Biking the Northern Rail Trail

At 56 miles, the Northern Rail Trail spans Grafton and Merrimack counties and
is the longest rail-trail in New Hampshire. The surface is cinder ballast in
Grafton and stone dust in Merrimack; both easily bike able on hybrids or
mountain bikes. The northern half of the trail in Grafton County follows
the scenic Mascoma Valley as it goes south from Lebanon to Grafton. Trail
development began here in the mid-1990s when the recently abandoned Boston &
Maine's Northern Line was purchased by the State of New Hampshire. Volunteers,
including local snowmobile clubs, removed the thousands of railroad ties left
behind by rail salvagers and decked the many bridges along the line.
Leaving from the trailhead in downtown Lebanon, the trail follows the
Mascoma River, crossing it seven times in just the first few miles.