Robert Frost Farm

Distance: .5 Miles

Difficulty: Easy

Located on Route 28 in Derry, NH was home to the late Poet Robert Frost in the early 1900’s. From May to October you can take a tour of the home. Year round there is access to the nature/poetry trail.

Park in the parking lot behind the house and follow the trail along the left side of the field. You will observe signs with history and some of Robert Frosts Poems.

Continue along the edge of the field until you come to the woods with a small sign with an arrow directing you to the right.

The trail goes through the woods and over a bridge to a small seating area overlooking a small brook.

As you are walking the trail there continues to be several signs with history and Robert Frost Poems.

The trail continues through the woods over another bridge and then back out onto the field back to the house.

This short trail is only a half mile long. This is perfect for the little hikers in your life or if you enjoy Robert Frost Poems. This trail was similar to the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail we did in Vermont a few summers ago.

Pack Monadnock Auto Road

Distance:1.3 Miles Oneway

Difficulty: Moderate

Pack Monadnock located in Miller State Park in Peterborough, New Hampshire is a popular hiking spot and scenic drive in the Monadnock Region. A fun fact is that Miller State Park is New Hampshire’s First State Park.

There are a few different ways to reach the summit. From the parking lot off of Route 101 are two trailheads. To the left is the Wapack Trail and to the right the Marion Davis Trail. From Old Mountain Road is the Raymond Trail that also connects to the Cranberry Meadow Pond Trail. Lastly is the Auto Road.

We have hiked the different trails up Pack Monadnock and driven the Auto Road, but have never walked the Auto Road. This 1.3 mile road is a great alternative to hiking the trails up Pack Monadnock. In the off season cars are not allowed up the road. We hiked the auto road after a snow storm and it was absolutely beautiful.

The road is a steady incline up the mountain with some switchbacks.

About halfway up the mountain is an outlook looking towards Temple Mountain.

The road flattens out before one last steep section to the summit. At the top is a picnic area, fire tower and park store which is open seasonally. Unfortunately the summit was covered in clouds, but it was still beautiful with the snow covered trees.

We saw people snowshoeing, cross country skiing and hiking the auto road. This is a popular spot to hike to watch the sunrise. If you are hiking it in the winter make sure you wear appropriate footwear either snowshoes or microspikes depending on the trail condition. With the steady incline of the road I would say this is a moderate hike.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.

Frog Rock

Distance: .4 miles oneway

Difficulty: Easy, good for young kids

Located in New Boston is Frog Rock, a large granite boulder which was a popular summer attraction in the early 1900’s. Today you can take a short hike to check out this fun rock formation.

The trailhead is not marked and can be a little difficult to find. If you are coming from Mount Vernon head northwest on 2nd NH Turnpike South. The trailhead is a logging road on your right. It is between Hazel Road and Hopkins Road, which are on the left. Park along the edge of road and walk down the logging road.

As you are walking down the logging road there is a sign for the New England Forestry Foundation.

About .3 mile down the logging road is a side trail on your right that is not marked.

Walk .1 miles until you reach Frog Rock.

This short and easy hike is perfect for young children. While you are in the area make sure you check out Senter Falls.

High Blue

Distance: 1.75 Mile Loop

Difficulty Easy with some small hills

High Blue hiking trail is an easy hike with a good view located in Walpole, New Hampshire. I found this trail thanks to my The New Hiking the Monadnock Region book. To access the trailhead drive to Scovill Road, which is dirt. Once there drive about a half mile where you come to a junction of three roads. On the right is a private driveway, straight ahead is a radio tower and on the left is the start of the trail. The parking area is to the left of the trailhead and only fits one or two cars.

Walk down the dirt road past a bog and you will come to a green gate and a sign for High Blue. It is about a quarter of a mile from the parking lot.

Walk around the gate and follow the trail up through a field until you come to another gate on your left. This one is aluminum. Walk around the gate and continue up the trail.

There are no trail markers, but the trail is pretty easy to follow. Continue on the trail until you come to a sign for The Ledges on your left.

This is a short side trail to a ledge outcropping. With all the leaves gone there was a little view, but not great.

Return to the main trail and continue a few hundred feet until you are at the top of High Blue. There is a bench and a beautiful view of the Connecticut River Valley looking into Vermont.

From here you can return the way you came or you continue on a loop, which is what we did. After the lookout the trail is marked by yellow trail markers.

The trail meanders through the woods, up and down little hills and over a small stream. The trail comes out to an old dirt road. Where there is a sign marking the High Blue Vista Loop trail behind you.

