Friends of the Conway Branch Rail Trail

08/13/2026

Back at it again today! More mulching and leveling on the .8 miles from the center of town, North. We welcomed Commissioner Crepeau New Hampshire State Parks who stopped by to check out the trail progression. Thank you for coming out, exploring the completed section, and talking shop with us.

08/12/2026

With help from the Trails Bureau this morning, we fixed our mulch spreader and were off! Board members, Phil, Chris, & Tia, have been busy mulching the banks so grass takes root along the sides of the trail. The State of NH Trails Bureau is hauling material and furthering the infrastructure toward the bridge. Take a peek! 🌱 🚧 👷‍♂️🪏

08/08/2026

Good afternoon fellow Friends of the Conway Branch. Another productive week of trail building continued, with our volunteers working with the New Hampshire Trails Bureau roughing out more of future trail.

The Trails Bureau continued to do the heavy lifting with the newly added Panther distributing material while our volunteer team worked at the Moultonville Rd. end. We hauled the last of the bank run gravel down the trail, filling and leveling the low spots, in preparation for the final surface of compacted stone dust.

As always, it’s a community effort, and this week we worked with our snowmobile friends from OVSC.

There have been some areas which have required quite a bit of material and that slowed things down, but with that section behind us, things should speed up.

Next week we will be seeding and spreading mulch. We are excited that the Conway Branch is roughed out about a mile down from the center and moving forward! -Phil, FCBRT Chair

08/04/2026

August's Exploration is all about...

Beavers, Beaver Deceivers, and the Future Rail Trail at Chain of Ponds Community Forest!

Join us on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, from 4:00-5:30p.m. at the Chain of Ponds Community Forest in Madison, NH for a guided walk along the Conway Branch Rail Corridor to learn how beavers have shaped this landscape—and how innovative "Beaver Deceiver" systems are helping protect the corridor from flooding while allowing the beavers to remain.

Register through the link in our bio!🦫

08/02/2026

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: we need two volunteers for this upcoming Wednesday & Thursday to help load and dump the gravel car on the trail improvement project on Corridor 19 between town & Route 16…you will be working with volunteers from the Friends of the Conway Branch Rail Trail and the Bureau of Trails…if you can spare the time please reach us at [email protected] and we can connect you with the Rail Trail Club for further instructions…thanks!

07/30/2026

VOLUNTEER OPERATOR NEEDED:
In order to speed up the work between town and Route 16 on the trail expansion we are looking for a volunteer excavator operator to help…the Friends of the Conway Branch Rail Trail will put you to work on a second machine they will then rent…if interested please send an email on care of our Trail Master Mark Fournier at [email protected] and he will pass the info along…thanks!

07/29/2026

The DNCR Trails Bureau crew and our volunteer team continued making great progress down the trail.

The first photo was taken about 0.6 miles from the Moultonville Road entrance. This wider section is planned to become a small rest area with a bench and possibly a picnic table—a great place for trail users to stop and enjoy the scenery.

The Trails Bureau crew has been busy with the excavators, grading the trail and improving the drainage, while I spent the day hauling material from the stockpile at the Moultonville Road entrance.

The two excavators are now working toward each other. One is heading south from approximately 1.2 miles into the project, cutting trees and rough grading, while the other continues south from the northern end. They're now only about 200 yards apart, and once they meet, we'll begin hauling more gravel down the corridor to finish leveling the trail.

A special thank you goes out to CVRTC for the use of their rail dump cart and to Tony from Ossipee Mountain Trash for generously lending us his tractor. Their support has allowed us to load and haul material while keeping the larger Trails Bureau equipment focused on the heavy work farther down the trail.

If you'd like to be added to our volunteer call list, please sign up through our website. We can always use another set of hands on the hauling crew!

07/23/2026

An update straight from the Conway Branch Trail from our Chair, Phil:

“Another good day on the Conway Branch Recreation Trail today. We worked side by side with the Trails Bureau, Mike and Geoff, as well as Craig, Chief of Trails, who showed up to lend a hand on the big excavator.

We split into 2 groups with one hauling the last of the material down trail to level out some low spots and extend the edges, while the others worked down around the 3/4 mile mark mining one of the sand pits as well as moving boulders off to the sides to shore up the shoulders.

With the stockpile of material at the trail head gone, tomorrow’s plan will be to mulch and continue down roughing the trail.

While the trail is still closed, please feel free to swing by the Moultonville Rd. end and see the progress. This is going to be a great trail when it’s done. It’s great to work alongside CVRTC and the NH Trails Bureau. Friends of the Conway Branch Rail Trail (formerly FORT) is happy to work alongside these groups to get this done!”

Watch here and on our website for more updates.

07/21/2026

Sharing for our friends in the equestrian community. Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the NH Trail systems!🐴

🐴 New Hampshire Equestrians — We Need Your Voice! 🐴

The NH Horse Council (NHHC) is gathering feedback from riders across the state to share with the Statewide Trails Advisory Committee (STAC) and help advocate for equestrian trails.

📝 Take the NHHC Trail Poll
📅 Deadline: August 16, 2026
🔗 Survey: https://forms.gle/XGofaR7LK6Skx4zz9

Your feedback helps the NHHC advise the State Parks Director on issues affecting New Hampshire's statewide trail system. Every response strengthens the voice of New Hampshire's equestrian community and helps protect and improve trail access for all riders.

❓Questions? Email [email protected] or send a Facebook message to the New Hampshire Horse Council.

📣 Please share this post with your fellow riders. The more responses we receive, the stronger our collective voice becomes!