When I want to get away from traffic and noise, I take a long walk on the Winnipesaukee Trail.

My walk begins in a parking lot near the library in Northfield and follows the river from which it gets its name until it ends in downtown Franklin. The nearly four miles of trail makes a great retreat from busy town life. Bicycles and horses are welcome and joggers and dog walkers abound.

As I begin, I can look across the river and see a lovely park created on the Tilton side of the river. Turning toward the trail, I see a favorite place for the young people, a skateboard park. Passing the skateboard park I see a small dam used to generate power and impound water for those who like to fish from the piers provided on the Tilton park side.

The trail follows an old railroad bed out of town past the town transfer station. The transition to the wild side begins after I pass over a bridge spanning a small brook that gurgles into the river just out of sight from the trail. Birds and furry creatures teem as I pass a meadow on one side and a bend in the river on the other. In the summer, I can notice a drop in the temperature as the cool breeze rises from the river. The river flows lazily at this point and the trail is level or nearly so.

As the river makes a turn away from the trail, a large wetland appears on both sides of the trail. Birds and butterflies abound. Frogs and salamanders often crawl out of the bog and take some sun on the margin of the trail. Beyond the bog, a dense grove of evergreen trees provides a cooling interlude and a large rock provides a place to rest a bit before moving on.

When next we meet the river, it is starting to fall and create noise as it rushes among the rocks in its bed. A few observation spots have been carved in from the trail to the river bank so a visitor can observe or photograph the watercourse. Moving on down the trail through a large pasture on both sides of the trail, I encounter another bridge over yet another small stream. Just beyond the bridge, you return briefly to the more-hurried world as you cross a road, called Cross Mill Road. It comes by its name honestly because it was formerly the access to a number of mills that used the rushing water of the Winnipesaukee to power their processes. As I continue toward Franklin, I see the crumbling remains of several mill races.

For those interested in the past, a historical marker gives some of the uses made of the river in the late 19th and early 20th century. Although the Winnipesaukee is now a haven for kayakers and fishermen, it was once a thriving manufacturing center. Linen mills and leather plants dotted the course of the river with dams and mill races for power. A few of the dams remain but the manufacturing and the attendant pollution are gone.

Beyond the marker, a unique railroad bridge crosses the river. Although it is no longer in use, it once provided a rail crossing, and under it there was a pedestrian crossing for the mill workers coming from Franklin. It was once touted as the only upside-down covered bridge. About 20 years ago, it caught fire and burned away the wood portion that hung under the rails overhead, but the metal roof still remains and is visible through the rails.

Between the rail bridge and Franklin, the trail becomes steep and the river races madly on one side and on the other side the bank rises almost vertically. The bluff is almost 200 feet high in places.

Finally I reach the end, cross Central Street in Franklin, and enter a small city park along the river. The four-mile segment of the trail I’ve traveled from Tilton to Franklin is but a small segment of the trail system planned to use old rail beds parallel to the river for hiking.

Some of us who like river walks take River Street south out of Franklin some two miles and return. When we get back to Franklin, we can cross the bridge and head south on the old rail bed heading toward Boscawen. We tire long before the rail trail ends.

I like to think large, and when I do, I see trails on all the old rail beds throughout New Hampshire. Hiking such trails is such a pleasure. If you meet someone, a friendly hello is the only requirement. You don’t even have to do that if you encounter wildlife.

By Bill Dawson, Community Tree Steward