Take a right and the old road goes back to the parking lot. The loop was about 1.75 miles and fairly easy with a few gradual inclines. We hiked this in late December and microspikes were needed. Overall, we really enjoyed this hike. For not a lot of effort there was a beautiful view.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.

Cascade Brook Falls

Cascade Brook Falls in a small waterfall located in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The trailhead to this waterfall is located at the end of Mapleville Rd at the sign for Ken Weber Conservation Area. There is no parking lot, but plenty of room to park on the side of the road.

Follow the trail into the woods following blue trail markers. Once you cross over a stone wall you follow the trail over ledges and rock scrambles.

After walking about a tenth of a mile you come to a small stream that you can walk over and walk down the ledges to the bottom of Cascade Brook Falls. This is not an impressive waterfalls, but is still pretty. With the limited water flow my guess is this can dry up for several months of the year. As someone who loves waterfalls like I do, it is worth the visit if you are in the area.

You can continue on the trail that is about a mile loop back to the trailhead. Due to time constraints we did not do the loop, just to the falls and back.

Education Farm at Joppa Hill

Distance: 2 Miles with option for more.

Difficulty: Easy with a couple hills.

Dogs are allowed on leash

I wish I knew about the Education Farm at Joppa Hill when my daughter was younger. This would have been a great place for her to play and explore. Located at 174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford, New Hampshire is this educational farm with farm animals, a farm store, hiking trails and more. It is free to visit the farm, but there is a box for donations.

The farm has several farm animals such pigs, horses, an emu, chickens, alpaca’s, goats, sheep, rabbits and horses. We had a lot of fun visiting with the animals.

After enjoying the farm animals we took a walk on one of the trails. We did a loop walking past the animals baring left into the woods.

We walked through the woods coming to an intersection in the trail. If you went straight you continued onto the Pulpit Brook Trail. We went right, which is also part of the Pulpit Brook Trail. The trail continued through the woods crossing a couple small bridges.

There was another intersection in the trail and we went right continuing on our loop back in the Joppa Hill Trail.

Here was the steepest section of the trail, which was only a few hundred feet. The trail continued through the woods and a couple fields before returning to the farm. We enjoyed the animals a little longer, there is food to buy if you want to feed some of them.

The loop was about 2 miles long. There were some inclines, but overall a pretty easy trail to walk and follow. We also enjoyed visiting with the animals. If you have young children or are just an animal lover this is a great place to visit.

Fisherville Brooks Wildlife Refuge

Distance: Up to 5 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Fisherville Brooks Wildlife Refuge is an easy hiking trail located in Exeter, Rhode Island. The trailhead is located at 99 Pardon Joslin Road, which is a dirt road. There is a sign marking the parking lot.

There is a good size parking lot, with a porta potty and a kiosk with trail information. There are two trails one on each side of the road. Since we had limited time we did a short loop on the Blue Trail, which goes around Upper Pond. The Blue Trail starts beside the kiosk and was well marked.

The trail meanders through the woods, which was very pretty.

We came to a small bridge that provided some beautiful water views. I read that this is a popular place for bird watching.

As we continued around the pond there was a short side trail to an old cemetery that was interesting to see.

We continued around the pond and came to a dam with a bridge over it and more views of Upper Pond.

After crossing the bridge we looped back around through the woods to the parking lot. It was a little less than a mile and half around the Blue Loop. There were options off this trail to extent your hike if you wish. The Fisherville Brooks Trail was an easy walk and easy to navigate. It was a perfect stop for us after we had done some exploring around Rhode Island.

Whales Rock trail

Distance: 2 Miles Roundtrip

Difficulty: Easy

No Dogs Allowed

Located near Narragansett, Rhode Island is a beautiful easy hike through the woods to sweeping ocean views.

To access the trailhead navigate to 33 Cormorant Road South Kingston RI. The parking lot is down this driveway, which is hidden from the main road. There is an entrance to a National Guard Property and the driveway is off to the left. Drive down the driveway and there is a small parking lot on your right.

Follow the dirt driveway past a private residence to a grass path that leads into the woods and onto some boardwalks.

Much of the trail follows a large fence for the National Guard property. If you have young children use caution as there are many old pole holes in the ground on the trail with rough edges that could hurt if fallen on.

After walking the boardwalks and through the woods, the trail opens up to beautiful ocean views.

Walk along the edge of the ocean and fence line for more beautiful views. The trails comes to an end at a sign and a small beach you can explore on.

