Backyard Wilderness: The New England Trail

Well said my friend! Reading your tale brings me right back to our journey. Thanks for inviting me along – and for shouldering ALL the painstaking planning. Despite all the rain, it was an adventure I'll never forget – including some of those less than "fun" moments – like wading through those "streams" you kept telling me were trails!! But what challenge would it be hiking on sunny days?

VERY AWESOME! I did the M/S Greenway in 2 days last year and it was an amazing trail. This article has given me some great ideas. Thank you!

@Gary: You're the only one loony enough to join me for something like this. I wouldn't have it any other way.

@Jonathan: Let me know how those ideas pan out… hopefully you'll have better weather.

Very impressive trip and great report. This is definitely factoring into my plans…

I've vacationed in NH several times, and have always been intrigued by the Cohos Trail, and even the MSG and the M-M Trail. It's really nice to see someone put all this together into a thru.

Cardigan's peak is literally 10 miles north of my folks' house, including the 5 miles of road to get to the trail proper. Certainly a little slice of heaven in the back yard.

Anywho, a great trek for sure and well documented. Thanks!

cheers,
-jim

Great trip report. I did the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway late last spring and it was a great time out. Great job linking all those trails together!

Great Article and trip. I loved the sections I've hiked on the Cohos and really want to do the whole thing. It's nice to know you can almost be guaranteed to see more moose than people.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I left out a lot of stories… Gary and Angela (our BPL friend in Northampton/Springfield) can fill in a few holes if they see fit :)

I think we lucked out with very small crowds on the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway and Cardigan. I don't know how crowded they get in the summer, but there were barely any people out there when we were. It sure would be cool to see more long-distance backpackers out there though! Maybe someday…

Ryan was kind enough to share this article with me before publishing… and he left out one key element of the Massachusetts section in his article: THE BELLY DANCER.

Ha! Other than that it's a great article about an excellent trip and I'm glad I got to tag along for a day and share a little bit of my local turf with him!

Muffins and coffee before hitting the trail in Easthampton: $6.00

New Montrails to hike said trail: $89.00

Watching two men who have been in the woods for a month attempt to eat dinner with a scantily clad, highly attractive woman undulating her belly in front of them: PRICELESS.

*edited to say maybe it wasn't quite a month… but you get the picture! I don't remember the dates exactly and I'm currently too broke to resubscribe my membership and find out!

Great to read of a creative backpacking attempt in New England. It sounds great, but they have to figure out how to allow LNT camping.