Subtly Spring: Horse Hill and the Winni Trail

March 30, 2021February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

“Show me some spring pictures,” a reader recently asked me. He was looking for budding trees and fresh green growth. Perhaps I can oblige him in another week or so. For now, the signs of spring in New Hampshire are subtler.

It’s mud season, but the trails at Horse Hill Nature Preserve in Merrimack were in remarkably good shape the other day. The herons were back on Lastowka Pond, croaking and courting. I could see that the beavers had been busy along the shoreline, taking down a big tree that barely missed a bench as it fell. Deeper into the woods, I smelled freshly-cut lumber on a refurbished bog bridge.

Simple wooden bridge on forest trail — _{Early-season work by trail maintainers: a refurbished bridge. Photos by Ellen Kolb.}

Trees with beaver damage — _{The beavers are in town: this pair of trees had been untouched a week earlier.}

On a recent walk through Mine Falls Park in Nashua, I looked for swans in the cove but found none. Some years, there’s a pair that bullies the park’s Canada geese into the cove’s farther reaches. The geese are safe for now. I was glad to see blackbirds amid the reeds that edge the cove; I missed them in winter.

Blackbird amid reeds — _{Blackbird, nearly hidden in reeds}

Business took me to Loudon recently, and I added a couple of hours to the trip so I could visit nearby Belmont and discover the Winni Trail, a paved rail trail along Lake Winnisquam.

I had the advantage of a fine sunny day, with cool air and miles of visibility. A stretch of trail went through the woods, with lake and rail line out of sight, and then broke into the open to hug the shore alongside the rails. Good thing someone thought to set up a few benches along the way; the views are definitely worth stopping for.

Lake Winnisquam, Belmont, New Hampshire, from rail trail — _{Seen from the Winni Trail: a railroad signal mast, Lake Winnisquam, and the hills of the Lakes Region.}

It was my first experience with rail-with-trail, where a trail shares the right-of-way with an active rail line. That particular line is owned by the state of New Hampshire, not by a rail corporation, and I suppose that might have simplified development of the trail.

The shared right-of-way continues into Laconia on the WOW Trail (for Lakes Winnisquam, Opechee, and Winnipesaukee). Someday, with a lot of cooperation and investment and volunteer work, there could be a continuous recreational rail trail linking WOW in Laconia with the Winnipesaukee River Trail in Tilton/Northfield via the Winni Trail in Belmont. That’s a project to cheer for, if Belmont’s trail is indicative of what’s ahead.

wide unpaved walking trail in woods, springtime before leaves have returned — _{Early spring on the Winni Trail}

A layered trail in Mine Falls Park

October 31, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

I needed a walk with no cars in sight. I headed to Mine Falls Park in Nashua. I found leaves over patchy ice over mud: not my favorite trail surface, but that’s what the end of October is dishing up in my area.

trail in woods at sunset — _{Mine Falls Park, Nashua, NH: late afternoon, end of October. Ellen Kolb photo.}

A scant inch of snow fell yesterday along with the leaves. Everything froze overnight, and then the sun came up and promptly warmed things up to about forty degrees. That left me with the layered trail. It wasn’t too bad, and it was certainly better than pavement. The bridges over canal and river were still a bit slippery from the snow.

The park was quiet. Weekends are usually busier. Even adjacent Lincoln Park, where I left my car, was nearly empty. No complaints. I was a bit out of sorts, and solitude suited me.

I usually see mallards in the canal. This day, I saw them in the Nashua River instead. About three dozen were together midstream. The river was sluggish, and the ducks paddled upstream effortlessly. That left the cove for about 20 Canada geese, most of them napping in the late afternoon.

I needed my sunglasses as I returned to my car, with the sun low in the western sky. That reminded me that I was walking during the last day of Daylight Savings Time. November will bring the sense of dislocation I feel every fall until I mentally reconcile what the clock says with what the sun does.

Nashua loop: linking a Heritage Trail with Mine Falls Park

September 10, 2020February 25, 2026 / Ellen Kolb

An hour’s free time let me string together a Mine Falls path with the Nashua Heritage Rail Trail to make a pleasant loop for an afternoon walk.

sign for Nashua Heritage Rail Trail, New Hampshire — _{A Heritage Trail sign gives the story behind the trail, for those who stop to read closely. Photos by Ellen Kolb.}

Once upon a time, the railroad line that’s now the Heritage Trail was on the same line that became the Nashua River Rail Trail. It’s not likely that the two trails will ever connect again, what with the Everett Turnpike and a few decades of real estate development in the way.

