Find the top rated walking trails in Candia, whether you're looking for an easy short walking trail or a long walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
More and more, airport lands near previously under-used rail corridors are being transformed from largely neglected vacant lands into urban greenways. These new vibrant spaces are used not only by...
Although short, the scenic Gloria Braunhardt Bike Path travels through forests and pastures full of birds and wildlife. The asphalt pathway parallels the eastern side of the present-day Interstate 95...
The Charles River Bike Path, also referred to as the Charles River Greenway, offers a paved, 22-mile route from Boston to its western suburbs. The trail is also part of a larger, developing network...
The Bridge Street Bike Trail begins near Curtis Park and travels south through downtown Salem, closely following the Bridge Street Bypass. The short trail runs through residential, retail and...
The Massachusetts Central Railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, but the 104-mile corridor is being reborn as a cross-state rail-trail. Currently, nearly 40 miles from Boston to Northampton...
The North Central Pathway is envisioned as a trail network connecting points of interest through and between Winchendon and Gardner. Several completed sections of trail make for a lovely ride or walk...
The 5.3-mile Independence Greenway makes for a pleasant ride, providing access to lakes, parks, and nature preserves. The paved pathway is located in the town of Peabody (pronounced by locals as...
Lowell's Canal System Trails are part of Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. The park preserves some of America's industrial past: its 19th-century textile mills formed the first...
The Assabet River Rail Trail connects five old mill towns that owe their revitalization to present-day high-tech industries. A midpoint gap splits the 8.6-mile paved trail, though long-range plans...
Methuen Rail Trail connects three communities in northeastern Massachusetts as it follows the route of the former Manchester and Lawrence Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The rail-trail's...
The Salisbury Rail Trail Connector, also known as the Gillis Rail Trail Connector, is a 0.3-mile link between two rail-trails: Salisbury's Old Eastern Marsh Trail and Newburyport's Clipper City Rail...
The Common Pathway travels 5.5 miles from the outskirts of Peterborough south to downtown’s Noone Falls area, paralleling US 202 and the Contoocook River for most of its journey. The small town of...
Currently 1.8 miles, the Salisbury Point Ghost Trail provides a peaceful walk or bike ride through the woods on a well-maintained stone-dust trail. The route is one part of the larger Coastal Trails...
he WOW Trail is named after the three bodies of water that can be seen from this rail-trail: Lake Winnipesaukee, Opechee Bay, and Lake Winnisquam. This picturesque 2.7-mile trail shares a corridor...
Many commuters choose the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway for freedom from congested traffic in the northwest Boston suburbs. For others, the 10.1-mile paved trail between Cambridge and Bedford serves as a...
The Nashua River Rail Trail stretches from southern Nashua, New Hampshire, to downtown Ayer, Massachusetts, connecting to the towns of Pepperell and Groton. The trail is built on the former rail...
The Piscataquog Trail, though only about 2 miles long, provides a vital off-road link between the communities on the western side of the Merrimack River (the West Side of Manchester) to several parks...
The smooth paved surface of the Londonderry Rail Trail offers a pleasant, tranquil 3.3-mile adventure for trail users in south-central New Hampshire. Its route follows a corridor once used by the...
The Heritage Trail is managed by the state of New Hampshire to provide access to recreational and historical attractions across the state. Eventually, the north-south route along the former Boston and...
When complete, the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor will run for more than 5 miles on a former Boston and Maine Railroad corridor from connections with the Windham Rail Trail (north) and Methuen Rail Trail...
Currently 1.8 miles, the Salisbury Point Ghost Trail provides a peaceful walk or bike ride through the woods on a well-maintained stone-dust trail. The route is one part of the larger Coastal Trails...
The health and fortunes of Lowell have been intimately tied to the Concord River for hundreds of years. This tributary of the more well-known Merrimack River continues to be at the heart of the local...
About a dozen miles west of Concord, the Stevens Rail Trail offers a quiet, wooded route along the former Concord-Claremont rail line in Contoocook Village. It starts off Krzyzaniak Road and continues...
The Old Eastern Marsh Trail (a.k.a the Salisbury Rail Trail) runs for 1.4 miles between the north bank of the Merrimack River and Mudnock Road in Salisbury. The beautifully landscaped trail was built...
The Amesbury Riverwalk (also known as the Powwow Riverwalk) carries visitors between a resurgent waterfront district on the Powwow River to a modern shopping center on the outskirts of this historical...
The North Central Pathway is envisioned as a trail network connecting points of interest through and between Winchendon and Gardner. Several completed sections of trail make for a lovely ride or walk...
