Distance: 1.6 Mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Located a mile past Rhododendron State Park in Fitzwilliam is a nice two mile hike through the forrest around stone walls, a large cellar whole and around the edge of a pond.
I love when I can find a hiking trail that has a nice parking lot and Widow Gage Town Trail is one of them. The parking lot is large enough to park several cars which is nice when you are planning group hikes.
There is a small kiosk with maps to take with you. You can grab one, but the trail is well marked. There are two loops. The blue loop and the red loop. Both marked with trail markers of the color of the trail. If you do both loops it is about a total of two miles. Which is what I did the day I hiked it.
Like a lot of trails in New Hampshire there is an abundance of stone walls. Some of them seem very large. I always wonder how long it took the builder as I know most of them are very long. There is a book title, Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England’s Stone Walls, that talks about the history of New Englands Stone Walls. I have not read the book myself, but have had people tell me they enjoyed the book.
When you get close to the pond there is a fairly large cellar hole. This was one of the biggest ones I have seen in the area. It make me curious to know what was here. The kids I was hiking with loved the cellar hole. I did notice a lot of beer bottles and cans so be cautious of broken glass if your kids are in the cellar hole. Also remember this is a part of New Hampshires history so make sure they are using caution not to disturb the rocks if they do go into the hole.
The last part of the loop before you head back to the parking lot is a beautiful views of a pond. I am not sure if this is always a pond or a swamp. It was hard to tell because of all the rain we have had lately.
There were a couple different view points of the pond.
Overall, this is a great hike for beginners as the trail is easy to follow. There is minimal incline, more up and down small hills and some beautiful scenery. The kids that I had on the hike enjoyed exploring the various streams along the trail, again I do not know if they were just there because of the large amounts of rain we have had or if they are always there. Put this on your list of trails to check out.
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