A month ago, there was a great big empty spot where the old railroad trestle over the Piscataquog River used to be. Now, sooner than I thought possible, a new bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists is in place. It’s not yet open, but I checked out the area today and saw a serious construction effort underway on the approach to the Manchester end.

Good news, I say.

Short and sweet: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

June 7, 2015February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

I paid my first visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming recently. Impressions, beyond the obvious “wow”:

A week isn’t nearly enough for either park, never mind both. I spent a week in Yosemite a few years back and came to the same conclusion.
I had to choose between hiking and driving within Yellowstone. It’s vast. My husband and I wanted to see as much of the parks as we could, so we wound up driving a lot and stopping for short hikes. My week was filled with bike paths, boardwalks and easy strolls.
The beauty of the west is so different from that of my familiar beloved New England that it’s hard to take in. Now I now what “Big Sky Country” means.
The summer crowds must be oppressive. I was in Yellowstone as Memorial Day weekend approached, which marks the beginning of the summer season. Things were already hopping.
Pelicans in Yellowstone? How did I not know about this?!

I felt very keenly that I was a mere tourist, not an adventurer. Adventurers spend more time away from their cars. But there was so much to see …!

All photos by Ellen Kolb.

Teton Glacier seen from the bike path along Teton Road.

Rockingham Trail & Lake Massabesic, Manchester/Auburn NH

May 7, 2015February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

Workday or not, an 80-degree spring day calls for some trail time. Decked out in business clothes and dress shoes, I spent midday on a tame but worthwhile path: the Rockingham Recreational Trail from its Lake Massabesic trailhead near the Manchester/Auburn town line.

Rockingham Recreational Trail (Portsmouth branch), Auburn NH, east of NH Rt. 121. Ellen Kolb photos.

The trail extends more than twenty miles east to Newfields, which would make an interesting bike ride some other day. Pressed for time today, I walked only about a mile and a half before retracing my steps back to my car. I took my time to enjoy the birds (quite a variety near the lake) and take a few pictures from a boat launch. The trail is unpaved but wide and well-trodden. It was popular this midday: moms with kids, a guy fishing in a trailside pond, lots of dog walkers, even one dirt biker in defiance of the no-motorized-vehicle rule.

View of Lake Massabesic from boat launch just off Rockingham Rec Trail and NH Rt. 121.

More information on this trail can be found on the New Hampshire State Parks web site and in the book New Hampshire Rail Trails by Charles Martin (available from the New Hampshire Rail Trails Coalition).

Weare, NH: Everett Dam

April 28, 2015February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

Clough State Park with its little beach on Everett Lake in Weare is still awaiting its opening day, but walkers are welcome on the nearby Everett Dam (operated by the Army Corps of Engineers). This would have been a mountaintop day if I’d had the time. The air was amazingly clear. I settled for a half-hour walk along the dam and the quiet roads nearby.

Both park and dam are on Clough Park Road in Weare. The park has a modest entrance fee. The dam has its own parking area a short distance south of the park, and it’s free.

IMG_20150428_101308 — View across the dam from the parking area on Clough Park Road. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

IMG_20150428_112626 — Everett Lake, with Mount Kearsarge in the distance.

Autumn’s edge, Mine Falls Park

December 18, 2014February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I was in Mine Falls Park today, a few days shy of the winter solstice. Leaves are down, everything’s brown. One plowable snowfall at Thanksgiving was heavy enough to bring down some tree limbs that plopped into the canal, and they’re likely to stay there until the Nashua parks department has time to remove them next spring. The faintest skin of ice is forming on the canal now.

IMG_20141218_115935 — Late-fall snow brought down this tree into the Mine Falls canal. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

The path alongside the canal has been cleared of deadfall (pushed into the canal, I expect). I saw fresh white “X”s chalked here and there, marking trees to be cut down or trimmed at some point. Sometimes, Mother Nature gets there first. I walked past one broken-off oak tree with a big white “X” on what’s left of the jagged trunk.

Things were oddly quiet along the path today. This is a busy urban park, but today, the area in which I walked was nearly deserted. Once I crossed the Whipple Street bridge, I didn’t see a living thing until I spied the swans in the cove near the Millyard. It was so quiet that I could hear the traffic on the Everett, nearly a mile away. That’s very different from my visits on summer afternoons, when on nearby Ledge Street, life is lived very much out loud. Late December is a quieter time.