Hanover, New Hampshire: New Trail Opportunities in the Upper Valley

Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew meets with community leaders to promote new mountain biking opportunities.

Wolfboro Road, a Class VI road and now a multi-use trail, is severely rutted in many places where it runs along the fall line and sees unauthorized jeep use.
Chris and Jill took a few minutes out of their busy schedule to talk about IMBA and trails with Coyote Mountain Campers.
Hardy land managers and stakeholders assessed the trails around Storrs Pond during a torrential downpour.
The work crew attempts to manage the water eroding the old road bed with a rolling grade dip.
The work crew constructs a small section of sample full bench.
UVMBA ride group takes a break on a scenic rock outcropping.

The Upper Valley Mountain Biking Association (UVMBA) and the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA) hosted a Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew visit to Hanover, NH July 23rd-26th. Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew leaders Chris Bernhardt and Jill Van Winkle spent a full weekend of meetings, trail assessment, trailwork, and a group ride in the Upper Valley.

The small town of Hanover is home to Dartmouth College, lots of public lands, and a section of the Appalachian Trail that passes right through downtown - yet relatively few trails are available for mountain bike use. UVMBA and UVTA brought together more than 20 leaders from the Hanover Conservation Commission, Hanover Improvement Society, Town Selectmen, Dartmouth Outdoor Program and other organizations to discuss mountain bike opportunities and concerns. Despite an afternoon downpour, several hardy New Englanders stuck around for more than 2 hours of trail assessment at local trails around Storrs Pond, with the rain demonstrating erosion on poorly designed trails.

The Crew also taught an IMBA Trailbuilding School, well attended by local riders and other members of the trails community. In the afternoon, they headed to the worksite: an old road that serves as a multi-use trail just a few miles outside of Hanover. Working with volunteers on an old roadbed is not ideal because of the width; building a rolling grade dip becomes a day-long project with little tangible results. However, in this case, the trails community had plans for an excavator to install water diversion devices on the old road, and the volunteer-constructed rolling grade dip would serve as a model for the operator.

The weekend closed with a Sunday ride at Boston Lot, a few miles south of Hanover in Lebanon, NH. About twenty riders from the UVMBA (who added a few new members following the ride) rode a fun loop with a mix of doubletrack, singletrack, and challenging rock features.