It is one mile to the beach. From here you turn around and return to the parking lot. This is an easy and beautiful trail. I am not sure I would recommend this trail for young kids just starting out hiking due to the old pole holes in the middle of the trail and risk if injury if they fall on them.

Acton Arboretum

Distance: Up to 2 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Acton Arboretum is a beautiful garden with walking paths located on Taylor Road in Acton. Make sure you check out the map before going.

We visited the Arboretum in late October when there was not much in bloom, but it is still a beautiful area to explore. There are walking paths winding around the gardens with benches to sit and relax if you wish.

If you want a longer walk there are a few paths. We walked the Bog Loop which meanders through the woods and crossed boardwalks over a bog.

It was not a long walk around the trails and gardens, but we were able to get almost 2 miles in. This would be a perfect place to bring a picnic and enjoy the beautiful gardens and natures trails.

Since you are in the area I highly recommend checking out deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln.

Dorset Quarry

Dorset Quarry has been on my to visit list for a while. I discovered this popular swimming hole in my Take The Plunge book. Located on Route 30 in Dorset, Vermont is this fun swimming hole. The swimming hole is on private property so please be respectful when visiting.

The day we visited it was rainy and cloudy so we were fortunate that it was not very busy. From the parking lot you walk onto a grassy area with various rocks scattered throughout.

Once at the quarry there are a variety of ares to sit and enjoy the quarry or all size rocks to jump from depending on your comfort level. I am not sure exactly how deep it is, but from what I read on various websites it is very deep.

As the afternoon went on the sun came out and we ended up spending several hours jumping off the rocks and swimming. Dorset Quarry is now one of our favorite swimming holes we have discovered in Vermont.

A couple notes: There is a $15 fee to park and you have to sign a waiver to swim. There are portable potties, a large packing lot and trash cans. They closed the parking lot at 6pm. As a reminder it is private property so please be respectful. Make sure you do not have anything on that you do not want to lose such as watch, go pro’s ect. If you drop them in the water you are not be getting them back. I heard that drivers come in a few times a year to clean out the bottom of various things people drop in the quarry. Overall this is a great place to spend a couple hours or the day.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.

Sip Pond Peninsula Trail

Distance: 1.6 Miles Roundtrip, option for longer

Difficulty: Easy

Located in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire is this easy hiking trail to Sip Pond. The trailhead is located off a Old Turnpike Road. From Route 12 turn onto this dirt road and drive about .6 miles until you see a conservation sign on your right. Park along the edge and walk towards the kiosk at the back of the parking lot.

You walk down a short path that connects to the Monadnock Recreation Trail which is a multipurpose trail. Turn right and follow the recreation trail.

Continue down the trail a half mile until you see a trail sign on your right for Sip Pond.

Follow this well maintained path another third of a mile until you get to the end where you have beautiful views of Sip Pond and Mt Monadnock.

From here you can walk back to the Monadnock Recreational Trail and continue down the trail, which I believe the trail goes all the way to Keene. Or you can head back to the parking lot. If you head back to your car the total length of the trip is 1.6 miles. With this trails being around a swamp, my thoughts are it is going to be beautiful when the fall colors start changing.

Granite Town Railtrail

Distance: A little over 6 Miles one way. Options for more or less.

Difficulty: Easy for walkers, if riding a bike there is a small ridge line with rocks and roots.

Located along Route 13 in Milford, New Hampshire is the Granite Town Rail trail. This is a popular trail for walking, running and bike riding. The start of the trail is located south of the Milford Oval at the Department of Public Works building. There is a small parking lot off to the right of the building.

There are two small bridges to get over before you get to the trail. The trail provides a beautiful ride through the woods.

There is a small narrow tunnel that the trail goes through. My 6ft 2in tall husband had to duck while riding through it. It was kind of cool to ride through.

A little over a mile from the parking lot the trail starts to get a little technical. For about a half mile the trail went up and over a ridge with several rocks and roots. My husband was able to ride over them no problem with his fat tire bike, but my daughter and I had to walk our bikes which was a little more challenging for us.

After getting around the ridge the trail was flat and smooth and perfect for bike riding.

There is a parking lot at Melendy Road, if we were to ride bikes here again I would park there to avoid the hill. From Melendy Road in Milford the trail is flat with some pretty views of bogs.

There is another parking lot at Palmer-Bartell Forrest Trailhead. The trail goes all the way to Lake Potanpio in Brookline. Oneway the trail is a little over six miles. This is a perfect trail to get out on for a few hours for biking, walking or running.

