Family Snowshoeing in New England

Snowshoeing is a winter sport and a perfect activity during family travel; it’s easy for all ages to learn (it’s just walking, but on bigger feet) and requires relatively inexpensive equipment. No special boots are needed and no helmet; poles are helpful, but not essential. And if you’re not sure it’s the sport for your family, you can rent snowshoes at many cross-country ski centers.

While you can snowshoe in your own backyard, it’s easier to learn on a groomed trail where you aren’t sinking into deep snow. Here are some places for your family to get started snowshoeing.

New Hampshire

Waterville Valley, easily accessed from I-93, offers rentals, lessons and guided snowshoe tours for all skill levels. Trail fees are also included in Winter Unlimited lodging packages. Another ski area, Gunstock Mountain, overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee, has rentals, trails and Evening Snowshoe Ridge Tours with headlamps and snowshoes included.

The Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center in Hanover has reasonable rental and trail fees, as does Dexter’s Inn in Sunapee. Massabesic Audubon Center in Auburn has beautiful trails, and most of the state parks have trails that are free to use if you have your own equipment. Try

Odiorne State Park in Rye, Monadnock State Park in Jaffrey, or Franconia Notch State Park in Franconia.

Vermont

One of the best cross-country routes in Vermont is the scenic Stowe Recreation Path that runs from the center of the village to Mount Mansfield State Park. Adjacent to the path, on Mountain Road, Pinnacle Ski and Sports rents snowshoes. For mountain views from a higher perch in Stowe, drive up to Trapp Family Lodge, America’s first commercial cross-country ski center. This lodge also has snowshoe trails, equipment rentals and tours.

Woodstock Nordic Center maintains woodland trails on Mount Peg and Mount Tom, following old carriage roads throughMarsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. More than 15 kilometers are ungroomed for backcountry skiing and snowshoeing. Equipment rentals, snowshoe tours (including scavenger hunts for kids) and lessons are available at Tubbs Snowshoes Adventure Center.

Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in Goshen has lessons and equipment rental in the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area, near Middlebury. Use of the trails and Outdoor Center is by donation.

Maine

Carter’s X-C Ski Center in Bethel, close to Sunday River ski area, has snowshoe trails and equipment rentals, plus pull sled and chariot rentals for parents to pull younger children as they snowshoe. Smiling Hill Farm, close to Portland, has open field skiing and forest trails through the woodlot. You can also rent snowshoes and poles at the farm.

You’ll find ungroomed trails for snowshoeing at Laudholm Farm in Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, and at nearby Harris Farm in Dayton. Both have snowshoe rentals, but you need to reserve them ahead of time at Wells Reserve. If a winter trip includes downhill skiers, Sugarloaf, in northern Maine, will keep skiers busy on its 162 trails and glades, while others can head to the Outdoor Center for snowshoeing and ice skating, too.

Massachusetts

Alongside the Charles River near Boston, Weston Ski Track has snowmaking when there’s not enough natural snow. You need to reserve ahead of time for both snowshoe rentals and trail passes. The ski track also rents out covered pull-sleds for towing small children.

If you have your own snowshoes, there are miles of trails through Back Bay Fens and elsewhere in Boston’s Emerald Necklace. One of the most beautiful places to snowshoe in the Boston area is Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum. You can roam the open fields and woodlands, and few places in the area are as beautiful as the arboretum’s extensive conifer collections draped in fresh snow.