Winter Explorations on Rail Trails
Winter offers new ways to enjoy the natural beauty and adventure along the snow covered rail trails of New Hampshire. With enough snow, the local snowmobile clubs and the NH Bureau of Trails grooms 100’s of miles of our favorite rail trails, along with abandoned rail lines and active rail lines that are inactive in the winter. The result? MANY, MANY more miles of rail corridors to explore!
SO MANY BENEFITS to exploring rail trails and rail lines in the snow covered season! The grade of the trails is easy, the views are open and sunny without the “green tunnel” of a leafy canopy, no black flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks, no heat, no humidity. If you get hot, you simply remove a layer of clothing. If you get cold, just move a bit faster down the line. Your lunch stays cold, a hot beverage in a thermos is a delight. Summertime walking on railroad ties is awkward with their spacing, can’t bike them either! This is not a problem in winter, the ties are covered up, often groomed, allowing for explorations in places one would not want to explore in summer with the thick grassy overgrowth… and ticks.
Winter on the rail lines seem to provide more railroad history to observe… the trestles, mile markers, whistle signals, switches, flange warnings, tell tales, telegraph poles (some still have their glass insulators!). Maybe all the interesting items along the way are just more visible against the white of the snow and without the leaves hiding them?
There is still time… as spring arrives there may not be enough snow on the rail corridors for the snowmobiles to safely enjoy, but what now remains softens in the warm sunshine and allows for a pleasant ski, snowshoe or microspike into places that will not be as inviting once the flora and fauna take over.
This winter, by generally following the route of the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail using the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail, Presidential Rail Trail, sections of abandoned rail line, and inactive rail line in between, it was possible to xc ski 57.5 miles of continuous rail bed from Woodsville to Gorham. After that, an unplowed road, a section of the AT and a snowmobile trail led 14 more miles to allow for probably the first xc ski across New Hampshire, border to border.
SO MANY BENEFITS to exploring rail trails and rail lines in the snow covered season! The grade of the trails is easy, the views are open and sunny without the “green tunnel” of a leafy canopy, no black flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks, no heat, no humidity. If you get hot, you simply remove a layer of clothing. If you get cold, just move a bit faster down the line. Your lunch stays cold, a hot beverage in a thermos is a delight. Summertime walking on railroad ties is awkward with their spacing, can’t bike them either! This is not a problem in winter, the ties are covered up, often groomed, allowing for explorations in places one would not want to explore in summer with the thick grassy overgrowth… and ticks.
Winter on the rail lines seem to provide more railroad history to observe… the trestles, mile markers, whistle signals, switches, flange warnings, tell tales, telegraph poles (some still have their glass insulators!). Maybe all the interesting items along the way are just more visible against the white of the snow and without the leaves hiding them?
There is still time… as spring arrives there may not be enough snow on the rail corridors for the snowmobiles to safely enjoy, but what now remains softens in the warm sunshine and allows for a pleasant ski, snowshoe or microspike into places that will not be as inviting once the flora and fauna take over.
This winter, by generally following the route of the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail using the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail, Presidential Rail Trail, sections of abandoned rail line, and inactive rail line in between, it was possible to xc ski 57.5 miles of continuous rail bed from Woodsville to Gorham. After that, an unplowed road, a section of the AT and a snowmobile trail led 14 more miles to allow for probably the first xc ski across New Hampshire, border to border.