View Full Version : Question(s) about Central NH Rail Trail Progressive Series



NativeMainer
06-21-2008, 12:43 AM
Has anyone around here done it? I heard about this series on one of the podcasts and when I checked it out, I nearly screamed "Holy #$%@!!" (I've been watching what I say lately, the girls are four now and repeat nearly everything that I say :rolleyes:).

I've got a couple of weeks off this summer (end of July/first of August) and it seems reasonably close by (about a 45 minute drive from Biddeford). Can I park my car at one end and try to get a lift from someone in the area back to my car or would I have to hike back the whole way? Is anyone else interested in trying this series? I've never really been out caching with anyone other than my wife (she's not terribly interested, but will help me out on occassion and will sometimes find the cache before me ;)) and my girls (and being four, they'd be bored awfully quick and I'd have a mutiny on my hands, or at least an insurrection).

Gob-ler
06-21-2008, 09:24 PM
I have done a lot of it during the winter when it was a snowmobile trail. There are quite a few yet for me to do. The best way to do it is with two vehicles. You know that routine.

Some sections can be easily done by walking out and back and then moving on to the next crossing. It is about double the walking doing it that way.

Some have done it on bicycles and except for a bruise or two from a fall or two did OK.

I do not know if it can be done with an ATV, but that would be an excellent choice of transportation.

I plan of getting up there sometime to complete what I started over the winter. I just don't know when that would be.

Katadin Goddess
06-21-2008, 10:44 PM
i will be back to do some of them as well. it just depends on the weekend. i will do them rain or shine at this point, provided its not a thunder storm. due to price of gas etc, im thinking of taking a bike to get more done and spending a night camping to make it worth the while if i go it alone. if i go with others, then it opens other options.

NativeMainer
06-22-2008, 12:06 AM
I might be able to get my wife to go up with me, provided we can find something to entertain her for several hours. Of course, we'd have to find someone to watch the girls while we made the trip over to that part of NH, and lately she's happy to have a few hours to herself so that she can read a book. But I think that she'd get real bored real quick waiting for me to come off the trail trying to find the caches. She'll help me find a geocache from time to time, but I think this trail would be a little hard core for her.

darterkitfox
06-22-2008, 06:30 AM
I have no idea where the cental NH rail trail is located but this morning we are taking the bikes and doing 7 caches on a rail trail in Gorham NH. We'll see how that method works.

NativeMainer
06-22-2008, 09:18 AM
I have no idea where the cental NH rail trail is located but this morning we are taking the bikes and doing 7 caches on a rail trail in Gorham NH. We'll see how that method works.

Ossipee, NH.

Team2hunt
06-22-2008, 04:13 PM
I might be able to get my wife to go up with me, provided we can find something to entertain her for several hours.

Shopping in North Conway? :rolleyes:

darterkitfox
06-22-2008, 05:21 PM
biking the rail trail today turned out a great way to do it. Although it started raining and had a lightning storm, we did the 7 miles easily. The best thing about biking that rail trail is that there was a gradual grade so when it was time to turn around to come back, it was easy peddling or coasting. Of course GeoKeiko was on foot and she is still sleeping.

NativeMainer
06-22-2008, 11:12 PM
Shopping in North Conway? :rolleyes:


It's an idea, but she doesn't like to shop. ;)

Katadin Goddess
07-02-2008, 09:44 PM
i have done a few of the ossipee ones and they are great. i walked them & out. my plan is to return and sort of do the same with a long day walk & return or with a bike

darterkitfox
07-06-2008, 05:10 PM
Well today we did a short section (3.9 miles) of the Ossipee trail. We started with South End and did #1 through #19 plus the odd ones in between. First off, it is not bicycle friendly. This is not a rail to trail, it is a rail. All the railroad ties are still in place. We ditched the bikes in the bushes at the first cache and walked the full 7.8 miles. I wish we had known the condition of the overgrown trail as we could have left the bikes at the end and then just walked 7.8 miles in one direction to double the caches found. This trail is for numbers only. Each cache was simple to find and only a couple had any amount of challenge. The walk is straight, level, and tedious. We will be going back to 5 or 6 cache days with good scenic hikes. Be prepared for horseflys as mosquito spray does nothing for them. I crushed more than 50 and they never stopped landing on my neck and biting. If you end up walking in and out, do what my wife suggested after the fact. Bypass some caches on the way so the walk back isn't so boring. I filled my backpack with pieces of coal along the way and unless you want to carry out an extra 25 lbs, I would recommend getting your winter heating fuel another way. If my car was steam powered, the coal would have come in more handy than waiting for December. An hour and a half of driving time made it about $1 per cache. Now I have to spend two hours logging in each find as I don't know how to repeat the same message for each one like I have seen people do. Some other cachers we met on the trail mentioned a rail trail in Salem NH that is tarred. You may want to check that one out.

Sabby
07-06-2008, 09:22 PM
I have to spend two hours logging in each find as I don't know how to repeat the same message for each one like I have seen people do.


I suggest you use "copy" and "paste"