Golden Time in New Hampshire

October 16, 2019February 25, 2026 / 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.

rail trail in autumn — _{October on Nashua River Rail Trail. All photos by Ellen Kolb.}

Pulpit Brook Trail, Bedford and Amherst

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.

autumn leaves — _{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.

berries on hilltop, autumn in NH — Autumn on Silver Mountain, Lempster NH

Silver Mountain summit cairn NH — Silver Mountain summit cairn; Vermont’s 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 — 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.

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.

Spring’s been good: a New Hampshire photo album

June 1, 2019February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I had an interesting assortment of New Hampshire walks and hikes in May, due in part to work assignments in towns I don’t often visit. Weather was variable, with 80 degrees one day and 50-and-drizzly the next.

Northern Rail Trail, Enfield

I enjoyed a little piece of this long trail that stretches from Lebanon to Boscawen. Enfield’s section offered views of Mascoma River and Lake, with convenient trailside parking off Main Street.

_{Mascoma Lake. All photos in this post are by Ellen Kolb.}

Northern Rail Trail, Enfield NH — _{B is for Boston, 132 miles away via the old rail line that is now the Northern Rail Trail.}

Former train depot, Enfield NH — _{When I saw the old Enfield depot, it was serving as a garage for an emergency services vehicle.}

Forest Society Properties, Bethlehem and Haverhill

The Forest Reservation Challenge patch continues to elude me, even after more than two years of trying to visit all the Forest Society’s featured reservations. I haven’t given up, though. On an overcast day in May I found my way to the Dana Forest in Dalton and Bretzfelder Park in Bethlehem.

I saw on my drive north that the Presidentials and even the peaks lining Franconia Notch were veiled in clouds. It was a day for woods walks, not vistas.

The Granite State Walker at Bretzfelder Park.

Bretzfelder Park, Bethlehem New Hampshire — The Granite State Walker at Bretzfelder Park.

Closer to Home

The woods roads in Fox State Forest in Hillsborough were deserted when I visited in May, and mud season was in full swing. I arrived armed with bug repellent and proper footwear.

At Fox State Forest: Concord End Road was a good alternative to waterlogged trails.

Along the Nashua River Rail Trail, columbines are in bloom. I’ve noticed that more clumps of these scarlet flowers are establishing themselves here every year. Good to see.

columbines along trail — _{Columbines along the Nashua River Rail Trail}

In Nashua’s Mine Falls Park, a new bridge is in place over the canal, although the bridge is not yet officially “open.” Once it is, the link to Ledge Street will give more families easy access to the park.

bridge in Mine Falls Park, Nashua NH — _{Mine Falls Park: a new bridge will soon link the park to a Nashua neighborhood.}

For all the natural beauty along the Goffstown Rail Trail, there’s some historical interest as well. Whenever I walk past the old county cemetery, I stop to say a prayer and pay my respects. From a now-dead website called nh-roots.org: “In this cemetery every grave is marked with a marble slab numbered which refers to a number in the record book giving a description of the deceased.” I don’t know if that record book has been preserved. The cemetery grounds are kept mown and trimmed, which may be the only remaining earthly tribute to the memory of the people buried there.

gravestones in Goffstown NH — _{Along Goffstown (NH) rail trail: county farm cemetery, located near the present-day county complex.}

October’s walks: a Granite State sampler

November 4, 2018February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

Blue sky, thirty-odd degrees, visibility unlimited: a New Hampshire October at its best. This was a month of short hikes in a pleasing variety of places.

Goffstown Rail Trail

The Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail have just unveiled a short but welcome upgrade to the sandy stretch of trail running behind the county government complex on Route 114. The new hardpack surface is much friendlier to bicyclists.

The trail is covered with leaves, which is no surprise in October. What did surprise me was the absence of fallen twigs and branches after several windy days.

Muster Field Farm, Sutton

Muster Field Farm is up Sutton way, just south of I-89. It’s a working farm as well as a historical homestead. It’s on a quiet road that’s fine for walking, with other paths and roads nearby to create loop routes of varying lengths. There’s a farm stand on the property, and I was lucky enough to be there on a day when $5 got me a big bunch of colorful cut zinnias.

meadow edged by stone wall — Muster Field Farm, Sutton NH.

field of zinnias of many colors — Flowers galore growing at Muster Field Farm

New Hampshire historical marker for "Harvey Homestead" — The Harvey Homestead is part of the Muster Field property.

Monson Center, Milford/Hollis

My previous visits to the trails in Monson Center were in the summertime, with irises blooming and mosquitos biting. October brought a different atmosphere, bracing and clear.

Monson was an 18th-century town that lasted less than 40 years before its inhabitants petitioned the state to formally rescind the town’s charter and divide the land among surrounding towns. Today, the land is a Forest Society property. Located only a few miles from busy Rt. 101-A, the parking area on Federal Hill Road is easy to miss. I’ve overshot it myself. It’s worth finding, though, for its historical interest as well as its trails.

burr (seedcase) on a chestnut tree — Chestnuts are ripening.

heron rookery in a marsh — Beavers flooded part of the Monson property, and herons have taken advantage, as their nests attest.

Moose Mountains Reservation, Middleton/Brookfield

This was a bit of a drive for me, but that was a treat during foliage season. My hike in Moose Mountains Reservation took me to Phoebe’s Nable. That’s right, Nable. I wondered if that was a corruption of “nubble,” but my companions didn’t think so. None of us knows how the feature got its name. No matter – the views from there were fine, and it was possibly the month’s best lunch spot.

