By Marty Basch

Lake Wentworth is more than 3,000 acres of beauty and a stretch near its western shores in Wolfeboro is a draw for mountain bikers.

Plus walkers, runners, dog walkers and a slew of other outdoor lovers.

A 1,350 foot causeway built with about 60 tons of granite lifts bicyclists and others above the water with a small cove on one side and a wide open expanse of gorgeous lake and mountains on the other.

Cotton y’all

The Wentworth Causeway is but one stunning point on a rising star that is the Cotton Valley Trail, a unique multi-use Lakes Region trail that also includes small motorized railcars that put-put along.

The trail extends about 12 miles from Wolfeboro—the town that bills itself as America's oldest summer resort— to Wakefield but only about six miles is really suitable for flat loving mountain bikers.

Family friendly, easy and with a nicely packed surface, the trail extends from Wolfeboro's Back Bay to the rural crossroads of Cotton Valley and Cotton Mountain Roads. It is within the realm of possibility to continue riding for another six miles through Brookfield on intact railroad tracks with high grass. But most easy riders will turn around and use the benches along the way to look for herons in a bog or turtles sunning themselves on rocks in the lake.

Lotsa stuff

The trail has several unique attributes. The metal rails are still there. So at times, bicyclists are riding on a packed surface between the rails. It also means riders will pedal alongside those rails on packed dirt. Plus, riders will frequently have to make perpendicular crossings over the rails as well.

Another wow along the way are the bodies of water. Riders venture by Back Bay and its water skiers, along Crescent Lake and then have a beautiful stretch along the causeway for some jaw-dropping views of Lake Wentworth with its collection of islands. .

It's easy to make a day of it as the former Boston and Maine line swings by an old mill site, public Albee Beach on Lake Wentworth and provides easy access to two Wolfeboro museums: the military displays inside the Wright Museum and the wonderful wooden boats of the New Hampshire Boat Museum.

Cyclists should be prepared to share the first two or so miles of the trail with many other users as the pathway leaves near the center of town by the Wolfeboro Area Chamber of Commerce visitor center in a former train depot and ventures behind homes—some hidden, others not—and by fishermen, model boat enthusiasts, texting teens and blue-haired walkers as it winds into the white pines.

Train, train

Riders navigate several wooden bridges over brooks and near marshes. At about the 3-mile mark a small handsome depot sits alongside the road. It is Fernald Station, once part of a tourist rail line that operated in the 1970s. Now it's home to the Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club and sports welcome shaded picnic table, parking and kiosk with map on Route 109.

The pathway turns a bit more rustic after the station—there's an outhouse—and is largely a romp through the woods with some brook crossings that feed into Lake Wentworth. Near the 6-mile mark or so is a boggy area that calls for bird watching. Deer, moose and beaver have been spotted along the trail too. Soon, the grassy stretch of trail is reached and also another parking area—Cotton Valley—where cyclists can turn around. Cotton Valley Station is in an agricultural area of Wolfeboro and once was home to a post office, freight house and telegraph office.

For mountain bikers wanting to get away from the flats, try a steep three-mile circuit that incorporates Cotton Mountain Road, Jenness Farm Road and Stoneham Road. The back road ramble has a bit of dirt road, nice hills, chewed up pavement, stone walls, stellar homes, one wicked downhill and passes through the historic district of Cottonboro.

Fund it and they will ride

As for the rest of the trail trail, it's suited for those motorized railcars to make their way about another six miles to Turntable Park in Sanbornville where a restored railroad turnable awaits. In winter, snowmobilers, cross country skiers, sled dogs and snowshoers can press on. As for mountain bikers, it's a question of  patience and funding.

No doubt if the money is raised, it will be built and they will come to ride it.