For those unfamiliar with the trail, it is about 8.5 miles (the original part of it anyway) of paved-over railroad lines, (with some crushed glass thrown in to give the pavement a nice 'sparkly' effect). The trail runs serenely from a parking area near the Calvin Coolidge Bridge in Northampton, across an old railroad bridge over the Connecticut River, through Hadley farmlands, behind the Hampshire Mall, by Amherst College, through beaver inhabited wetlands, to the outskirts of Belchertown. Beautiful vistas, tree canopies and friendly people all the way. Check out some pics from my 'archives':
(The Girl in the pics will be a recurring feature....)
The trail was extended a few years ago on the Amherst end by about a mile, and right now a connector is being constructed to link the main trail to another one that goes about 3.5 miles from Northampton through Florence to Look Park:
The trail is pretty flat throughout, and on a nice day you'll see plenty of rollerbladers, walkers and families along the way. Some areas of the pavement are showing some wear, with some cracking and buckling mainly due to roots from the trees along its length. A repaving and widening of the trail is being discussed by the powers that be though, from what I've read in the Gazette.
Here's a good link with lots more info on this great trail:
http://www.hadleyonline.com/railtrail/
