New Column: Hit the trail! Each month, Jennifer Hansen will profile one local or one not-so-local trail run. If you have a run you want her to profile, please send her a note at jennifer.carol.hansen@gmail.com

 Zealand Trail to Thoreau Falls, Jefferson NH

 Route: Zealand Trail 2.5, Ethan Pond Trail 2.1, Thoreau Falls Trail 0.1 — and back

Trail surface: Large rocks at the beginning quickly give way to an easy gravel trail with occasional rocky segments. 

Percentage runnable: 100%

Elevation change: almost flat

Distances: Out and back 9.4 miles

Ease of Navigation: Well-blazed and signed trails throughout.

Parking: Zealand Trail Head, almost 2 hours from Lebanon

Website/Map: White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) guidebook. 

This trip report has a nice map, and my route is the second half of their hike.

Other users: Many hikers, some dogs

I have enjoyed running this trail twice so far this year, and I expect to do it many more times. It's  a nice shakeout run before or after a more strenuous hike or run (my first time on it was to stretch out the day after a Presidential Traverse). The gravel flats and boardwalks through the Zealand Ponds area, the striking beauty of Zealand Notch, and lovely Thoreau falls at the turnaround point make it really interesting and pretty. 

 Next Month: Closer to home...