The year 2017 marks 20 years since a rails-to-trails project was first mentioned in the Goffstown Master Plan, and thanks to work by the Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail and support throughout the...
Lake Winnisquam is New Hampshire’s fourth largest lake, and taking the Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail is one of the best ways to experience it. Meaning “pleasant waters,” Lake Winnisquam provides...
The Winnipesaukee River Trail runs along a rail line that previously connected the paper industry between Franklin and Tilton. Nicknamed the Paper City, Franklin saw the industry boom from the 1900s...
Mine Falls Park in Nashua is a 300-acre-plus urban park with a network of approximately 9.7 miles of a variety of trail types. This forested park offers an extraordinary nature experience in the heart...
More than a mile of the Ashburnham Rail Trail opened in 2015 from a point just south of Ashburnham's center to Turnpike Road. The rustic route, planned to be paved in the future, offers a...
The New Boston Rail Trail follows the former railroad corridor of the same name for 3.9 miles through densely wooded areas in the town of New Boston. The railroad was in operation from 1893 to 1931,...
Hillsborough Recreational Rail Trail connects three communities in south-central New Hampshire: Hillsborough, Deering, and Bennington. The unpaved trail winds along the Contoocook River through rural...
Even though the Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail traces the nation’s first narrow-gauge railroad for 3 miles from Bedford toward Billerica, the mostly crushed-stone path is plenty wide enough now to...
More and more, airport lands near previously under-used rail corridors are being transformed from largely neglected vacant lands into urban greenways. These new vibrant spaces are used not only by...
The rail-trail through the Martin H. Burns Wildlife Management Area begins at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail station near downtown Newburyport, a coastal...
Formerly comprising two separate segments—one running northward from Keene to Walpole, and the other running southward from Keene to Fitzwilliam—the Cheshire Rail Trail now runs a continuous 32.9...
The Massachusetts Central Railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, but the 104-mile corridor is being reborn as a cross-state rail-trail. Currently, nearly 40 miles from Boston to Northampton...
The Nashua River Rail Trail stretches from southern Nashua, New Hampshire, to downtown Ayer, Massachusetts, connecting to the towns of Pepperell and Groton. The trail is built on the former rail...
The Dover Community Trail snakes its way through the heart of the Garrison City—so nicknamed for the fortified log houses, or garrisons, built by 17th-century settlers—-offering a variety of trail...
About a dozen miles west of Concord, the Stevens Rail Trail offers a quiet, wooded route along the former Concord-Claremont rail line in Contoocook Village. It starts off Krzyzaniak Road and continues...
The Assabet River Rail Trail connects five old mill towns that owe their revitalization to present-day high-tech industries. A midpoint gap splits the 8.6-mile paved trail, though long-range plans...
The Winnipesaukee River Trail runs along a rail line that previously connected the paper industry between Franklin and Tilton. Nicknamed the Paper City, Franklin saw the industry boom from the 1900s...
When complete, the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor will run for more than 5 miles on a former Boston and Maine Railroad corridor from connections with the Windham Rail Trail (north) and Methuen Rail Trail...
Formerly comprising two separate segments—one running northward from Keene to Walpole, and the other running southward from Keene to Fitzwilliam—the Cheshire Rail Trail now runs a continuous 32.9...
Currently 1.8 miles, the Salisbury Point Ghost Trail provides a peaceful walk or bike ride through the woods on a well-maintained stone-dust trail. The route is one part of the larger Coastal Trails...
The Farmington Recreational Rail-Trail runs for 6 miles between the towns of Rochester and Farmington. The trail parallels the Cocheco River and State Route 11 through a wooded corridor. The trail is...
The health and fortunes of Lowell have been intimately tied to the Concord River for hundreds of years. This tributary of the more well-known Merrimack River continues to be at the heart of the local...
Methuen Rail Trail connects three communities in northeastern Massachusetts as it follows the route of the former Manchester and Lawrence Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The rail-trail's...
The Salisbury Rail Trail Connector, also known as the Gillis Rail Trail Connector, is a 0.3-mile link between two rail-trails: Salisbury's Old Eastern Marsh Trail and Newburyport's Clipper City Rail...
The 83 acre West Foss Farm is one of the properties owned by the University of New Hampshire, Durham. The property was purchased from the Boston & Maine Railroad company, and features a 1.6 stretch of...
The Heritage Trail is managed by the state of New Hampshire to provide access to recreational and historical attractions across the state. Eventually, the north-south route along the former Boston and...
The Massachusetts Central Railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, but the 104-mile corridor is being reborn as a cross-state rail-trail. Currently, nearly 40 miles from Boston to Northampton...
