Southern New England Trunkline Trail (Franklin, MA)

The Southern New England Trunkline Trail (or SNETT) is an allusive beast. It's nearly as amorphous as its fictional cousin: The Bay Circuit Trail. For two years now, I've attempted to ride this trail from start to finish. It seems like an easy task seeing as how it's a linear trail and only about twenty miles long. However, it's probably one of the worst marked trails I've ever seen. Yet, it's constantly touted as some great collaborative civic achievement. Well, I'm here to say it's not.

The first few miles of the trail are seemingly easy to navigate. Although the trail is unimproved, portions of the Franklin and Bellingham section are smooth gravel. The trail starts at Grove Street in Franklin, MA.

Once the trail hits Blackstone, it turns into a construction project. I guess it will be nice when finished, however, the project is going into its second year. Maybe they'll start having birthday parties for it?

In order to reconnect with the trail, I had to cross the road and take the nearest side street that eventually brought me to a sandy entrance. From here, the trail gets very narrow and very rough. It also gets somewhat confusing because local ATV riders have branched the trail into other areas.

At last, when the trail hits Blackstone it empties into a senior living community. I had to really guess where the trail picked up again, only to then find a series of bridges under construction.

Again, I think it's great that the state is investing money in recreational infrastructure. However, I wonder how many people realize it's taken them this long to complete the project? I rode to the end of the construction and then got lost where the trail goes under the highway. Again, there are no markings of any kind to indicate where the trail disappears too. Yet, the DCR site makes the trail out to be this great recreational crossroads.

Overall, I've had better luck riding the trail from the Douglas State Forest end of things. It's going to be a while before this trail is the monumental success that the state claims it is.