Paddling near Manchester, NH

Set in Hillsborough County, Manchester straddles the Merrimack River, which runs 117 miles from Franklin, NH to Newburyport, MA through farmland, forest, and old mill corridors. The river is the backbone of local paddling: a 5.3-mile Class I–II+(III) whitewater corridor below the Amoskeag Dam plus calm flatwater shuttles. Lake Massabesic, the city's 2,500-acre municipal reservoir, anchors the flatwater scene, with Pawtuckaway Lake a short drive southeast.