By Fletch6 in October, 2011
With the extension south to Coleman Rd. which adds about 3/4 mile to the Manhan and the bridge over the Manhan river near Ferry St. almost done this completes the rail trail in Easthampton. It is now about 14 miles from the south end to the Southwick rail trail and there are two routes a biker can use to connect via roads.
To the east by taking a left off Coleman Rd. you can get to the route with the least traffic and use Line Rd. and follow this via East Mt. Road to rt. 20. where you can take a right and cross the river and make a left on little river road to a right on Shaker road. This brings you to the North end of the Southwick RT just after Shaker farms gulf course.
To the west and taking a right off Coleman rd. you get to Rt.10 and head south. (Rt.10 joins Rt.202) This is a highly traveled road and with much traffic and the city of Westfield gets you about the same miles to the end off the southwick RT.
By laddoms in August, 2011
The Manhan is in great shape. Few road crossings. Well marked. Safe. Flat. Smooth. Scenic. Mount Tom in the background and farm land around. Small nice scenic town of Easthampton on the route. Route goes past a park and ponds. And past Williston School. Good eateries in Easthampton. Definitely worth the drive up here to ride it. Small dirt parking on the north end by Mount Tom. About 10 or so cars can fit there. Keep your eyes wide open and drive slowly on route 5 looking for the parking. Its easy to miss. Landmark is the power lines and a state boat launch nearby. Overflow parking at the state boat launch. The boat launch can get a bit crowded on summer weekends with overflow into the rail trail parking. So be prepared.
The best part is the new connection to Northampton. A great smooth ride. The previous reviewers covered it well. Only one small part is on road and appears that it will be connected to the trail soon.
By jonhoward in July, 2011
In my view, the best feature of this trail is true town-to-town connections between Easthampton and Northampton and serious trail-to-trail hookups creating many miles of off-road options.
The original Manhan is a relatively straight east-west shot from the Oxbow, a loop of the Connecticut River through Easthampton and on to an apparently temporary end point at South Street on the edge of town beyond Williston Academy. An extension further west or south seems to be in progress, with a dug-up corridor continuing from there. It's mostly shaded and fairly flat, rising slightly from east to west. There is a boat ramp down to Mill Pond at the Ferry Street parking lot about midway. The pond and surrounding derelict mills are interesting and, to my eye, beautiful.
But just east of Ferry Street, there is a fork in the path. I love junctions, exits, forks and trail connections of all kinds. Bear right (to the east), and, after a shaded ride of a few miles, you come to the Oxbow and eastern terminus on Rt. 10 as mentioned above. The overlook view of the Oxbow is brief and the terminal at an electrical substation on the Rt. 10 state highway is functional. I didn't see any options for further riding from there except for the busy highway.
But if you bear left at the fork, to the north you ride about five miles north to downtown Northampton. I've known this town for decades, but I've never crossed it or seen it from these angles before. You enter town from the south, behind the Smith College power plant, skirt the edge of downtown, cross busy Pleasant Street with it's many shops and restaurants, then loop up to the former train station (more recently a restaurant, which appears, unfortunately, to be closed at the moment). From the top of the railroad embankment, you cross Route 9 next to the old railroad bridge and follow the track north through scrub brush behind the strip malls and abandoned parking lots along King Street.
About a mile north of the town center, the paved path bends sharply left, back toward King Street and a connection to the Northampton Bikeway. We didn't go that way, but we've ridden it before - it takes you to Florence, a small village center with restaurants and other retail and on to Look Park, a classic family-oriented park with a duck pond, picnic areas, miniature train rides and other sedate amusements.
Instead, we bushwacked our way to the Norwottuck Trail, which only needs a safe railroad crossing to connect to the Bikeway. From the bend, we followed a dusty footpath a couple hundred feet through the brush until we saw an opening to the train tracks. We carried our bikes over the tracks and down a steep embankment to a street (Woodmont Rd). Turning left on that street, we soon spotted a paved bike path on the right. This took us through woods to an underpass beneath the Rt. 91 interstate and on to a traffic light on Damon Road. On the other side of Damon, you enter the main parking lot for the Norwottuck Trail on the western side of the Connecticut. The trail immediately crosses the Connecticut on a series of long trestle bridges and takes you on to Hadley, Amherst and, eventually Belchertown.
Ignoring the short ride on dirt and jumping of train tracks, the Manhan spur now links up something like 45 miles of trail connecting five or six communities and offering a number of options. I gather that the southern/western end of Manhan will be connected to Southampton and then on to other trails along the Connecticut, eventually linking to New Haven, CT.