Much as I enjoy hill climbing (and descents), sometimes I like to ride the rails, too. A recent note from reader Gerry Kemske reminded me that I still hadn’t visited the Granite Town Rail Trail, so I remedied that this last weekend. (See also this map).

I’m glad I did: it’s a good area, with enough challenging points to interest an experienced rider, yet easy enough to keep younger riders rolling without complaint. Just don’t forget the bug spray.

Evan, Ben and I set out on Friday afternoon from the crossing at Melendy Road (a less than idea departure point, since parking options are extremely limited), intending to ride down to Lake Potanipo for a swim.

We got as far as the Scabbard Mill Brook Road, where Evan and Ben decided they could do without the swim, and had had about enough of the deer flies (we had forgotten to use the bug spray I keep in my car).

I returned solo on Saturday, with my full suspension bike and a pack carrying water, a sandwich and of course, bug spray. This time I started at the north end of the trail, beside the public works garage on South Street (Route 13) in Milford.

The rail line must surely have reached into town at one time; perhaps someday that connection can be restored. In the meantime, there is parking, and you can ride over a dam on Great Brook to reach the trail, which is shaded by mighty pines until you reach the first road crossing, at Union Street in Milford, where you will have to vault a guardrail. The trail then makes a narrow, weed-choked traverse to a tunnel originally designed as a flood control device, to keep the brook from crossing Route 101. Happily, the tunnel is tall enough to accommodate riders, and you can roll right out the other side.

The next road crossing comes up quickly, and I would warn against the temptation to roll down the steps there. Amory Road is fairly busy, the trail crosses it in the midst of a sharp curve, and there is no room to stop your bicycle before you reach the road. Get off and walk it down, especially if you’re with a group. There is a parking area along the south side of Amory Road, too.

From Amory, it’s a longer ways to the next road crossing, and the trail makes a detour from the old rail line, giving you one of the few climbs and descents along the trail itself.  I found the northbound climb more challenging, but that could be more a matter of the miles behind me.

I also found the trail more pleasant with my full-suspension bike. It’s not terribly technical, of course, but there are some sections with an awful lot of roots.

Continuing south, you hop another guard rail at Melendy Road, and then ride into Brookline before reaching the next road crossing. The town line is somewhere near the powerline crossing. Just beyond there, look for a granite-lined pond where an old dam backs up Scabbard Mill Brook. If you explore over the bridge there, you will find an old quarry, one of many that gave the town of Milford its nickname, I suppose. The pond looked all right for a dip to my eyes, but I held out for Potanipo all the same.

Just south of there, the trail jogs around the old rail line in an S curve, on account of an old road. The bridge that carried the tracks over the road is long gone; only the abutments remain.

If you have time and energy to spare, you can follow that road to the northwest (your right if heading south). Cross over a bridge, and you soon come to a fork. The leftward (more or less straight) branch will take you over relatively level, but rolling, terrain to the newly built Hutchinson Hill Road neighborhood off North Mason Road in Brookline. The right fork takes you up a long, heart-pounding climb, through a quarry to another old road, where you will find remains of an old settlement (part of the lost town of Monson, I believe). Though it no longer shows on modern maps, that road also crosses Hutchinson Hill Road; both are now Jeep/ATV trails, well-suited for mountain biking. The ride back down is as heart-pounding as the climb, if you go easy on the brakes.

Some of the snowmobile trails along and crossing the GTRT are posted to exclude wheeled vehicles, which I can only assume includes bicycles, though I suspected motorized vehicles are the greater concern. Check out Hutchinson Hill Road, and the trails in that area, and you will understand why snowmobilers don’t care to share their ways.

The GTRT plays hide and seek at Scabbard Mill Brook Road in Brookline. The trail crosses what must be someone’s driveway and then the road, but then jogs to the right (westward) about 100 feet. Look for a weedy path up a ride, off the southern side of the road. Heading northbound, it’s much easier to follow.

North Mason Road is the next crossing, and the trail gets a lot smoother south of that point, as it rolls along parallel to Route 13. The trail effectively ends at Camp Tevya, though the rail line no doubt continued south. You can see Lake Potanipo through the trees long before you get to the gate, however, and various side trails will take you to its shores, and a picnic spot.

I felt awfully clever to have packed a sandwich, and brought bug spray for after my swim. I was glad, too, to find astonishingly good, fresh local tomatoes at a farm stand on my way back to Nashua.

The trail is roughly six miles all together, three miles to the town line, and about that far again to the end. There are other side trails to explore, some best suited for hiking, but the Lake Potanipo itself must be the main draw, this time of year.

If there is anything finer than a swim in cool, clean water in the midst of a long leisurely ride on a hot summer day, I’ve yet to find it.