Join us indoors in January for a review of our 2019 accomplishments and a discussion of what’s next in 2020 and beyond. What do you want to see? How did we do on the sections that are now on the ground or are in progress?
January 22 at 6:30 PM at MainStreet Bookends, 16 E Main St, Warner.
January 23 at 6:30 PM at Village Cafe, 11 W Main St, Bradford.
January 30 at 6:00 PM at Hopkinton Library, 61 Houston Dr, Contoocook.
(Check back for a Concord date. We are finalizing plans).
In 2019 we were challenged to raise $50,000 that would be matched by a donor advised fund of the NH Charitable Foundation. Together we did it!
Meeting that challenge enabled us to have the funds to complete finishing touches on the Stevens Rail Trail in Contoocook & Warner and complete the parking area and a half mile of trail in Concord that opened spring of 2020.
Thank you to everyone who got us over the top. Thank you also to You Have Our Trust for supporting the vision of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail and challenging us to reach new heights.
For alternative ways to donate, visit our Contact & Donate Page.
Thank you!
Help build the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail this Saturday the 28th of September 2019. We will be cutting brush and branches in preparation for grading work that will follow. Its fun to be a part of the transformation of this land into rail trail. We are gathering in the field just south of 33 Fisherville Rd, Concord, NH 03301. Use LAD Welding as a landmark. Park in the field. We will have a crew ready to point you in the right direction starting at 8:30 AM. Arrive when you can and stay only as long as you like. Bring gloves and the brush cutting tool(s) of your choice: Loppers, limbing saw, chain saw, pole saw. We will be providing pizza for the crew for lunch. Have questions? Send email to info@clsrt.org
Two railcar wheel-based benches have been set alongside the trail in the Lake Todd area. Wheels from the Conway Scenic Railroad were media blasted by Jeremiah Johnson from Bear Blasting and painted by Fred Nystrom and Andrew Blagden. Seat brackets were welded by Jason Allen at Merrimack County Customs, who then delivered the bench frames to the site with an escort from the Bradford police department. CLSRT board members provided materials and did the final assembly June 5th.
The bench closest to the bridge will be dedicated as a memorial to Robert Saturley, whose friends and family contributed generous donations for this portion of the trail.
We expect the trail surface to be installed in this area over the next couple weeks.
Bike repair stations are springing up along the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail. CLSRT nearly doubled the number of repair stations in the state of NH by aquiring 5 of the self-contained fixit stands. Each solid bike stand has a variety of built in tools and QR code stamp to access instructions on fixing the most common issues with bicycles.
Today we installed 4 stands along the trail. One in Bradford by the Appleseed Restaurant and Catering,one at Schoodacs and another at Bagley Field in Warner. The fourth fix station is at the Contoocook Riverway Association in Contoocook. The fifth bike Fix Station is now available for use at the trail head parking area at 25 Fisherville Rd in Concord, NH.
Thank you to our sponsors: Central New Hampshire Bicycling Coalition, Warner Fall Foliage Festival, Kearsarge Area Chamber of Commerce, Hopkinton Rotary, Lake Sunapee Snowmobile Club, Rural Heritage Connection of Bradford, Inc., Northeast Delta Dental and Granite State Wheelers.
For a map of bike fix stations across NH and the United States, see Dero’s public bike fixit map.
It’s the perfect time of the season for a snowshoe, ski or walk along the river in Warner while reading the recently released “Good Morning, Snowplow” picture book by local author Deborah Bruss. The vivid illustrations and rhythmic verse are a colorful addition to the beauty of the snow-covered trail.
The improved trail from exit 7 in Davisville now connects to the end of the Stevens Rail Trail, providing 2 miles of uninterrupted winter riding or skiing. Due to early snows, the trail is set for winter use, but the surface will need to be modified and final hard pack applied after the spring thaw.
Over several weekends, a crew of volunteers from the Lake Sunapee Snowmobile Club, Rural Heritage Connection of Bradford, and CLSRT built a pedestrian bridge over Lake Todd to increase safety and provide walking options from the Tilly Wheeler trail to the Appleseed Restaurant in Bradford. The bridge will be dedicated in Memory of Robert Saturley.
Friends of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail will be at the Warner Fall Foliage Festival Oct 6-7 2018. Our booth will be on Schoodacs Coffee & Tea’s front lawn, right in the middle of the action. Come learn about the trail and the many ways you can help this trail grow. Soon you will be able to walk on new sections in Bradford and Contoocook. We are working to bring over two miles of trail to Concord in 2019 along with additional projects.
Friends of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail was awarded an RTP grant by the NH Bureau of Trails to improve the surface of the Stevens Rail Trail in Hopkinton and create a smooth stonedust multiuse path from the end of the Stevens Rail Trail to route 103 in Warner by exit 7. In some places the trail held up well, but decades of deferred maintenance of the old drainage ditches have made a mess in other places. Look for improvements to the trail to start happening this fall with the whole 2 mile project complete before the snow flies.
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Additionally we are excited to start working on our first section of trail in Bradford. Friends of the Concord Lake Sunapee Rail Trail partnered with the Lake Sunapee Snowmobile Club and the Rural Heritage Connection of Bradford to create this extension of the Tilley Wheeler Trail including a new bridge parallel to the rt 103 crossing over Lake Todd. Steel for the bridge arrived in early October and should be placed soon. The bridge will then be decked and the trail built from High St to the bridge on one end and from Church St to the bridge on the other.
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