Running along the Mascoma River a little more than three miles east of downtown Lebanon and west of downtown Enfield, I was just finding my rhythm on the first Saturday morning in June.
Then a woman of about my vintage, walking the other way on the Northern Rail Trail, asked for directions: “Is the Appalachian Trail anywhere near here?”
“Oh, great,” I confess to thinking, before stopping to explain, I hoped briefly, that the rather more challenging national scenic trail runs through Hanover, requiring a drive (or a hitchhike) of about five miles north on nearby Route 120.
“If I keep going this way,” the woman continued, “does this meet up with it eventually?”
“Afraid not,” I replied before trotting off toward Mascoma Lake and reflecting, not for the first time in the 28½ years that my wife Goodie and I have lived in Vermont and New Hampshire, on our good fortune to have these traffic-free choices for relatively short walks and runs within a short drive of home, and even just beyond our own doors.
For my part, the Rail Trail (see northernrailtrail.org) has evolved into my go-to summer home, particularly the stretch between downtown Lebanon and the outskirts of Canaan. Much of the mostly level surface of gravel or dirt parallels either the river or the lake, and in high summer offers ample shade on the sunniest days.
And with 10 parking areas spread out between downtown Lebanon and the canoe-launch site at the Canaan-Enfield town line, I can choose a different out-and-back route each of the four days a week I usually run.
Even if, on back-to-back runs, I retrace parts of the same stretch of trail — say, along the lake from Icehouse Road in East Lebanon to the bridge over Main Street in Enfield — it never feels repetitive. Depending on the time of day, I encounter different angles of sunlight through the leaves. Then there’s the variety of wildlife — one early morning I might hear loons calling across the water, or some evening around dusk, several deer or turkey or a snapping turtle might claim the right of way — and of fellow travelers. In the case of the latter, keeping count of the number of runners, bikers, walkers, dogs, infants and toddlers in strollers or backpacks, in that order, allows me to enter a Zen state that distracts from the heat or the bugs (lots of gnats around the lake this time of year, and mosquitoes and black flies between Blackwater Road in West Canaan and Potato Road in Canaan).
Perhaps best of all, I only need to emerge occasionally from my meditations long enough to watch out for cars at major road crossings. Among those requiring the most alertness are Bank Street extension and Riverside Drive in Lebanon, the Main Street bridge bypass road and Pillsbury Street in Enfield, and Blackwater and Lower Lochhaven Roads in Canaan.
On days between runs (my legs of almost 60 are connected to ankles much older, requiring some respite from the pounding), Goodie (who often walks parts of the routes I run, turning around at an agreed-to time) and I do occasionally walk the Rail Trail together, we also try to mix it up. Some evenings, it’s enough to walk from our Young Street neighborhood down to the Lebanon High School track for a couple of laps, or to Dairy Twirl for a couple of laps of soft-serve.
If we’re early for a movie in Hanover and need to air out the legs, we might circle the North Balch-Parkway-North Park-East Wheelock block, throwing in a circumnavigation of the Dartmouth athletic fields between Park Street and the link of the Appalachian Trail that leaves the street and enters the woods for the climb to Velvet Rocks.
And if we’re looking for some hill work, without resorting to hiking shoes or lathering up with insect repellent, we like the link of the Appalachian Trail that climbs out of downtown Norwich on Elm Street, from Main Street to the junction where the AT turns into the woods toward Bragg Hill and West Hartford. If we want to extend this outing a bit longer, we’ll sometimes turn left and climb Hickory Ridge Road for views across the valley to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
About the only downside to these and other peregrinations? This past week, summer solstice arrived. With the sun setting steadily earlier from now through December, we have to relish these balmy days, and the proximity of so many places to ramble, while they and we last.