Get Out and Stretch Your Legs!
Mountain Bike Trails New Hampshire
Fosters Pond Natural Area-Easy
This area is comprised of 190 acres of conservation land. Two main trails lead to the pond. The Pond East Trail is blazed in yellow. The blue blazed path is called the Nancy Johnson Trail and leads you to the Pond West Trail meeting at the back side of the pond. All of the trails have rocks and exposed roots through out. Numerous wet areas are crossed by utilizing a variety of bridge types. Quite unique! There is also a portion of a former rail bed that runs by the parking area. You can go west for 0.75 miles before it ends. Heading east, it ends at Route I-93 in about 1.5 miles. Spring and summer have an abundance of insects! There are about 5 miles of enjoyable trails at Foster’s Pond. Trail Map Link
Musquash Conservation Area- Easy/Moderate 50/50
Musquash Conservation Area was established in 1979. It is a large wooded area (750 acres) located in West-Central Londonderry. It consists of numerous wetlands including the Musquash Swamp. It is the largest single recreational area in the town of Londonderry. The trail system consists of single and double track with a rough, dirt access road (gated) at the entrance. The terrain has rolling hills with some short but steep grades. Many muddy sections have boardwalks, but not all. Expect mud in the spring and times of heavy rain. Trails in this area are very well marked and color coded. Trail Map Link
Deer Leap Natural Area- Easy
This area consists of 54 acres along two ponds. The main trail is a single-track loop of about a mile. You can also ride the edge of the pond to the dirt road and back to the parking lot for another mile loop. The most interesting aspect of this area is the rock cliffs. Some are at least 60 feet and would be an excellent test of your top rope rock climbing skills. In the winter, snow shoeing would be an awesome use of the land. Also, technical mountain bikers can find a few rock drops to play on. With only a few miles of trails to explore Deer Leap won’t make for an all day outing. But it is a very enjoyable place to ride. Trail Map Link
Mine Falls and Lincoln Park- Easy/ Moderate 70/30
Mine Falls and Lincoln Park is an island of 325 acres of forest, river, and wetlands surrounded by the city of Nashua. The park offers some great scenery for a quiet ride, stroll or ski through the mixed deciduous and White Pine forest. Mines Falls is the perfect place to learn how to mountain bike. The park offers a variety of trails that vary from paved double track to rooty single track. Even the most experienced rider can have fun on the park’s high speed twisting single track. The map shows only the double track, because if we included the single track it would be difficult to follow. The single track goes to and from the double track in many spots. There are about 8 miles of trails at Mines Falls Park. Trail Map Link
Yudicky Farm- Moderate/ Difficult 70/30
Yudicky Park is a unique place to ride. It’s just one part of the Nashua Conservation Commission’s Southwest Trails Project. Yudicky’s trails offer a variety of challenges you will not find anywhere else in southern New Hampshire. The trails on the south side of the road are tight, twisting, technical singletracks with a variety of ramps and teeter-totters. These are the hardest and most technical trails in the park. On the north side of the road, the older trails are singletracks with roots, rocks, and logs. While some of the newer the newer ones have a lot of bermed corners. Some of Yudicky’s trails are easily ridden at high speeds and are especially fun because of the infinite number of turns and almost complete lack of hills. For the experienced rider who likes twisty challenges, Yudicky Park is highly recommended. Trail Map Link
Mountain Bike Trails Massachusetts
Fletcher Pond- Easy/ Moderate 70/30
The best parking for Fletcher Pond may be just over the New Hampshire border at Yudicky Park. 1000 yards from Yudicky there is a vast area of conservation land that extends south into Massachusetts. It’s called the Dunstable Rural Land Trust and it includes other small conservation parcels like Greg Woods. Head west, that’s a right turn, from the parking lot at Yudicky on Groton Rd until you see a pile of boulders blocking an old road into the woods on your left. Follow the obvious trail in and you’ll discover many miles of mostly mellow marked trails. The trails at Dunstable are marked with colored markers. Some, especially the narrow singletracks, are a bit overgrown but most flow freely and are a lot of fun to ride. This is a perfect area to introduce newer riders to the sport or for family expeditions. There’s even a spring fed lake where you can take a quick dip. Enjoy yourself. Trail Map Link
Flat Rock Hill-Easy/Moderate
The best parking for Flat Rock Hill is off Mill St in Dunstable. Mill Street is a short little road that starts and ends on Main St. It makes one sharp turn and right at the apex of the turn there is a sign for Flat Rock Hill. If you drive down into the field there is ample parking. The trails at Flat Rock Hill go on for miles. Single track. Double track. Lots of flat stuff but – as the name implies – also some great hills. There are trails for all ability levels, something for everyone. Not all of the trails are on the MAP, but you’ll get in a good ride. Trail Map Link
Harold Parker State Forest- Easy/ Moderate/ Difficult
Harold Parker State Forest is located in the towns of Andover, North Andover, Middleton and North Reading. The forest’s 3000+ acres have over 30 miles of old woods roads and singletracks. And the singletracks are some of the most enjoyable to be experienced in the region. The white-blazed Bay Circuit Trail goes through Harold Parker and links it to the nearby Charles Ward Reservation (The Trustees of Reservations) and the Boxford State Forest. The best way to get introduced to Harold Parker’s trails is to explore. Go there, take off on a trail, and get lost. Then find yourself, and get lost again. You’ll never be too far from a paved road; so cutting the forest up into pavement encircled blocks will keep things manageable. Not to mention provide you with many days of fun exploring. I particularly like the way the singletracks make use of all of the forest’s best terrain. They wind around and over all of the forests’ hills and provide you with lots of scenic photo opportunities along the shores of the forest’s many ponds. Trail Map Link
Ward Reservation and Boston Hill-Moderate/ Difficult
Standing by the huge granite solstice stones set on the top of Holt Hill in Andover, Massachusetts, I could clearly see the Boston skyline twenty miles off to the southeast, Beyond the towers of the city on this clear autumn day, the horizon was formed by the Blue Hills in Milton. Despite the prominence of the two major hills (Boston Hill is 385 feet high, I found that I could put together a trail loop that for nearly 5 miles traveled over singletrack through low, rolling woodlands, with lots of rocks and a couple of stream crossings on exposed rocks, as a sort of warm-up before tackling the hills. The climbs are not a lot in overall feet, a bit over 100 vertical feet, but short and steep. Longer climbs of lesser steepness are possible, making hilltop access easier if desired. Trail Map Link
Russell Mill, Chelmsford- Easy/ Moderate
This area is one of 10 parcels of Open Space in Chelmsford, Ma. It is the largest of the 10 yet is still quite small by comparison to many of the areas we ride coming in at 130 acres total. Total because approximately 12 acres is either under water in the form of a pond which can be used for fishing/canoeing, or taken up by the town’s soccer fields. Keep in mind as you read this that although small, through the efforts of Merrimack Valley NEMBA, it rides bigger than expected. Russell Mill now sports 7 miles of trails ridden in one direction with enough connector trails that easily allow much of the system to be ridden forwards and backwards giving the potential for a 10 to 12 mile ride just at this site. Trail Map Link
