Find Your Adventure: ATV in NH
From surfing to zip-lining, from climbing to biking, local pros show you where to start for some of the Granite State’s most thrilling pursuits
Looking for an opportunity to get out and try a new sport or hobby this season, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Each of our local adventure experts will guide you through how to approach ziplining, ATVing, biking, surfing, scuba diving, climbing and whitewater rafting, complete with tips and tricks for each quest and recommendations for where to go.
Find More Adventures:
Riding High: Zip-lining in NH
Cruising the Thin Blue Line: Surfing in NH
Take a Hike: Hiking in NH
Find Your Froth: Whitewater Rafting in NH
Hot Wheels: Biking in NH
Wild On Wheels by John Koziol
NH’s North Country is a mecca for all-terrain vehicles
Jericho Mountain State Park is a 1,000-mile network of trails dedicated to motorized riding. Photo by Jerry Monkman
The Granite State is where ATV fans come to get wild.
New Hampshire has some 1,200 miles of all-terrain- vehicle trails, the majority of them in Coos County, which is both home to Jericho Mountain State Park — the only purpose designed motorized riding facility in the state — and also has portals to access an extensive regional trail network that will take you, if you like, to Vermont, Maine and even Canada.
And, yes, the 1,000-mile network, which is among the largest in the Northeast, is popularly known as Ride the Wilds, and it continues to retain that name, although not that long ago, the NH Trails Bureau privately frowned on the moniker since it was thought to encourage a certain type of aggressive riding that was less than desired.
Like snowmobile trails, most ATV trails in New Hampshire are on private land, and it is important to maintain the goodwill of landowners to keep the trails open. Maintaining that goodwill means staying on trail and riding responsibly, even though the temptation, as with snowmobiles, is great to ride fast and take lots of chances.
Like snowmobiles, ATVs are straightforward to use: throttle, brake and a steering mechanism to guide the direction of your vehicle.
That said, as NH Fish and Game reminds us, there are lot of crashes involving snowmobiles in the winter and ATVs the rest of the year, and many of the crashes are attributed to operator error and unfamiliarity with the machines.
The lesson here is to take a riding lesson and to take it easy out there.
An ATV is dripping with torque. One time, while I was riding with a Polaris factory driver at the event formerly known as the Jericho ATV Festival, the driver floored the accelerator, nearly causing the vehicle to stand on its rear wheels. Or so it felt.
Now known as the Jericho ATV Weekend, the event, which will be held this year July 31 to Aug. 1, includes events both in downtown Berlin and at Jericho Mountain State Park.
Like many communities in the North Country, Berlin and neighboring Gorham are very ATV-friendly. During the day, you can ride off trail on public roads to get to a gas station, for example, or a place to eat.
You can opt for stunning views, including of the Presidential Range to the south, and the Alpine Cascades waterfall in Berlin.
You can poke along the Ride the Wild trail in Cambridge, on the west side of NH Route 16, and the chances are good that you will see a moose or other wildlife.
The Jericho ATV Weekend is a great opportunity to ride at Jericho Mountain State Park and to explore Berlin. The event is also the place to talk ATVs with fellow enthusiasts, NH Fish and Game, and retailers.
If you don’t have an ATV, you can readily rent one from several business in the North Country, among them Northeast ATV Rentals in Gorham, which will rent you a two- or four-seat Polaris RZR for a minimum of two hours for about $200. The cost rises the longer you rent the ATV and is higher on weekends.
Northeast ATV Rentals offers an “8-Hour Side-by-Side Adventure” that will give you an experience featuring “epic climbs, mountaintop views, hidden waterfalls, a swim in the lake and even a chance to grill lunch or ride into town for a bite.”
Further north, Bear Rock Adventures in Pittsburg, will also be happy to rent you an ATV. The business promotes what it calls “the Bear Rock Experience” where ATV riders are invited to “embrace the thrill of the unknown.”
Out here past the notches, you’ll find connection not on your phone, not to Wi-Fi, but on the trail, around the campfire, with the land, Bear Rock Adventures says.
“You heed the wild call to go a little further and get a little dirty because you know there’s something out there, something worth discovering — even if it’s something that’s been inside you all along.”
Find your adventure!
Northeast ATV Rentals: Prices start at $199 for two hours. northeastatvrentals.com
Bear Rock Adventures: Open year-round. Prices start at $202.90 for two hours. bearrockadventures.com
John Koziol has been a journalist for three decades, from Connecticut to New Hampshire. During his tenure in the Granite State, the Meredith resident has spent many years writing stories about the North Country, including its outdoor
recreation industry.
