Rye - Odiorne Point SP and the Urban Forestry Center (May 9)

Odiorne Point looks east towards Europe, bordering the the south outlet of Portsmouth Harbor. Stately summer homes graced it until the US military conscripted it in WW II, constructing several enormous artillery batteries that I assume were intended to deter U-boats. Their impressive ruins can be explored by the network of trails that criss-cross Odiorne Point State Park. Some of these follow the shoreline, and you walk nearly to the end of Frost Point jetty, which gives you a good view of Portsmouth Lighthouse. You'll also pass a memorial marking the first landfall in NH of English settlers, in 1623 - the Granite State's Plymouth Rock.

Two miles west, the Urban Forestry Center maintains a couple of miles of attractively varied trails through the woodlands that border Sagamore Creek and its salt-marshes, to their south.

Combining these, you can fill an enjoyable morning or afternoon with about 5 miles' worth of very diverse terrain. Keep an eye out for the poison ivy that thrives in both of these, however.