The Border to Boston Trail connects the communities of West Peabody, Peabody, Danvers, Topsfield, and Boxford in northeastern Massachusetts. The long-term goal for the trail is to continue it north to...
Lowell's Canal System Trails are part of Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. The park preserves some of America's industrial past: its 19th-century textile mills formed the first...
The Windham Rail Trail passes through the woodsy periphery of Windham in southern New Hampshire, but it sits in the heart of the future cross-state Granite State Rail Trail. Its connections to the...
The New Boston Rail Trail follows the former railroad corridor of the same name for 3.9 miles through densely wooded areas in the town of New Boston. The railroad was in operation from 1893 to 1931,...
This exquisitely maintained trail slices through forested areas and wetlands for a wonderful experience in southern New Hampshire. The trail will eventually be part of the Granite State Rail Trail,...
The Bridge Street Bike Trail begins near Curtis Park and travels south through downtown Salem, closely following the Bridge Street Bypass. The short trail runs through residential, retail and...
The Mason Railroad Trail runs for nearly 7 miles from near the New HampshireMassachusetts border (nr. Townsend, MA) to Greenville, NH. The trail follows a heavily wooded corridor through Russell...
Biked from Potter place to Hoyt Road. Nice trail...hope to do it all in spring 2019!
Can be busy, but worth the trip...Autumn is the best time of year for this sweet little rail trail. Good for children and dogs!
The Salem Bike- Ped is now paved and open to Tuscan Kitchen!
I rode this trail several years ago, when it only extended 3-4 miles east from Wolfeboro. However, this summer I rediscovered the trail, which is now 12 miles long extending all the way to Turntable Park in Sanbornville (completed summer of 2017). What a beautiful trail it is now. I have ridden the trail 7-8 times this summer and am really hooked on it! The natural beauty from causeway lake crossings to very bucolic meadows & wetlands on the western end are some of the best I've ridden in awhile!
As far as trailside features, you have the lakeside Town of Wolfeboro with many restaurants and a great bike shop (Nordic Skier) in town. When leaving Wolfeboro you pass by the restored train depot (restrooms, tourist info) close to town. This first 2 miles tends to be busy with walkers, cyclists, and people sailing remote controlled sailboats by the soccer fields (kind of neat).
The trail continues east crossing Route 28 (kind of busy, but slower traffic with a painted crosswalk so cars tend to stop for pedestrians and cyclists) but still use caution because it is hard for motorists to see around the foliage and buildings close to the road.
After Route 28, the trail continues on to two lake crossings on old railroad causeways, this is where cyclists must start to pay attention for the rest of the trail in regards to the trail width. Due to the narrowness of the RR causeway, and the fact the tracks have not been removed, cyclists must ride on a wonderful hard dirt surface , BUT as good as the surface is, the path is less than 5 feet wide between the two rails. It's great if it's just you on the trail and no-one else is around, but the trail tends to be busy near Wolfeboro. Oncoming cyclists must be very careful passing each other, I have seen many have dismounted to pass, and also you must call out a friendly warning when approaching other users on the trail.
The trail alternates from between the rails to being beside the rails, and a few times the trail will meander away from the rails altogether (especially near Albee Beach (restrooms, beach). This is where CAUTION must be exercised when crossing rails. Signs on the trail suggest dismounting when you must cross the steel rails. Even though there are wooden platforms built up at the crossings, riders must hit the rails as close to a 90 degree angle as they can (I seem to do fine at 45 degrees with 26" x 2.1" tires). The 7-8 times I rode this trail I came across minimum of 4 cyclists that went down, and they had the bruises and cuts to show for it!! (BTW, I counted, and I think 30 crossings of the steel rails is pretty accurate count for the whole trail)
About 3 miles from Wolfeboro, you will cross State Route 109, a bit quieter than Rt 28, but traffic tends to be a little faster.
Also at this crossing there's the restored Fernald Station (parking,porta-potty), which is also home to the "Putt-Putt cars" (Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club). The putt-putt cars on this trail is very unique, they are motorized 2-person railcars that run from Fernald Station 8 miles to the west and State Route 16. I only saw them in action on one of my rides, they always give a big wave and travel at about 10mph. This is why the rails are still in place on this rail trail, and we owe the 80 member club a big thank you for the maintenance of overgrowth they perform.
Beyond Fernald Station, the trail continues west for another 8 miles to very busy SR 16. The trail continues to alternate "between the rails" and "beside the rails" for this section. This is my favorite section, the 8 mile stretch is very quiet and features natural meadows and wetlands, and there are just minor road crossings with one section of 4 miles with no road crossings at all - it is very enjoyable!!
