Find the top rated walking trails in Franklin, 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.
The Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail, which was formally known simply as Quequechan River Rail Trail travels along the northern shore of scenic South Watuppa Pond. The project created a...
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...
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...
Quonset Point Bike Path is a fantastic two and a half mile trail. The Quonset Point Bike Path is a part of the beautiful town of North Kingstown.The Quonset Point Bike Path is paved and off road and...
The Tri-Community Greenway follows the route of the Boston and Lowell Railroad and its Stoneham Branch, originally built to serve Stoneham’s shoe factories and provide passenger service. The trail...
The New Bedford Hurricane Barrier was built to protect New Bedford and nearby villages from storm surge during hurricanes, but also ended up cutting off residents from the water that lay just beyond...
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The Trolley Trail runs through Plainfield and is a key link the East Coast Greenway. Plans are to use this trail as a link between the Moosup Valley State Park Trail and the Airline State Park...
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 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...
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...
Mile 0.0 - DPW Garage Cross the bridge in the parking area, the trail starts behind the fence, crossing over Great Brook on a old dam. Mile 0.53 - After crossing Union St. you will come to a...
The Whitney Spur Rail Trail runs from just north of the MBTA’s Cohasset Station through dense woodlands to the edge of Wompatuck State Park. The corridor was originally a spur off the Old Colony...
The West Warwick Riverwalk is located in a park just behind West Warwick High School and John F. Deering Middle School. The paved trail goes for about a mile north following the Pawtuxet River. A...
The Putnam River Trail extends between Arch Street in the Putnam District and Providence Street to the south. The trail follows the east bank of the Quinebaug River between the river and Kennedy...
The Washington Secondary Bike Path offers just over 19 miles of paved trail from Cranston (Providence’s southwestern neighbor) to Coventry. The rail-trail, Rhode Island’s longest, follows the former...
In the southeastern outskirts of Boston, the Hanover Branch Rail Trail connects the communities of Abington and Rockland. (Locally, the trail’s east and west halves are sometimes referred to as the...
The Old Railroad, as its name suggests, is a multi-use trail that occupies a former Boston & Maine Railroad corridor. The trail picks up at the northern trailhead of the Common Pathway, a paved...
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...
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...
The Bay Colony Rail Trail will one day span 7 miles connecting the Boston suburbs of Newton, Needham, Dover, and Medfield along tracks once used by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. In May...
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...
Quonset Point Bike Path is a fantastic two and a half mile trail. The Quonset Point Bike Path is a part of the beautiful town of North Kingstown.The Quonset Point Bike Path is paved and off road and...
The overall goal of the Grand Trunk Trail in south-central Massachusetts is to connect the communities of Brimfield, Sturbridge, and Southbridge by trail. Currently, two sections of the trail are...
The Putnam River Trail extends between Arch Street in the Putnam District and Providence Street to the south. The trail follows the east bank of the Quinebaug River between the river and Kennedy...
The Phoenix Bike Trail cruises through a mixture of surroundings on its relatively short 4-mile journey from the heart of the historical Fairhaven seaport to woodlands and farms on the outskirts of...
The Northern Strand Community Trail is part of the visionary and almost-complete Bike to the Sea plan to link Boston and the Mystic River to the seashore in Lynn, north of Boston. It currently runs...
The South Spencer Rail Trail runs for less than 2 miles from downtown Spencer to an area south of town near Spencer State Forest. The path, which is also known as the Depot Trail, occupies a former...
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...
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The Southwest Corridor Park (Pierre Lallement Bike Path) knits together neighborhoods in southern Boston from the Back Bay to Jamaica Plain. Popular as a route for commuters as well as casual walkers,...
Mile 0.0 - DPW Garage Cross the bridge in the parking area, the trail starts behind the fence, crossing over Great Brook on a old dam. Mile 0.53 - After crossing Union St. you will come to a...
The West Warwick Riverwalk is located in a park just behind West Warwick High School and John F. Deering Middle School. The paved trail goes for about a mile north following the Pawtuxet River. A...
