Don't Miss This Ride!!!

October 6, 2009

This is it the ride you have been waiting for, Pondicherry! We’ll start at the western terminus of The Presidential Range Rail Trail and pedal through almost four miles of The Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge where the views are absolutely magnificent. Then we’ll head for more open vistas on three miles of paved country road and another three plus miles on the dirt Valley Road. When we reach Jefferson Notch Road we will return to Pondicherry on The Rail Trail. In all we’ll cover about 18 miles with breath taking fall foliage views.

The rail trail has a pretty firm surface and is a combination of dirt, gravel, stone, cinder and ballast. Today, after last night’s copious rain, there were spots with about 1 to 2 inches of water on the trail. Since the rail bed is firm it was easy to ride over these areas. And we can expect a little less water on the trail by Tuesday. Also there are a couple of spots on the rail trail where the stones are loose, some may want to walk across these areas. This is a pretty flat route with no major hills.

The drive to and through Crawford Notch is just stunning right now. So take route 302 through Bretton Woods and at the traffic light go right on route 3 for 1.9 miles. Then take another right on route 115. In 4.4 miles Hazen Road will be on your left, take it. In another 1.4 miles you will see a sign on the right saying Presidential Recreation Trail Pondicherry. Go right into the smallish parking lot. We may have to do some creative parking to fit us all in here.

Carpooling is highly recommended. Meet at 8:55am in the Attitash parking lot. Please be ready to ride at 10:00am

Click here for the route map
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/nh/jefferson/246125466746595495