The last mile before reaching busy State Route 16 features some pretty good short up and down whoopee hills. At Route 16, there is a parking area, and the Miss Wakefield Diner is just south of the trail on Route 16 (no need to cross the highway).
If you do decide to cross 16, be aware traffic travels faster than it's 55mph posted limit, and tends to carry a lot of traffic. Crossing the highway gives you one more mile of trail to downtown Sanbornville and it's Turntable Park, featuring an old turntable used to turn locomotives around. There are also restaurants located in Sanbornville. I have crossed the highway a few times, but in all honestly, the last mile on the other side of Route 16 is not that attractive, even though the Town of Sanbornville is kind of nice, it may not be worth crossing the busy road.
(There is parking on Route 16 on the west side of the highway, so a good option is to park on 16 and ride to Wolfeboro!)
Overall, this is a great and beautiful ride, just watch the rail crossings!
Went to this trail today. Waste of time. It’s only open for about .5 miles and stops. Nothing like the description of this trail.
My husband and I biked this trail in October and it was great! The trail itself has some soft, sandy spots which make it a bit difficult but we did fine with our mountain bikes. Most of the trail is hard-packed. The scenery is absolutely beautiful! We saw only 1 ATV vehicle, a few other cyclists, and a few walkers. Biking along the river, passing through the covered bridges, and enjoying the fall foliage made this a great day trip for us.
The Worcester and Nashua RR is long gone but the end of the trail in Ayer is still served by MBTA Commuter Rail which provides daily service. You can take your bike aboard all off-peak trains. Enjoy the currently-offered $10.00 unlimited weekend pass to get you there.
This is a city trail with views of the seashore. It goes through the Bremen St. Park which is used by children and adults skating, running and walking. At one terminus is a stunning view of Boston over the harbor, with easy access to the harbor walk and Piers Park. The other end is at Constitution Beach, from which you can watch airplanes take-off and get pizza or a hot dog in the summer. There is also a stopping point overlooking the wetlands. Lots of local restaurants around: Italian, Salvadorian, and more. If you’re a cyclist don’t expect a long, fast experience. It is scenic and gives you a great sense of “Easty”
Our family rode the trail from Wolfeboro to around mile marker 4, a while past the Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club on Rt. 109, in October 2018. There were a lot of great water views including a couple stretches with water on both sides, and winding parts through very pretty woods from about 1.5 miles just before Albee Beach onwards. The trail surface was very hard and not bumpy and presented no problem for hybrid-style bikes, basically as good as pavement (or even better than some paved trails I have been on that haven't been resurfaced recently). All of the crossings over the rails were clearly marked with signs instructing to walk your bikes and painted arrows indicating to do so at a right angle. After walking over many of them and them seeming very solid I began to slowly ride over them at 45 degree angles and never had a problem, and none of the several kids in my group did either. The parts of the trail in between the rails are narrow enough that you need to take extra care. If you are looking to go fast I wouldn't recommend this trail but if you are looking for a very scenic and leisurely ride I would highly recommend it. On the return ride I noticed that there were no signs for westbound bikers so this might explain some other peoples' complaints (although I still found the crossings vey obvious and good). I hope to return and ride the eastern portion of the trail another time.
What a pleasure to ride this excellent trail from end to end. My only wish is for mile markers or mile cairns!
It's early fall and a great time to ride this trail. The leaves are turning, the surface is dry and flat. There are many street crossings, most of them easy. We started in Raymond, off Onway Lake Road. If you map this using the RTC map, it gives you the address for the Gordon Cammett Recreation Area. If you turn in here, it takes you to a large parking lot and ball fields. This is where we started. The trail runs parallel to the ball fields but you can't see it from the parking lot. If you ride your bikes back up the hill you drove down, to the left at the top of the hill, there's a small cut-through. The trail is right there. If you look to your right, you'll see a tunnel (Manchester, or westbound). We rode to our left (Newfields, or eastbound). This is a 30-mile roundtrip ride. The trail has a few different surfaces, most well-packed and rideable with a hybrid. Some of the sandy patches and looser gravel (not many) might be more difficult with road bike tires. In Raymond, there is an old train station with train cars, a one-room schoolhouse, as well as stocks and a jail cell. There are 2 or 3 street crossings near various services if you need a drink or bite to eat. The trail ends at a parking lot, and fittingly, at the railroad tracks. There are no mileage markers along the trail. A trail kiosk in Epping will tell you the mileage to your destination in both directions.
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