SUNAPEE RAGGED KEARSARGE GREENWAY

THE EMERALD NECKLACE OF THE SUNAPEE REGION

T

The Sunapee Region of New Hampshire is rightfully known for its namesake lake and mountain, which allow residents and visitors to enjoy hiking, fishing, swimming, beautiful scenery, bird and wildlife sightings, as well as just being. But there is a treasure hiding in the region that deserves wider recognition.

The Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) is a series of 14 linked trails, 75 miles long, that circumnavigate the Sunapee region, connect the peaks of Sunapee, Kearsarge, and Ragged, and traverse ten towns. The network of trails was conceived in the 1980s by a group of folks from the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust, Lake Sunapee Protective Association, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. It is now overseen by a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to “create and maintain a forever green, great circle of trail corridors and conserved lands. THE GREEN CORRIDOR “From our standpoint, maintaining this green corridor, this 75 miles of hiking trails, is a huge benefit and valuable part of the community with an enormous impact,” says Dave Gardner, a volunteer with SRKG. “I’ve lived in other parts of New England where there really aren’t trails that are publicly accessible. [The SRKG is] an awesome benefit, not only recreationally, not only to the tourist economy, not only to the health benefits to the community but also to the environmental benefits of preserving this green corridor.” The SRKG is one of the more accessible trail systems in New Hampshire, in the sense that it does not take the kind of experience or fitness required by, say, a Presidential Traverse, in which backpackers hike all eight peaks of the Presidential Range in the White Mountains. The land that the SRKG trails cross is a combination of public and private lands that are minimally developed, giving hikers the opportunity to enjoy a sense of wilderness while still being in reach of civilization. The Sunapee area is not as remote

as the White Mountains, nor are the summits as high. Any person who can hike for a few hours can complete any of the SRKG trails. And they can do it knowing that they are never more than a couple of hours from a road or population center. The trail even goes through downtown Sunapee, Newbury, and Andover.

BEAUTIFUL VIEWS, BEAUTIFUL FORESTS Lisa Hoekstra, an “unofficial expert” on the trail, who has hiked all of the trails multiple times, speaks movingly of the beauty of the trails. “There are sections that cross streams and rivers where if it’s been rainy, you might have to take off your shoes and roll up your pants, and sections where it’s wet and they have put up bridges and boardwalks. And there are places where it is just so beautiful because you’re walking through a pine forest and it’s soft underfoot from the needles.” The terrain across the 75 miles is quite varied and also includes sections that are “sharp and stony and rooty, and you have to be really careful.” And of course, there are the views from each of the principal summits plus several smaller peaks. Despite being not far from populated areas, the undeveloped terrain is home to many native species. “Definitely bear abundant,” says Lisa. “Definitely see deer— just about on every section, I’ve seen deer at one point or another. There’s one section I call moose alley because every time I walk it, I see evidence of moose.” FINDING YOUR WAY A guidebook and map can be purchased from the SRKG website as well as at local bookstores. The trails are numbered 1 through 14, and the guidebook recommends following the trails in a clockwise direction. Trails are marked with green and white trapezoid-shaped markers. Trail number one begins in Newbury Harbor. After a short walk up Route 103, away from the harbor and onto a residential street, hikers enter the forest on the Newbury Trail. The trail climbs to a ridge and traverses the shoulder of the South Peak of Mount Sunapee before continuing to Sunapee’s main summit. After a couple hours of hiking, you’ve bagged your first peak. The trail continues down the Summit Trail to Old Province Road. That first stroll up Route 103 isn’t the only time the trails utilize public roadways. The whole system of trails is linked together using a number of roads. You’ll duck under Interstate 89 twice and cross Route 4a a couple times, and cross Routes 11 and 114, plus a few minor roads. But these forays onto traffic ways are just a few beads on the “emerald necklace” that is the SRKG. The lion’s share of your time on the trail will be in state forests and parks, private woodlands, and on old unmaintained roads. Along with the hike through Mount Sunapee State Park and over the summit of Mount Sunapee, the trail system winds through Gile State Forest, over Ragged Mountain, into Winslow State Park and Mount Kearsarge State Forest

Park, over Mount Kearsarge, through Black Mountain Forest, through Shadow Hill State Forest, and into Wadleigh State Park, before returning to Newbury Harbor.

HIKING ALL 75 MILES Hikers who succeed in hiking every single trail can earn an award, a handsome medallion with the SRKG logo on it. The typical way for hikers to tackle the 75-mile loop is a little bit at a time. “I’ve done it that way,” says Dave. “I’ll do a hike one weekend and then do another the following, or a month later, or whatever.” It’s kind of like hiking all 48 of the 4,000foot peaks in New Hampshire. Some people bang them out in a few months, and some will take years to finish them all. For the fast hikers among us, the trail system is also the venue for an ultradistance race. The Ragged 75 Stage Race takes place in early August and launches from Ragged Mountain Resort in Danbury. The race is challenging but well-supported and popular. And some fleet individuals have attempted to race the trail system independent of any organized event. In 2015, Tom Flummerfelt achieved the fastest known time of 17 hours and 44 minutes, as recorded on fastestknowntime.com. Of course, there is the inevitable question: what about camping and multi-day hikes? The short

answer is that there isn’t a great way to do a multiday camping adventure on the trail. Much of the land the SRKG traverses is privately owned or part of state parks, and there is only one campground, at Mount Sunapee State Park, on the trail system.

MONUMENTAL TASK, BUT WELL WORTH IT “We love thru-hikers. We love people using the trails,” says Dave. The issue with multi-day thruhiking is the camping. “We don’t have, and we do not maintain any campsites. We’re not set up to maintain shelters like the Appalachian Trail does. We don’t own any of the land.” Taking on the task of not just building but maintaining a shelter or campsite is well beyond the current capacity of the nonprofit organization. Merely maintaining the 75 miles of trails and coordinating with the conservation commissions of the 10 host towns plus local, regional, and state organizations is a monumental task. But it’s a task of tremendous value to the health and well-being of the community, its natural environment, and those who call this place home. As Lisa puts it, “I can be alone in the woods for two to three hours at a time, and that restores me.” To learn more about the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway or volunteer time or support their mission through charitable donations, visit www.srkg.com. 