White Lake State Park

White Lake State Park is located along Route 16 in Tamworth. This New Hampshire State Park is a great place to spend the day or for a camping trip. Located near the Lakes Region and the White Mountains this state park provides a great place to spend the day enjoying the lake.

White Lake State Park has a beautiful lake beach with mountain views. There is a small fee to enter the state park. This popular picnic area has several picnic table, trees for shade, a playground and canoe and paddle boat rentals. There is a sandy beach that extents into the lake giving you a large shallow sandy area to play in. We were impressed with how clear the water was.

We throughly enjoyed the beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.

We did not camp here, but drove through part of the campground. There are two sections to camp in, one with some lake views and other sites in the woods. The campsites were spacious and clean. There is no electricity or water hooks ups. It looked like the bathroom facilities were outhouses.

We loved spending the afternoon enjoying the lake. We swam, threw a frisbee around, played in the sun and read. White Lake State Park has become one of our favorite state parks to visit for swimming.

Dorrs Pond Loop

Distance 1.1 Mile Loop

Difficulty: Easy

Located in Livingston Park in Manchester, New Hampshire is Dorrs Pond Loop Trail. This easy hiking loop is a perfect short hike if you need to kill some time in Manchester like we did. The entrance to Livingston Park is across from Puritan Back room on Hooksett Road in Manchester.

There is a large parking lot with bathrooms at the trailhead. We started our walk by going right from the parking lot that follows a wide path around the pond. The first part of the trail has a series of boardwalks, which are always fun to walk on.

The second part of the trail continues as the wide dirt path back to the parking lot. .

The loop is 1.1 miles around Dorrs Pond. The trail is flat and a popular spot for walking, running and dog walking. It was the perfect spot for us to get a little walk in while being in the middle of Manchester. Livingston Park also has a playground, ball fields and a swimming pool.

Wallis Sands State Park

Wallis Sands State Park is located in Rye, New Hampshire. This is a smaller state park and ocean beach. With New Hampshire having a short coast line there are not a lot of ocean beaches, but this is one of my favorite to visit.

There is a large parking lot, large grass area, bathroom and changing facility and beautiful beach area. On a busy day, the parking lot can fill up. If you go in the evening the changing room does close down. We learned the hard way when we went to go change back into our clothes and the doors were locked. I think I am ready to invest in a portable changing room.

The beach has soft sand, great waves and is a perfect place to spend an hour or the day. The swimming area also has soft sand, which is great for swimming and wading.

The beach is long enough if you want to take a walk and enjoy the sand and waves. If not there is plenty of opportunity to sit and relax with your favorite book or enjoy the cool water and waves.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.

North Hampton Beach State Park

Located in North Hampton, New Hampshire is North Hampton Beach State Park. This is a smaller of the New Hampshire seacoast beaches, but can also be less crowded due to its limited metered parking. Careful to not confuse this beach with North Beach, which is just a few miles south of North Hampton Beach. If you are lucky enough to get a parking space it is a nice beach to check out. There are bathroom and changing facilities with easy access to the beach without a lot of walking. The day we visited there were life guards on site along with police officers walking up and down the side walk.

The beach itself if small, at high tide there is not a lot of room. At low tide part of the beach is rocky, which can make it a little tricky getting in the water if you have sensitive feet. This is also not a lot of beach to walk long distances on.

We had stopped at North Hampton State Park Beach after a softball tournament and it was a perfect way to cool down for a couple hours. Across the street is The Beach Plum, which seemed like a popular place for beach goers to get food. Overall, this beach was a great stop for a couple hours to cool off and relax.

Franconia Falls

Distance: 3.2 Miles oneway

Difficulty: Easy

The waterfall and natural waterslide can be dangerous, please use caution.

Located east of Lincoln, New Hampshire off of the Kancamagus Highway is Lincoln Woods. This is the trailhead to several local trails. The primary purpose of our visit was to hike to Franconia Falls. This hike has been on my to do list for a long time with the goal of checking out the natural waterslide.

We parked in the lot for Lincoln Woods and paid the fee to park here. There is a ranger station and bathroom facilities, making it easier to change into our bathing suites for the hike. We started the hike by crossing a bridge that goes over the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River.

Then took a right and followed the trail. This is probably one of the most flat trails in the White Mountains.

Most people were hiking this trail, but we also saw a couple people riding their bikes.

