Find the top rated birding trails in Keene, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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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.
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.
The trail is in good condition, flat, clean, and scenic. It checked all the boxes.
Beautiful trail nice even gravel and sand walkway but WAY WAY WAY too much broken glass along the trail someone didn’t want dogs on the trail !!!
I started at the Massabesic Lake trailhead which offered plenty of parking as well as a beautiful start to my ride. There were no mile markers or any history signs on the trail so mileage is difficult to track. The first four to five miles of my ride were very rough with large rocks strewn all over the trail and three tunnels underneath roadways. The rocks in this section are all very well marked by orange spray paint, I just had to take my time on my hybrid bike. A hybrid bike will do just fine on the trail but a mountain bike would offer more confidence in this section.
After this first section of trail I found the rest of the trail to offer beautiful scenery as well as a much smoother ride. There are a fair share of road crossings but all but two are very quiet roads that had very little traffic. Raymond offers the perfect mid-trail stop to take pictures as well as a place to get food. Epping also offers more places to get refreshments. The last stretch of the trail from Epping to Newfields was my favorite part of the trail and offered an easy finish to my ride.
This trail is not at all as described. It started off on crushed gravel for a few hundred yards. As soon as it entered the woods it became a foot path of a nearly contiguous stretch of single-track biking with (occasionally without) large roots and rocks to navigate. We walked our bikes more than we rode them and went a half mile without getting to the reservoir before finally turning around.
I started the trail in Hinsdale, and found it reasonably rideable (I use a Specialized hybrid) through Winchester and a few miles beyond. However, the trail started to get rougher including some wet areas. I came to a spot where it followed high tension lines and by the time I got to the monadnock speedway, I was done. I went back to Winchester via Rt 10 and then caught the trail back to my car. Not my favorite trail, but if you have the bike and the inclination, it could be fun for you
We started the trail in Keene. The first 5 miles were nice, but we had to dodge pretty deep chipmunk holes. The trail is very poorly marked and we missed seeing the Sawyer Crossing Covered bridge which could not be seen by the trail. After 7.5 miles we got turned around by heavy mud, water and a downed tree. I would say this trail might be perfect for equestrians and aggressive mountain bikers.
I tried to access this trail from the northern end which proved impossible. There is no road access until you get to parking areas on either end of the causeway. The trail is not marked with any signage at those places, either, but the track is evident when you cross into the fishing access parking areas off Rt 119. As mentioned, the trail is muddy and filled with puddles during this rainy August, and several trees across the trail. I was not able to reach the northern end because of a very large, multi-branched tree across the trail about a mile south of there. But it was pleasant riding close to the Connecticut River and there were almost no other people on the trail on a weekday.
We rode part of this trail while doing some single track riding on the Crosstown trails in West Dover, which connects with this trail. This is not a family friendly paved trail which is the impression I had from the description. I am glad I didn't plan to ride it from Dover to Wilmington with my 9 year old. The part of the trail we saw was single track comparable to a hiking trail. It is not wide, not flat, and not smooth. It is narrow, windy, and filled with rocks and roots. It is not appropriate for little kids or bike trailers.
The Crosstown trails in this area are wide gravel paths. Great for kids who can make it up a decent hill. The single track in the area is nice. It needs some trail maintenance and reroutes along with clearing and trimming. Some areas are nice to ride, others are a mess of roots which are difficult. The trails on the map were very well mapped. It was a nice find on a trip to the area, we will be back!
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