I got acquainted with the Dunstable Rural Land Trust property by mountain bike this past summer. No surprise, it’s also a great place to ski. 

The most popular parking spot and access point off Main Dunstable Road isn’t open in the winter; they don’t plow the shoulder there. There is, however, a small parking area along Main Street in Dunstable (Gregg Road on this side of the border). It took me a few passes to find it, but it’s there, I swear. Park with care and it might hold three cars, or two PUVs.

The DRLT land includes a large pond and brook, stands of young pine, open meadows and trails through the more mature woods donated by the Gregg family. None of the trails are tricky; it would be an especially good place for beginers. There’s also a trail that threads an easement between backyards to come out at the Nashua River Rail Trail parking area on Hollis Street (in Dunstable, AKA Groton Road in Nashua). Snowmobilers have been whooping it up on the rail trail (and parts of the DRLT land, too), but their tracks are all right for skiing too. I was out during the snow on New Year’s Day, and was able to ski right across the roads. I’ve been skiing Beaver Brook, too, of course… that’s my usual and still favorite ski trails. It seems to me that it’s gotten more crowded of late, so it must be other folks’ favorite too. By the time I headed back through the DRLT land the other day, my tracks from a couple hours earlier were all but erased by the falling snow… no one but me had passed that way that day.