Explore the best rated trails in Athol, MA, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Air Line State Park Trail and Blackstone River Greenway . With more than 74 trails covering 667 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The Canalside rail trail is fully open and the paved trail is very well maintained. While it is only 7.2 miles round trip, it’s worth it! Plenty of parking at both ends and the town of Turners Falls has a nice selection of restaurants and shops.
We’ve biked this many times. It quickly takes you from Lowell, with its National Park, etc to countryside and the center of small towns along smooth, paved, well-maintained trail. Nice to swim in Hart Pond, too, in season, on return trip to Lowell. Trail keeps getting better and better, great facilities along the way as trail is extended.
Well, used multiple vehicle vehicles. Maintenance vehicle working on trail . Good views. Will ride again.
Rode a portion from Milldale north to Southington. All paved in fairly decent shape. A few bumps but no broken pavement. At the point in Southington the trail just ends with no information as to where to go. No signs or arrows. The trail picks up somewhere a few miles away but I couldn’t find out how to get there. On the portion I rode it was flat and easy, but not much to see other than woods and backs of buildings.
This is a good trail, but if you start in Milford and do the entire checkmark there are a lot of street crossings. The pretty parts of the trail are nice and shady and wooded, but there is a fair amount of commercial areas that you have to get through. It’s nice and flat and there are lots of parking areas along the way. My gps did not take me to a parking lot but when I put the trail into AllTrails I got accurate directions.
Rode 2.5 miles from Wilmington north on mountain tire bikes and it is doable but rough with roots and rocks. Nice bridges but missing signage in some areas, others well marked. No washout areas close to Wilmington.
From Massabesic Lake parking lot to Raymond and back. Beautiful ride. Keep an eye on rocks on the trail. Otherwise, well marked and excellent ride in nature to pretty much all to yourself. Enjoy!
We rode to the end of the trail, then continued on Rice Farm Rd. to the dangerous intersection. we missed the entrance to the trail on the way back, so got a good workout on some hilly spots on the road.
On the packed sand patches, keep an eye out for roots that can be a bit dicey. In some spots along the gravel sections, the gravel can be a bit loose, so pay attention to the trail.
First time and loved it! I rode the entire route, starting at the south end parking lot. (42.758592, -72.471175) This trail has some unique features and the scenery is beautiful as you ride next to the river and through the woods. As a former rail, this trail has nice and gradual elevation changes and has fun bridges, which all seem to be maintained well.
At the time of my ride (end of Aug, '25) there were a couple of detours around mile 14 and 16 (heading north) but they have good (not great) detour signs listed to continue the route with a short road detour. As some folks mentioned, there are a few areas that look like they would be pretty wet during the wet season, but I had no issues with any area of the trail and never had to stop for downed trees in the way.
I rode my gravel setup (no suspension, 35mm tires) and had a blast! I'd highly recommend the trail and hope to be back for another spin soon.
Had a great evening bike ride out at the Windsor Locks Canal trail earlier this month (Aug, '25). The trail is paved, and as others have mentioned, it is not super smooth in some areas where the tree roots are pushing the asphalt up but can be navigated pretty easily. I was riding my gravel bike setup with 42mm tires and was able to go quite fast - averaging 15mph on the ride so it really was not that beat up / bad.
The scenery on the river is very nice, and the canal on the other side was also fun - lots of wildlife to see. Would recommend if in the area!
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