Enfield
The Enfield Conservation Commission chairman, who helped build the trails in the early 1990s and continues to perform maintenance there, knows appreciating the area’s namesake brook, unique plant life and beaver meadows is significantly more enjoyable now than it will be in about seven weeks, when bugs normally reign supreme.
“In the summer, there can be mosquitoes and black flies everywhere,” Strickland said while gazing out at Bicknell Brook near one of its many popular swimming holes. “When I built the trail, I had to have plastic gloves on. Otherwise mosquitoes were just all over my hands. But in the spring and fall, it’s perfect.”
Indeed, it’s difficult to envision a more idyllic walk in the Upper Valley, so long as the hiker isn’t seeking anything strenuous. These 2.5 miles are doable in sneakers and akin to strolling down Main Street, the soothing tones of whitewater currents and cover of lush hemlock canopies substituting for brick and mortar.
The start of the Bicknell Loop Trail is accessible from Grafton Pond Road, less than a half-mile off of N.H. Route 4A. The hike featured here instead enters the Colette Trail on Boy’s Camp Road, adjacent to a single land bridge one mile off of 4A.
Turn north (left) from the road, following a sign for the Colette Trail and Crystal Lake adorned with a rusted wagon wheel. The first swimming hole appears almost immediately on the left as the rapids from the sizeable stream amplify.
“Usually, when you have a stream this large, there’s a road alongside it,” said Strickland, an Enfield Conservation Commission member for more than 20 years. “It’s what I’d call a major stream, by New Hampshire standards, but there’s no road. I think that’s part of what makes it unique.”
Twice in recent years, this half-mile path leading to Crystal Lake has been closed because of loon nesting activity. Such activity hasn’t necessitated closure yet this year — a good thing for hikers, who can enjoy about a quarter-mile of Crystal Lake frontage that includes views of Prospect Point, Enfield’s highest elevation at approximately 2,200 feet.
“A lot of people come out here and enjoy it,” Strickland said. “I know a woman who comes out here every year in the summer, sets a lawn chair up in the shallow water and reads a book. In the fall, when (the town) releases the dam, you can walk all the way out to a sand bar pretty far off shore.”
Strickland hopes eventually to coordinate with landowner Michael Drape for a loop trail to augment this portion. For now, follow the white blazes to backtrack toward Boy’s Camp Road. Cross the road and on the other side enter the Colette Trail, named for Michael Drape’s sister, who was killed in an auto accident while visiting France in 1991. Strickland, 64, had worked with Colette’s father, the late Robert Drape, to open these trails in 1994.
The aesthetics of the Colette Trail are instantly soothing, Bicknell Brook’s pristine waters guiding the way along with white blazes. Evidence of beaver activity is everywhere, from tree trunks chewed down to the shape of dreidels to abandoned dams and wetlands.
The first wet area Friday featured the croaking of wood frogs immersed in mating season.
“I know that sound well because I’m trying to discover all of the vernal pools in Enfield,” Strickland said. “It’s a tall task.”
Saunter past a tree growing out of a moss-covered boulder and come to an intersection where the blazed trail goes left. Turning right instead leads to another good swimming spot before looping back to the main trail after a short distance.
The next patch of wetlands features a wooden bridge with a viewing platform, a project built by Boy Scout Troop 44 about 10 years ago. Continue very gradually uphill and cross Bicknell Brook at an area formerly traversable by log and now a much more sturdy, albeit narrow, wooden foot bridge.
“We had a big birch log fastened up for the longest time,” Strickland recalled, pointing to the steel cable that still rests by the trail. “Eventually, it started to rot.”
Some who enter at Boy’s Camp Road turn around at this bridge, as the Colette Trail is nearly concluded. Continuing to the Bicknell Brook Loop Trail makes it a more substantial hike.
The trail soons enters town-owned property, marked simply by a red blaze on a tree, before coming to the start of the loop marked by a sign pointing to Grafton Pond Road and the parking lot. This is the start of the Bicknell Brook Loop Trail; enter it counterclockwise (left) to keep the brook alongside you.
After passing an island dotted with red maple and yellow birch, the trail enters a cool zone dominated by towering hemlocks. Small patches of ice are still present here thanks to the lush evergreens, known as a climax forest because of their shading out of undergrowth.
“When we built this trail, it was already like a highway through here,” Strickland said. “We didn’t have to do any clearing.”
The trail eventually returns to open light, where younger growth such as white pines and balsam firs thrive. It navigates away from the stream, the sound of rapids supplanted by swooshing branches in the breeze.
Passing another sign for Grafton Pond Road and the parking lot, loop around and head back northbound through younger trees yet to bud. The flowers — one of Strickland’s favorite aspects of the trail — have also yet to blossom, but soon the area will be lined with lady slipper orchids and other unique flora.
“A lot flowers come out here — some common, some not so common,” Strickland said.
There’s only one more intersection, back where you began the Bicknell Brook Loop. Bear left, following the sign to Crystal Lake, to soon end up back at Boy’s Camp Road.
At a leisurely pace, this hike takes about 3½ hours. For a stroll so serene, it’s the only pace you’ll want to embark on — at least for the next seven weeks.
Hartford Parks and Recreation will open its “Wednesday Walkers” series of easy-to-moderate hikes next Wednesday with a walk on the Colette Trail. Participnats will meet at Hartfird Town Hall at 9 a.m. Register in advance by visiting www.hartfordrec.com or calling 802-295-5036.
Trail Trials periodically reviews hiking options in the Upper Valley. Send feedback or route suggestions to jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.