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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Biking Windham Rail Trail

We road the scenic 4.1 mile Windham to Salem Rail Trail on Sunday; that's 8.2 miles round trip. It's a great spot when you're short on time. With several stops, it took us about 1.5 hours. Since I publish so many water photos here, I wished I had taken a photo of the wooded trail instead. But we're in luck, because fellow New Hampshire blogger Jim Johnson and his girlfriend Kristin (on doublejrunning) have some beautiful photos of this place that they've posted on smugmug. (Thanks Jim and Kristin!)

Some highlights of the trail
This is a pleasant ride which is about 95 percent paved; only the last half mile or so is gravel. The trail welcomes non-motorized traffic and is busy with bicyclists, strollers, joggers, and in-line skaters, but not so busy that we felt crowded or rushed.

It's a mostly wooded trail except for two ponds and some farm pastures and marshes. I especially like the section that feels air conditioned because it's cut between two high stones. Also of note are several stone walls and a granite arch bridge. According to the Rail Trail website, there's a cellar hole from an 1800s sawmill, but we missed it. That's okay, we'll find it next time. This was our second time on the trail, but it won't be our last!

Directions: We started our ride by the train depot parking lot off Depot Road in Windham. Your best bet is to check the Windham Rail Trail website for more information and directions.

2 comments:

DoubleJ said...

Love it in there! Good snowshoe running in the winter too...nice and flat :). Nice writeup!

Lucie said...

Thanks for writing, Jim. I hadn't thought about trying it with snowshoes in winter, but you're right...it would be perfect.

And thanks, too, for your great photos of the trail. Love them!