Visiting the Piscataquog Trail

December 31, 2025 / Ellen Kolb / Leave a comment

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.

Cusp of spring

April 6, 2023 / Ellen Kolb

My favorite garden center opened for the season yesterday. I picked up one pot each of forced narcissus and hyacinths to put in my front window. No reason, really, except that I want something colorful to look at while the hickory and elm trees outside are still looking drab.

A few more weeks and the drab of winter will be past. Buds are swelling. I walked in Concord today on a trail along the Merrimack River. Around me were bare shrubs, bare trees, and fields of corn stubble. But something further away caught my eye: an island in the middle of the meandering river, with trees adorned with cloud-like pale-red streaks. Maples, of course, flowering earlier than all the other trees. Delightful.

_{Early April, Merrimack River: looks like spring is coaxing the maples along. Ellen Kolb photo.}

The trail was in good shape, with very little mud. That’s not the case everywhere in southern New Hampshire, and mud season makes it challenging for me to pick good places to walk. The bugs aren’t out in force yet, though, which is a plus.

Soon I won’t have to look past my yard for flowering trees and unfolding leaves. That means my spring allergies will soon flare up. Worth it, though.

For now, I like being on the cusp of spring. The tom turkeys in my neighborhood are mightily displaying their plumage in an attempt to impress the hens. My neighbor on the sunnier side of the street is tending to the gorgeous little patch of crocuses blooming in her yard. The herons are back at their rookery. And of course the peepers are out now – the tiny tree frogs whose springtime call sounds like a chorus of little bells.

November in Boscawen

November 13, 2020November 11, 2020 / 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 trail surface invites biking, which means it’s fine for walking, too. The ambitious traveler with the right kind of bike could go clear to the other end of the trail in Lebanon in one trip.

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: a ball field, a farm with its big mown field, a bend in the low-flowing Merrimack River.

berries autumn rail trail — Northern Rail Trail, Boscawen, November

sign for Northern Rail Trail NH — Northern Rail Trail, Boscawen, November

For more information: Friends of the Northern Rail Trail

GSW rail trail photos in latest edition of New England Antiques Journal

April 5, 2018September 20, 2018 / Ellen Kolb

Treat yourself to this article by Brian Roche in the latest edition of New England Antiques Journal: Bridging the Gap Between Past and Present: The Preservation and Repurposing of Historic Railroad Bridges. In one of the sidebars, you’ll see some pictures familiar to longtime readers of Granite State Walker.

Hands Across the Merrimack (and Manchester)

Hands Across the Merrimack bridge, Manchester NH

I was surprised and pleased to get a call a few months ago from Mr. Roche, a freelance writer. While researching the rail bridge article, he came across this blog and its posts about the Hands Across the Merrimack bridge in Manchester. He kindly sought permission to use some of my photos.

The resulting article features photos of several northeastern bridges of striking beauty. I’m honored that a few of my photos made the cut.

Mr. Roche spelled my name correctly in his text; it was left to a magazine editor to misspell it in the sidebar. But to err is human, and to publish photos of a New Hampshire treasure is divine.

Second Street bridge, just west of Hands Across the Merrimack Bridge, along the Pisacataquog trail.

Bridge-builder Helen Closson, RIP

January 25, 2017 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

This morning’s newspaper carries news of the passing of Helen Closson of Manchester, New Hampshire at the age of 94. The headline describes her as “a force for good.” The long list of her civic activities bears this out. As a Granite State walker, I will always think of her as the woman who brought us the Hands Across the Merrimack pedestrian bridge over the Merrimack River in Manchester.

The Hands Across the Merrimack bridge. Ellen Kolb photo.

The bridge is a gem, pleasant in itself, all the more valuable for its setting along a rail trail that now stretches from the south end of the Millyard well into Goffstown.

Turning an abandoned rail trestle into a pedestrian walkway is a team effort, and my gratitude for the bridge ought to be extended to many people. Mrs. Closson, though, was the team leader who saw the project through to the end.

I appreciate the gift.

manchester-from-hands-across-the-merrimack

Manchester, New Hampshire, as seen from the Hands Across the Merrimack bridge over the Merrimack River.

Another NH rail trail link completed: Manchester-Goffstown

October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 / Ellen Kolb

The Singer family's behind many philanthropic efforts in the Manchester area. It's fitting that the bridge carries the Singer name.

The Singer family’s behind many philanthropic efforts in the Manchester area. It’s fitting that the bridge carry the Singer name.

New Hampshire’s Piscataquog Rail Trail finally reaches across the Piscataquog River, connecting Manchester with Goffstown. I put off some workday tasks long enough to walk the trail from its east end all the way across the new bridge. With all due respect and gratitude to the many people who made the project happen (Manchester Moves and the Singer family, for starters), I didn’t stay for the ribbon-cutting and speechifyin’. Trails are for walking.

On the Manchester side, looking toward Goffstown, at long last.

On the Goffstown side.

I call this right neighborly.

It was a good morning to walk along the trail all the way to the Merrimack River flowing past Manchester’s millyard. It’s mid-autumn and the foliage might be considered past peak, but it’s still beautiful as far as I’m concerned.

Second Street bridge, near east end of Piscataquog Rail Trail.