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 Washington Secondary Bike Path offers just over 19 miles of paved trail from Cranston (Providence’s southwestern neighbor) to Coventry. The rail-trail, Rhode Island’s longest, follows the former...
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...
Bruce N. Freeman was a Massachusetts state representative from 1969 to 1986. Beginning in 1985, he championed the creation of a bike path that would run along the former Penn Central railroad line...
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 Upper Falls Greenway is a short rail-trail that cuts through the charming village of Newton Upper Falls in Newton, Massachusetts. The trail occupies the same former rail corridor as the developing...
The Mattapoisett Rail Trail is a work in progress. As of autumn 2011, it runs for just more than 1 mile between Reservation Road at Mattapoisett Harbor and the Phoenix Bike Trail in Fairhaven, joining...
This 5.8-mile trail is part of the planned East Coast Greenway, an off-road path that will eventually run from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida. The Moosup Valley State Park Trail will connect with...
The Mason Railroad Trail runs for nearly 7 miles from near the New Hampshire–Massachusetts border (nr. Townsend, MA) to Greenville, NH. The trail follows a heavily wooded corridor through Russell...
The Mattapoisett Rail Trail is a work in progress. As of autumn 2011, it runs for just more than 1 mile between Reservation Road at Mattapoisett Harbor and the Phoenix Bike Trail in Fairhaven, joining...
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...
In the southeastern outskirts of Boston, the Hanover Branch Rail Trail connects the communities of Abington and Rockland. (Locally, the trail’s east and west halves are sometimes referred to as the...
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...
Quonset Point Bike Path is a fantastic two and a half mile trail. The Quonset Point Bike Path is a part of the beautiful town of North Kingstown.The Quonset Point Bike Path is paved and off road and...
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 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...
Mile 0.0 - DPW Garage Cross the bridge in the parking area, the trail starts behind the fence, crossing over Great Brook on a old dam. Mile 0.53 - After crossing Union St. you will come to a...
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...
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Although only a grassy, hard-packed dirt pathway, the route along the Salem-Beverly Canal (also known as the Grand Wenham Canal), is scenic and peaceful. The old canal, built in 1917, lies between two...
The Southwest Corridor Park (Pierre Lallement Bike Path) knits together neighborhoods in southern Boston from the Back Bay to Jamaica Plain. Popular as a route for commuters as well as casual walkers,...
The World War II Veterans Memorial Trail opened in Mansfield in 2004 after several decades of advocacy by local rail-trail supporters. The trail rests on an abandoned corridor once served by the Old...
The South Bay Harbor Trail connects several Boston neighborhoods—Lower Roxbury, the South End, Chinatown, and Fort Point Channel—to the Boston Harbor. The trail spans nearly 4 miles from Ruggles...
The New Bedford Covewalk, like the HarborWalk further east, sits atop the hurricane barrier built to protect New Bedford residents from storm surges during extreme weather. Even when it's nice out...
The Neponset River Greenway is a south Boston jewel, utilizing the best in design and construction standards as it winds through the Neponset River valley, offering a low-stress, high-quality...
The Mason Railroad Trail runs for nearly 7 miles from near the New Hampshire–Massachusetts border (nr. Townsend, MA) to Greenville, NH. The trail follows a heavily wooded corridor through Russell...
The Bay Colony Rail Trail will one day span 7 miles connecting the Boston suburbs of Newton, Needham, Dover, and Medfield along tracks once used by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. In May...
The New Bedford Hurricane Barrier was built to protect New Bedford and nearby villages from storm surge during hurricanes, but also ended up cutting off residents from the water that lay just beyond...
The Spicket River begins in Derry, New Hampshire, through Methuen and Lawrence, Massachusetts, before draining into the Merrimack River. Like many mill towns of the late 19th and 20th centuries, the...
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...
