Outdoor Activities

The Hillsborough area contains many large lakes and ponds and the Contoocook River affords recreational opportunities and scenic views. Fox and Low State Forests are integral to the identity of Hillsborough. Importantly, there are quiet back roads, forest roads, and trails for walking, hiking, and biking. Rare, small undeveloped ponds also dot the landscape.

Hillsborough-Deering to Bennington Recreational Rail Trail

This Rail Trail is division of the NH Trails Bureau and runs 7.7 miles along an old railroad bed. Parking is in Deering at the Deering Fish and Game Club. Follow Route 149 towards Deering, take your first right off Rte. 149 & go for about 2 miles, take the 1st right after the road turns to dirt and look for the parking signs on the right.

All Recreational Trails are Multi-use Trails. Users of multi-use trails may include hikers, bikers, equestrians, OHRVs, snowshoers, cross-country skiers, and sled dogs.

Recreational Rail Trails are Recreational Trails with rails in place and may have service-type equipment such as putt-putts or speeders using the rails when not snow covered.

Active Railroads MAY allow recreational use ONLY during the WINTER months (when there is contiguous snow cover on the trails) on some lines. Dates for winter use are determined by the NH Department of Transportation.

Please note: Different types of motorized usage are allowed at different times of the year on some multi-use trails. Please check to be sure your particular activity is allowed before using the trails at The New Hampshire Parks and Recreation website.

The Swimming Hole

This swimming hole on Beard Brook is a wonderful summer escape. Relax on the grass, have a swim in the cool water, eat a quiet lunch at one of the picnic tables or have a BBQ.

Gleason Falls

A small waterfall is located near the junction of Gleason Falls Road and Beard Brook Road and is a picture perfect spot for picnicking, wading and fishing. The Falls rush under one of our famous stone bridges built in the 1850s and are at their best in the spring. There are remnants of stone mill dam walls on the south side of the brook. Views from the falls toward the stone arch bridge are outstanding, particularly when the water level is high in the spring and during the fall foliage season. There is off-road parking.
Photo by Karen Booth

Fox State Forest

The Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest (Fox Forest) has been the State of New Hampshire's forest research station since 1933. The forest is a gift to New Hampshire from Caroline Fox of Arlington, Massachusetts. Miss Fox spent her summers here and had an interest in forest management issues. Before her death, Miss Fox also donated to the State a trust fund to finance forestry research projects. Presently the forest contains 1,445 acres, the Henry I. Baldwin Forestry Education Center and a farm house/office. There are trail guides (not to scale) in the mailbox in the parking lot of the main entrance. Hikers, bikers, and cross country skiers are welcome, and there are trails to meet everybody's skill level. Points of interest are Mud Pond Bog, Black Gum Swamp, & Monroe Hill Tower.

Manahan Park on Pierce Lake

A sandy beach just off Rt. 9 West of town is open to the public all summer and offers volleyball and good swimming with lifeguards. It can fill up on weekends. Public Restrooms are available.
Photo by Karen Booth

Contoocook River Trail

The Hillsborough Riverwalk, located on the Contoocook River near Grimes Field in southeast Hillsborough, is an interpretive trail fit for families and older folks to walk or bike. The trailhead is behind the baseball fields and ample parking is available. The trail starts east of the parking lot as an access road for the first hundred meters or so and then narrows to a footpath just beyond the end of the road at a sign that reads "Nature Trail". The trail is mostly flat and marked with white painted blazes. Posts with numbers and letters engraved into the tops refer the follower to a guide describing significant events or features at that spot. The Riverwalk loops back and returns to the beginning. A trail brochure is available at the Fuller Public Library which describes points of interest and native species.

Thompson Mountain

At 2,000 feet above sea level Thompson Mountain is Hillsborough's highest peak. The view from the top is commanding. The trails up are quite confusing and getting on the wrong one can mean a visit to Farrar Marsh or the Town of Bradford! Those who venture out do so at their own risk. Follow the County Road (turn right about a mile past Hillsborough Center on E. Washington Rd.) until it narrows and you find a red house on the right and a guest cottage on the left. A trail starts beyond the house on the right and ends at a stone wall (left of path). Follow the trail marked by piles of stones up past an abandoned camp always climbing up to the top (45 to 60 minutes). Be careful to retrace your steps on the way down!
Photo By Joe Ledvina

House Rock

House Rock is located on a 20-acre conservation lot in the northeast corner of Hillsborough off of Sand Knoll Road and just north of Kimball Road. The rock is a large erratic boulder, the size of a cottage, that sits on a slight knoll. A fracture has provided a large overhang on one side and a passage through the boulder. There are tales of people having lived under the overhang.

