MASON RAIL TRAIL:
MASON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
-BIKE IT OR HIKE IT-
Last Updated: June 26, 2011
Length: Mason Rail Trail; 6.7 to 8.9 miles.
Difficulty: Easy. Flat hard packed rail trail. Mt bike recommended.
Directions:
From the junction of Routes 31 & 123 in Greenville:
To Start from Pratt Pond parking lot in the north; Travel north on Route 31 and take your second right onto Adams Hill Rd. After 0.8 miles, turn right on Greenville Rd and follow for 0.4 miles to Pratt Pond Rd. Turn left and travel 1.3 miles to where the trail crosses. The parking lot is on your left.
To Start from the Depot Road parking lot in the south; Take Route 123 east through Mason then south. Turn left on Depot Rd and look for where the trail crosses the road. Parking located here.
The Mason Rail Trail runs from the Massachusetts State Line north across the town of Mason to Pratt Pond, where it turns west to cross the edges of Wilton and Greenville to end at the abandoned granite bridge piers for the high trestle that once spanned Route 31 and the Souhegan River Valley. The trail resumes at the abutment at the west side of the deep valley and continues a short distance to the former Greenville Depot. The trail follows the rail bed of the old Peterborough and Shirley Railroad which was incorporated in 1845 and opened as a branch from the Fitchburg RR in Ayer to West Townsend in 1848, continuing to Mason, New Hampshire in 1849 or 1850. The Fitchburg Railroad leased it in 1847 and bought it in 1860, with an extension to Greenville opening at some point. For more information visit; RAILS TO TRAILS .
Starting from the Pratt Pond parking lot; I only traveled a short section of this trail heading north from here. The trail seems well maintained for a hard packed dirt trail and is nice and wide. Pratt Pond is very scenic. The trail is very isolated as it takes you through deep woods and tracks are still in place as you near the Massachusetts border heading south. Other reviews give varying bikable mileage and I noticed as I headed north from Pratt Pond that the trail became less maintained after about a mile.
If you've biked this trail recently, please email me any comments on trail conditions and along which sections you've ridden. I would like add any new information that I can. Send to letterbox@snet.net . Thank you.
HH
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BIKE IT OR HIKE IT