Took me about 20-30 miniutes from train bridge to water with a short break for water and picture, but on the way back I found my self exerting more energy and moving foward less and less. The wind was blowing me back and took over an hour the same distance that took me around 30 miniutes the other way. Overall great ride just a heads up.
If you want to have a good bike workout I recommend to try to bike the two sections of the trail. Start at the Acton trailhead and when you reach the end of the Acton-Maynard trail after you biked 1.9 miles on a dirt road (near the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge) veer right on Sudbury Road. After you pass a sign for Honey Pot Hill Farm (you will be in Stow at this point) veer left and continue on Sudbury Road until the intersection with 62 west. Ride until you see the sign of the Riverside Gun Club. Right after you will reach the Hudson trailhead parking on your right and you will be on the Hudson-Marlborough section. You will be on the road for two miles until you reach this section. The 2 miles on the road and the 1.9 miles on dirt road add extra mileage to a complete trip of this trail around 12.5 miles (one way). Beautiful ride on the Acton- Maynard section.
Long enough ride roundtrip to give you a workout but not too much. Beautiful scenery, shaded forest, open ocean, sea breeze, Del’s Lemonade, old homes. Will definitely ride this one again with friends.
My family has used this trail many times using it for Short walks between 6 road intersections. I'ts about 7 miles long and has many wonderful sites it is nor a particularly old in it's de-commissioning The last regularly scheduled passenger train on this spur ran in July, 1933 after that it was used lightly for freight in some sections until the late 1950's The highlight is the Mason Town Quarry loop between Depot rd and Sandpit road
featuring an old abandoned Quarry adopted and preserved by Mason NH. The entire length in one direction can be walked within 5-7 hours a round trip jogging about the same.
Great path with lots of shade. The surface is nice and smooth and well kept. For the mountain bikers there are some great off road trails as well. We go there to walk and bike often.
We rode this trail from Rt 85 parking lot to East Hampton and back on 8/1, about 20 total miles. We’ve always loved the Air Line…it has a varied feel as you proceed through the different town…the vast majority shaded, sections on a high ridge above a stream, two nice viaducts across what was once a trestle bridge, a section running through a nature preserve. There were a few sections a little rougher than others, and we observed a few places with protruding rocks that should really be removed (just keep your eye on the road), as well as some divots in the roadway, some caused by drainage. There are no major hills but you do have long gradual uphills like the one as you ride into East Hampton going west. But I think for most riders these will be small things in what, overall, is a great trail. Great to see many out on the trail on a sunny, warm day.
We started this trail from the Narragansett side and on the way back we took a nice ride through the URI campus. Looks like a brand new path. Beautiful. It was 7 miles one-way, but with the URI trail, we added about 4 more miles. We ended with an 18.6 mile ride in about 2 hours. The path was in great shape!
I did the trail with my husband and my kids. My 11 year old daughter and my 16 year old son. Easy path and nice views. You can find restrooms and ice cream around. We began in Bristol and finished at the conservatory area at Warren, because it was block for maintenance. We rode 10 miles round trip.
Overall, a great trail. But it is over 50 miles long so there are some better areas than others. The East Hampton to Rt. 2 is scenic but it is steeper than other areas and the gravel is looser in spots. The 12 mile stretch from Rt. 2 to Willimantic is perhaps the best section - scenic, well maintained, not too steep, and hard packed. I’ve only been on the Willimantic section once and it’s nothing special. North of Willimantic is good though there are a few stretches that are rougher than other areas - barely passable on a hybrid bike. The trail is narrow in many areas so you’ll have to ask walkers to move over. Most of the trail is under a tree canopy which helps keep you cooler on hot days.
This is a 4 mile rail trail that is in ok condition for road bikes with a few cracks in it. The eastern end is under construction. A pretty path going through woodland, farms and overlooking marshes. Very quiet on a hot July weekend
We parked at Lowe’s in Cranston. That end of the path isn’t very well maintained, but a mile or so in it gets better. Cute ice cream place (Udder Delights) on the path. Very shady, which was nice on a 95 degree day. I think this path would be very beautiful in the fall.
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