Farley Marsh

This 34 acres of beaver flowage is located in 124 acre Chute Forest. The area was donated to and is maintained by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests.

Farrah Marsh

A small dam on Sand Brook created this 290 acre marsh located in this Wildlife Management Area managed by the NH Fish & Game Department.

Bradford Bog

A walk down a long boardwalk reveals the formation of a glacial pond which was formed about 10,000 years ago. This bog is home to unique flora and it features one of the most northwestern stands of Atlantic white cedar. Peat accumulates at the base of the pond and rare, acid-loving plants thrive. Bobcat, deer, raccoon, moose, fox and many other animals inhabit the area.

Deering Wildlife Sanctuary

This sanctuary of 485 acres is located off Rte. 149 in Deering. There are four trails with mature, mixed forest, and old orchard, Black Forest Pond, beaver swamps and the old Patten Cemetary. Nesting boxes encourage bluebirds, great crested flycatchers and wood ducks.

Pillsbury State Park

Heavily wooded and sprinkled with several ponds and wetlands, Pillsbury State Park in Washington is one of the more primitive and lesser-known gems of the New Hampshire State Park system. In the early 1900s, many people were worried about the effects of logging on the forests. In 1905, Albert E. Pillsbury, one of nine founding members of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, purchased 2,400 acres to demonstrate proper forestry techniques. Later he deeded the property to the state "to be held in perpetuity as a public forest reserve." The park's diversity of habitats makes it home to a great variety of wildlife, including moose and loons. Crossed by a network of hiking and mountain bike trails, the park is an important link in the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, a 51-mile hiking trail that connects Mount Monadnock with Mt. Sunapee to the north. Canoeing, camping (40 campsites, most of them on the water), warm-water fishing (largemouth bass, perch, and hornpout), picnicking, hiking, and mountain biking are favorite park activities. History buffs enjoy exploring the park's long-abandoned and overgrown mill sites and cellar holes, remnants of early farm settlement and lumbering of the late 1700s and early 1800s when the area was called Cherry Valley.
Photo by Joe Ledvina

The following roads have been designated as Scenic Roads

Barden Hill Road

Designated in 1980, this Class V road leads from the Second NH Turnpike south to the Antrim town line. It broadly follows along Franklin Pierce Lake, where several private roads lead off toward the shore. Beautiful views of the lake can be seen from atop Barden Hill Road.

Beard Road

Designated in 1975 as a scenic road from its intersection at Shedd and Jones Roads to East Washington Road. Beautiful views of valleys, several stone arch bridges, and Beard Brook can be seen along this Class V road.

Danforth Corners Road

From Cooledge Road to East Washington Road, Danforth Corners Road was designated as scenic in 1975. This forested Class V road offers a short, pleasant tour of northwest Hillsborough.

Jones Road

Jones Road heads east where it immediately crosses a lovely double arch stone bridge. It then climbs past open fields and by several large homes. As the hill levels, it becomes more wooded with open views to the south over fields. It dips and then climbs again with Bible Hill Road leading off to the south. The road is paved as it climbs gradually between Fox Forest on the south and SPNHF's "Cottrell Place" on the left, then continues approximately one half-mile uphill to Center Road. Jones Road was designated, in its entirety, as a scenic road in 1973.
Photo by Karen Booth

Second NH Turnpike

Designated as a scenic road from Barden Hill Road north to the old Fuller Corner in 1980, now Route 9.

Shedd Road

From Route 31 just north of the Pierce Homestead east to Beard Road runs Shedd Road. From the Route 31 terminus, the road is paved a short distance to Harvey Memorial Cemetery at the south. From there, it changes to gravel, curving and dipping to cross Shedd Brook on a narrow bridge. It then climbs and curves up a short steep hill and continues to wind through the woods over a smooth gravel surface to Beard Road. There is one area on a hill with an open view. Shedd Road was designated as a scenic road in 1973.