The trail to Franconia Falls was very easy to follow. There were signs along the way to direct you.

It was a 3.2 mile hike from the parking lot to the Franconia Falls. There were signs everywhere cautioning you to be careful as the water can be dangerous. The waterfall is beautiful.

For those a little more daring there is a narrow natural waterslide that drops you 7-8 feet into a small pool. The challenge is that depending on the time of year the pool has some strong currents that can pull you under. Our almost 13 year old daughter did the slide, but we had to help her out of the current. Stronger swimmers did better, but my husband did have to help a couple people out, who could not get away from the current. My daughter said she is not ready to do the slide again anytime soon.

Right before my daughter went down the natural waterslide.

There are a couple spots that you can get in the pools to swim around or slide down smaller rocks.

We spent 3-4 hours laying on the rocks, enjoying the falls and swimming in the pools. I was a little worried that we were going to be tired walking the 3.2 miles back out to our car, but we were not. Since it was an easy flat walk, it went by quickly. Overall, we loved the hike to Franconia Falls and enjoyed the swimming hole. Since it is a bit of a hike there were not a lot of people there, which was nice.

Artist Bluff

Distance: .5 Miles one way, with option for a 1.5 mile loop.

Difficulty: Moderate side of easy

Locate off exit 34C from Route 93 is the trailhead for one of the post popular easy hikes in the White Mountains. Located near Cannon Mountain and Echo Lake State Park is Artist Bluff, a short hike that packs a huge punch.

There are two places you can access the trail. The first one is directly across the street from the parking lot to Echo Lake. The second one is at the parking lot about a quarter of mile up on the right from Echo Lake State Park where you can walk a 1.5 mile loop.

Trail sign across from Echo Lake.

From the parking lot you can take a left and hike the Bald Mountain Loop. If you want to hike straight to Artist Bluff you can take a right, where the trail follows along the woods side of the parking lot until you connect with the trail across from Echo Lake. This part of the trail is flat.

At the joining of the trails take a left and start the steep, but short hike up to Artists Bluff. It is only a half mile from here to the rock outlook.

Once at the top there is an arrows directing you to the left to continue on the Bald Mountain Trail or the right that takes you out to Artist Bluff and a spectacular view of Cannon Mountain and Echo Lake.

This short, but steep hike provides beautiful views of the White Mountains. This is a great hike for beginner hikes that can hike up a rocky trail.

Fairfax Falls

Fairfax Falls is an impressive falls located north of Burlington, Vermont in the town of Fairfax. The falls has served as a hydropower plant for many years and is still running as a power plant. I found this falls thanks to my Vermont Waterfalls Guidebook.

When reading about accessing Fairfax Falls there were a couple different options. On Route 104 southeast of Fairfax is a small parking area. You can follow a trail down to the river for a view of the falls. We found the best view was at the Fairfax Falls Picnic Area and Fishing Access across the river.

After passing the first parking area you take a left onto the bridge that crosses the Lamoille River. Take another left onto River Street. About a quarter of a mile on the left you will see the sign for the picnic area.

There were a couple cars parked along side the road as the road down to the river requires a vehicle with high clearance and four wheel drive. We were able to drive carefully down in our Subaru. There were trucks and other Subaru’s parked at the base of the falls. There is not a lot of parking in this area.

This appeared to be a popular fishing spot as several people were fishing. There is one picnic table if you want to enjoy a meal. We walked along the large rocks to get better views of the falls. Please use caution as the rocks are not always stable and can be slippery.

I was impressed with the sheer size of Fairfax Falls. If you are in the area, it is worth checking out. This does not appear to be a place that is good for swimming, only picnicking, fishing and enjoying the beautiful scenery. .

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.

The Bridge of Flowers and Light

Located in the village of Enosburg Falls in the town of Enosburgh is The Bridge of Flowers and Light and Enosburg Falls. Enosburg Falls is located in northwest Vermont on the Missisquoi River. In addition to the falls is a cement arch bridge known as the Bridge of Flowers and Light.

There is a small parking lot on Duffy Hill Road next to an old diesel electric power plant that is no longer running. There is also a kiosk marking the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

Around the kiosk were several wild roses that smelled amazing. As you walk around the kiosk and out onto the bridge you see planted flowers and street lamps.

Off to your right was a beautiful view of Enosburg Falls.

I would not have found this falls if it was not for my Vermont Waterfalls Guide Book. There was something about this bridge and falls that felt calming to me. I am so glad that we were able visit The Bridge of Flowers and Light.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.