With all the paving and bike lane improvements taking place along Main Street Norwich and Route 5, it won’t be long before it’s even easier to get to the King Arthur Trail. It’s a great place to take a short hike while visiting the King Arthur Flour Co. for baking supplies or a great way to get off the road and walk or bike to the playing fields.
Officially open in September 2008, this .75 mile long trail was originally proposed in 2001 as a possible alternate route for an Upper Valley Loop Trail. Priorities for Loop trail projects were considered and by 2003 efforts became focused on Loop trail sections a little further south as a multi-use trail was desired from Wilder to Dothan Brook School.
The King Arthur Trail concept was never forgotten – just put on hold. Renewed interest in trail connections occurred as the Dresden School’s needed more space for playing fields. Norwich biking advocate, Jamie Hess, expressed a need to have safer travel from the town center to the planned playing fields. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance steeped forward to coordinate the the trails development. Working with private landowners, King Arthur Flour Co., Inc., and the Dresden School District, permissions were generously granted to the Upper Valley Trails Alliance to design and construct the new trail. Norwich Trails Committee members reviewed the trails alignment and UVTA sought funding through the Vermont Youth Corps to clear the path. A 6′ wide packed earth trail was created for walkers, hikers, bicyclists, and skiers interested in an off road route from Mill Road (across from the Upper Valley Event Center) to the playing fields. During the winter, the trail is widened to 8′ and may someday offer a groomed winter surface.
Get outside and enjoy the King Arthur Trail.
Trail Map (paper copies also available in the entrance foyer to the King Arthur Flour store)
Thanks to everyone that helped to make this new community trail possible.
Special thanks to: landowners Frank & Brinna Sands, King Arthur Flour Co. (including Steve Voigt, Joe Malpino, Allison Furbish, Paula Gray and KAF employees) and Dresden School District (including Wayne Gersen, Jonathan Brush, and Dresden School Board and their representative John Chamberlin); Vermont Youth Conservation Corps John Leddy and energetic VYCC Roving Crew 3; trail visionaries Jamie Hess, Wally Elton, Heather Toulmin and UVTA founders; project support provided by Norwich Trails Committee (grant support), Jonathan Frishtick (mapping), and TimberHomes LLC (kiosk); and the many community trail crew volunteers, including Dartmouth’s Allwin Initiative at Tuck. Project funding by VYCC’s Transportation Enhancement Program, Vermont Recreation Trails Program, UVTA’s LLBean Trail Stewardship Fund, and Trails Alliance members like you for making this possible.
Getting down to business building a bridge
Do you ever wish you had more volunteers to help with a trail project?
Are the numbers of people coming to your hikes or rides a bit low?
Do you want more people to know your group is providing some great educational and fun activities?
If you are planning a trail related event you’re welcome to post details on our event calendar.
You’ll even be able to show a map of your meeting spot and more.
Just e-mail me a request at john.taylor@uvtrails.org to enter your info and I’ll provide you access.
If you don’t want to bother posting your own events, send me your event info and I’ll get them up on the calendar.
If you know of an event that should be on our trails calendar, let me know and I’ll check in with the organizers.
Cheers, John
The Loop Trail helps to link the fabric of our communities and is a great hub to create improved trail connections throughout the valley.
Following the great ideas recommended at the Trails Connect forum in March of 2008, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance has been busy raising funds and establishing a Steering Committee to move the Loop Trail project forward. An inital Loop Trail planning map was completed in February and meetings have been held to share the ideas and route location with many town, city, trail, bike/ped, and regional planning groups.
The Steering Committee will be meeting approximately twice per quarter to get the trail marked on the ground (Loop Trail Action Plan). Initially the trail will use existing infrastructure. We will begin working on sign concepts this month. Return to our BLOG to see and comment on the sign suggestions and let us know if you have any suggestions on the current loop route.
As Trails Connect particpants stated, ” get the Loop Trail on the ground!” Trails Connect Action Plan
We’re making some great progress.
Sharrows are soon to be seen in Hanover on Lebanon Street. These special lane markings help alert drivers to slow down while also guiding cyclists on their safe positioning on roads too narrow for bike lanes. It’s all about safely sharing the road. If you’re a cyclist, follow the sharrow markings and they’ll help you stay far enough away from those nasty doors opening from parked cars. Let us know what you think of the Sharrow experience.
The Hanover selectboard on Monday night (June 22) approved the plans for sharrows on Lebanon St. Learn more from this fact sheet or at the Hanover Bike and Ped Blog.
It always amazes me to hear and see the volumes of change that occurs around us during mud season. To think that our family was skiing at Whaleback on well covered snowy slopes just a month ago and yesterday I arrive home in the late afternoon to see a few butterflies. A beautiful brilliant brown flutter with yellow trim and blue pearl beads known as the Mourning Cloak and a second less showy specimen, the White Cabbage. Some buttlerflies and frogs have the strange but awesome abilitiy to be frozen alive and then thaw in the spring to begin their mating rituals. Wood frogs are a species quite well know for that ability but did you know that the adult Mourning Cloak butterfly hides under rocks or behind loose tree bark where it prepares to be frozen.
Body dehydration allows for higher concentrations of sugar alcohols which creates a natural antifreeze situation. They even expel compounds and bacteria which have the potential of acting as nucleoids for ice cyrstal formation. Spring really has arrived when I see and hear the peepers, the trilliums beginning to pop out with their brilliant red and the butterflies begin to dodge the arrival of the bluebirds. Learn more about the strange cryo-preservation techniques of animals at http://www.naturenorth.com/winter/frozen/Ffrozen.html
As trails dry up, get outside and have fun seeing the first wildflowers of the season and more.
Visit http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/ for some great wildlife pics.
As the Upper Valley Trails Alliance explores options for improved trail connectivity we hear a wide variety of access considerations associated with the Connecticut River. Should the Wilder Dam be open for bike and ped traffic? Should there be a three season boat ferry? Is there a narrow enough section of river to install a cost effective bike/ped bridge over the Connecticut?
A few years ago UVTA received permission from the operators of the Wilder Dam to allow a tour of the power generation station and provide access across the dam as part of the 2007 Trails Day celebrations at Boston Lot Lake (Lebanon, NH)and Kilowatt Field (Hartford, VT). Since 9/11 created more security concerns than tax laws, the number of dam crossing participants that day were limited in number and specific rules needed to be followed but it was a good example of how the Wilder Dam could accomodate people traffic.
I really wonder how security risk could be managed to provide the Wilder Dam as a more regular travel route. Imagine how short a journey it would be to walk or ride your bike from Wilder to DHMC!
Watch for new markings along area roads and pathways that will help guide you on your morning commute or recreational excursions.
The Upper Valley Trails Alliance is working with area communities to improve the recreational and transportation offerings provided by trails. In just a few weeks we’ll have a proposed route posted on our website at uvtrails.org and we’ll be asking you for your feedback. The route signs still need to be designed and approvals will be required to post them but with your help we’ll have a great community trail hub.
What trail in the Upper Valley do you use to get to work or school?
