The Northeastern United States are a backpacker's dream, with two National Forests, well over a thousand miles of hiking trails, and several hiking clubs that maintain those trails. Backpackers looking for short trips have dozens of options within a few hours' drive of the major population centers, and those looking for longer trips have several long-distance trails to choose from.
At the end of the summer work season, I decided to leave the frequently hiked long-distance trails for another time and instead looked for a newer option. The Cohos Trail, a very young trail in the far northern reaches of New Hampshire, was a good start, but it seemed like a simple thing to add more miles onto it.
The Cohos Trail ends in the White Mountains, where there are hundreds of miles of hiking trails that can be easily connected. Farther south, there were other trails that made a continuous route from southern Connecticut to the middle of New Hampshire. Aside from an approximately fifty-mile gap between the White Mountains and Mount Sunapee, I was able to piece together a nearly six-hundred mile route through territory that I had never explored before.
With a quick search online, I found someone who had thought of a connected trail system several years ago, and I began to plan a backpacking trip of "The New England Trail." Since I couldn't find anybody who had actually hiked the entire system as a single trip before, the planning was much more complicated than it would have been on the Appalachian Trail or Long Trail, which have tons of information for potential through-hikers. After almost a year of planning, I finally found myself at the Canadian border in New Hampshire with my friend, Gary Hebert, ready to head south to Long Island Sound.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- The Cohos Trail
- The White Mountains National Forest
- Southern New Hampshire
- The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail
- The Connecticut Blue-Blazed Trails
- Home at Last
# WORDS: 3070
# PHOTOS: 8
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Companion forum thread to:
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.
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