Today, the paved Heritage Trail parallels West Hollis Street from City Hall to just short of Simon Street. There are numerous road crossings and congestion through the Tree Streets behind City Hall. To the west, the trail is quieter. There’s a sign along the way indicating where to veer off to get to the 7th Street entrance to Mine Falls Park.

Nashua Heritage Rail Trail, New Hampshire. Photo by Ellen Kolb. — _{Nashua Heritage Rail Trail, near western terminus.}

Mine Falls Park, as ever, was a beautiful place to visit. The cove’s water level in this drought-stricken season was lower than I’ve ever seen it. Even so, the park’s woods and waterside plants were irrepressibly lush.

Mine Falls Park bridge, Nashua, New Hampshire. Photo by Ellen Kolb — _{Whipple Street access bridge from Mine Falls Park.}

How To: A bit of road walking was involved in the loop. I parked on Whipple Street, walked up Simon Street to Will Street – watching out for the tractor-trailers on their way to the nearby UPS depot – and then picked up the Heritage Trail on the sidewalk. When I got to the sign on the trail pointing me to Mine Falls’ 7th Street entrance, I turned onto 7th Street and followed it across Ledge Street to the park entrance. I turned left at the canal and kept walking back to the Whipple Street entrance. A little shy of 3 miles, all told.

Un-whining in Mine Falls Park

February 25, 2014February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

I haven’t been out for a hike in weeks. Whine.

January and February have been filled with long hours of work and stress and lousy weather. Whine.

My clothes are too snug, I’m out of breath after three flights of stairs, and I hate icy roads. Whine, whine, whine.

When the weather was inviting the other day (and please, no scolding me for being unprepared for all conditions), I forced myself to shake off my winter torpor for little while. I headed to Mine Falls Park in Nashua for a loop around the cove near the Millyard.

The cove at Mine Falls Park, awaiting the springtime return of the swans. Nashua Millyard in background.

Hard to believe what a difference that made. After a couple of miles, my jeans were still snug and I still had a pile of work waiting for me. But gradually, as I walked along the canal path in crunchy snow, the whines went away. Fresh air and near-silence worked wonders.

I’ll still need a push to get out the door this season, but Mine Falls Park will remind me that the effort pays off.

Winter games are here: snowshoes!

December 11, 2013February 24, 2026 / Ellen Kolb / 2 Comments

Mine Falls Park after first snowfall, December 2013

In mid-December, there’s finally been a snowfall in southern New Hampshire just heavy enough to put a base on the trails. It’s late fall, and winter is impatient to elbow its way in. This morning I spent an hour at Mine Falls Park in Nashua enjoying the crunch of snow beneath my sneaker-clad feet. The canal is almost-but-not-quite frozen over, and the muskrats have taken refuge wherever muskrats like to go.

Sometimes the season’s first snow pounds us. The Halloween Eve snowstorm in 2011 dumped a foot of heavy wet snow, uprooted countless oaks & maples, and left me without electricity for four days. Other years are more like this one, with a couple of tentative snowfalls, just to get us ready for the inevitable big ones.

I can pull my snowshoes out of their little nook in the basement and put them closer to the door. I can look forward to hiking on those brilliant cloudless days that follow snowstorms. My favorite cross-country ski area has announced that it’ll be open for business this weekend, which means that their snowshoe trails are ready to go as well. A prime memory for me is a midweek trip there a few years ago, the day or two after a storm. There were a few skiers around, but I was the only snowshoer in sight, and I had all that wonderful powder to myself on the woods trails. Solitude, beauty, sunshine, and unbroken powder: does it get any better in the winter?

When the Olympics are broadcast shortly, I will ooh and ahh over the alpine skiers. I’ll cheer for the cross-country skiers, who are better-conditioned than most of us could ever hope to be. I’ll watch the snowboarding, which for my money is the most fun event to watch at the Olympics. But eventually, I’ll tire of being a spectator. The snowshoes will be right by the basement door, waiting for me.