The reservation has other trails I had no time to explore. This would make a fine destination for a half-day of wandering through hills, fields, and forest.

property sign for Moose Mountains Reservation

Midweek on Old Toll Road, Mount Monadnock

May 15, 2017February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

When the Forest Society announced its challenge last year, offering a patch for anyone visiting 33 specified Forest Society properties, I jumped on board immediately. Since then, I’ve had fun discovering some new trails. Others, like those on Mount Monadnock, are already familiar. The Forest Society has a reservation on the mountain that blends seamlessly with Monadnock State Park.

On my most recent visit to Monadnock, my indifferent level of fitness ruled out a summit hike. I settled for an easy walk to the Halfway House clearing via the Old Toll Road, featuring a wonderful view to the south with Gap Mountain foremost.

Gap from Halfway House_Monadnock — _{The view south from Mt. Monadnock’s Halfway House clearing. Photos by Ellen Kolb.}

The Old Toll Road begins at the well-marked state park parking lot on NH Route 124 on the south side of the mountain. (Post-Covid update: the state park now charges a $15 parking fee, which covers a driver and up to five passengers. Reservations can be made online. See the Monadnock State Park web page for current information.)

The Old Toll Road has a packed crushed-gravel surface, well-drained, and wide as a boulevard. It’s an uphill path for sure, but easy going until it ends at the White Arrow Trail. I walked up the Road, picked up White Arrow for a short distance, and soon I reached my destination: the Halfway House clearing, named for an inn that once stood there.

Old Toll Road, Spring — _{Old Toll Road on Mount Monadnock, mid-spring}

I looked up to the summit and saw no hikers. That’s unusual. Normally, the summit seen from that distance looks like an anthill.

DSCF1650 - Copy — _{A peek at Monadnock’s summit from the Halfway House clearing}

A cool breeze kept the bugs away on the overcast day. I knew I was likely to be rained on any minute. I didn’t care. A midday midweek visit to New Hampshire’s most-climbed mountain rewarded me with solitude, and solitude on Monadnock is meant to be savored.

Guided hike in Heald Tract, Wilton NH

November 12, 2016February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I joined 17 people and one tiny-but-mighty dog for a leisurely three-mile amble through a portion of the Forest Society’s Heald Tract in Wilton, New Hampshire.

Castor Pond, where we enjoyed lunch on our hike. It’s home to heron and other water birds, as well as beaver and otter.

Our guide was David, a volunteer for the Harris Center for Conservation Education. Two of my fellow hikers owned property near the tract and knew a lot about the history of the area. We had good company and good conversation for the three hours we spent together.

We walked through an area with old wells and foundations, and heard tales of the people who had built them and settled the area. We saw the most imposing beaver dam I’ve ever laid eyes on. I heard kingfisher as we sat pondside enjoying our lunch. No one was in a hurry, the company was congenial, and the weather was fine. I left determined to keep an eye on the Forest Society and Harris Center calendars in the future for other walks like this one.

stone foundation wall — *_{This barn foundation dating back to the nineteenth century is about six feet high. The rest of the structure was lost to fire long ago.}*

For more about the Heald Tract including a map of the trails, go to forestsociety.org. Learn more about the Harris Center at harriscenter.org.

group hike in a forest with a little dog — _{This little terrier is an unlikely-looking hiker, but she proved to be an intrepid and friendly companion.}

stone-lined well — The opening to this old well is about five and a half feet across – easily the largest I’ve seen.

Glimpses of fall, eastern New Hampshire

October 21, 2016February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

It’s fall, the prime time for Granite State walkers of all ages. Crisp air and fewer bugs make every trail more inviting. And then there’s fall foliage, which I thought would be a disappointment after our region’s drought. How wrong I was.

I have a map of New Hampshire that I’ve marked with sites of historical markers, Forest Society reservations, and state parks. It’s a great guide for daytrips. Last weekend, I consulted the map and headed east to scout some trailheads for future exploration. I meandered all over the place, just for fun. Here are a few of my discoveries.

Effingham

The drive to the Green Mountain trailhead at the end of High Watch Road was the stuff of travelogues. There’s a point on NH route 16 northbound from Rochester where I got to a rise in the road, and suddenly mountains were in view, swathed in colors.

autumn foliage, distant mountain, blue sky — View to the north from High Watch Road. I’m pretty sure that’s Mount Chocorua in the distance on the left. A hike for another day, perhaps. Photos by Ellen Kolb.

Once on the trail, I nearly threw away my watch. There was a fire tower up there, after all, and what views it promised! But this was a scouting trip, and I had a schedule to keep, so I contented myself with a short walk in the woods and a silent promise to come back someday.

New Durham

State Route 11 connects Rochester and Alton, with New Durham along the way. A 55-mph speed limit makes scanning for trailheads a bit tricky. I plugged the coordinates for Cooper Cedar Woods into my phone’s GPS and hoped for the best. It worked, which is always a pleasant surprise to someone who surrounds herself with low-grade electronics.

boardwalk trail covered with fallen autumn leaves — In Cooper Cedar Woods, New Durham, NH.

The wooded tract features a simple loop trail less than a mile long, and I had it all to myself. The fragrance in the air was amazing. It was some indescribable combination of trees and their fallen leaves, unique to that particular location. I could hear Route 11’s auto traffic nearby, and yet it seemed to be a world away.

Rochester

Early in my road-trip day, I was one of the walkers bringing up the rear at the Foley Run in Rochester, a joyous 5k event in memory of photojournalist James Foley. Main Street’s trees were at their showiest, right on schedule for the visiting racers.

After a quick post-race snack of bagels and fruit, I drove south of town to a quiet parking area tucked across the road from the town’s airport. Here was the Champlin Forest, another Forest Society property, with about two miles of trails meandering through it.

I came home with many notes that will help me plan future trips, including return visits to these three places.