GORHAM, N.H. — On the north side of the rugged Presidential Range, Moose Brook State Park is a low-profile launching pad into mountain biking, hiking, and wildlife viewing.
Once farmland, the park has grown into lush woodlands. The 700-plus acres have nearly 60 campsites and a swimming area fed by chilly Moose Brook, as well as its own network of trails for hiking and biking.
But there’s plenty to explore nearby, including the scenic Presidential Range Rail Trail, splendid Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge, and big mountain hiking.
Some three hours north of Boston, the park allows for plenty of family time, with camping by grassy areas for kids to run free. Relative seclusion can be found in its forested nooks and crannies.
In recent years, the park as added three-sided wooden lean-tos that allow for a step-above-ground camping experience, minus the hassle of setting up a tent. The number of mountain bike trails has also been growing steadily, thanks to the volunteers of the local Coos Cycling Club.
An effort to improve the abandoned and overgrown Civilian Conservation Corps trails built during the Great Depression has resulted in a system of trails offering everything from a tight single track along Moose River to the wide Berry Farm Road bisecting the network.
An excellent reason to leave the park is to roll down to a roughly cut gem, the Presidential Range Rail Trail. The 18-mile section of the multiuse trail between Gorham and Jefferson is a crushed stone and dirt byway with a bit of a bite along the former Boston and Maine Railroad tracks that once brought logging and tourists to the White Mountains.
Be alert for creatures meandering along the trail. We’ve spotted moose and bear in the distance. Songbirds and ducks frequent spongy areas, such as Moorhen Marsh.
The trail leads to another northern treasure: Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge, home to marshes, ponds, and forested wetlands. Definitely have binoculars handy. Through them you might catch glimpses of an eagle, osprey, and smaller winged wonders.
From a small wooden observation platform, gaze across Cherry Pond to big views of the Pliny and Presidential Ranges. Train tracks and hiking trails merge at Waumbeck Junction. The Shore Path is a lovely little jaunt to the western shore of Cherry Pond. Following those train tracks a tad beyond the Shore Path leads to a way in to the sparkling 25-acre Little Cherry Pond. In summer, there’s painted trillium and partridgeberry, and the top of the Franconia Range peeks up on the horizon, sights to recall around the campfire back at Moose Brook.
MOOSE BROOK STATE PARK 30 Jimtown Road, Gorham, N.H., 603-466-3860, nhstateparks.org. Camping May 1-Nov. 2, $25, no hook-ups. Day use fee $4 adults, $2 children 6-11.
PONDICHERRY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE Airport Road, Jefferson, N.H., nhdfl.org.
Marty Basch can be reached at marty.basch@gmail.com.
