The Little Tooky Trail, on the Rollins Lot, was built in 2019 as a collaborative effort between the Hopkinton Conservation Commission and Boy Scout Troop 77.

The trail, which can be accessed from a parking area .2 miles down Little Tooky Road, is a 1-mile loop through an oak-pine forest. Walkers can find evidence of past farming and pasture land in abandoned farm equipment and old sheep fencing.

A recent logging operation created openings where raspberries and blueberries abound. The trail connects to the abandoned track of the Concord-Claremont Railroad line that went from Concord to the tip of Lake Sunapee.

For a longer walk, start at the gazebo in Riveryway Park and follow the Little Tooky Trail signs through the Village and the Contoocook cemetery to the trailhead on Little Tooky Trail. Visit the Depot Museum at Riverway Park to learn more about the historic Concord-Claremont line.

Walking Times:
From trailhead on Little Tooky Road: 1 mile, 30 minutes
From Riverway Park: 2.5 miles, 1 to 1-1/4 hour

The Sweatt Preserve Nature Trail is located alongside Old Stagecoach Road near Hopkinton Village, a dirt road that rises from Briar Hill Road up to Gould Hill. Consisting of a 2-mile pathway marked by a roadside sign, the trail leads hikers and snowshoers deep into the forest, over brooks, up a slight hill, around a loop, and back to the start. Nature trail brochures are available at the trailhead, providing an overview of the property’s history and natural features.

This woodland trail is a great one for kids, with its two footbridges over a brook, hidden away in a hemlock grove at the bottom of a steep ravine. After the stream and a short climb, the trail loops back through thinly wooded former pasture land edged with stone walls. The property is owned and managed by Five Rivers Conservation Trust.

Directions:
From Hopkinton Village, follow Briar Hill Road 0.8 mile to Old Stagecoach Road. The trailhead is 0.2 mile up Old Stagecoach Road on the right. Park along the side of the road.

Walking times:
Full one-mile loop: 30 minutes

This 73-acre property is located on the right side of Old Stagecoach Road as you go up the hill, just 0.2 mile from its intersection with Briar Hill Road.

The nature trail begins off Old Stagecoach Road where a small sign and pull-out marks the trailhead. The trail enters a mixed forest before gradually descending to a tributary of Dolf Brook. The trail crosses a small drainage way and follows along the stream through a canopy of mature hemlocks.

Scattered throughout the preserve are massive boulders, several of which are visible from the trail. At approximately 0.4 miles, a small bridge crosses the stream and the trail climbs the slope, looping through an upland hardwood forest before descending back along the stream and returning to the point of beginning on Old Stagecoach Road.

The Sweatt Preserve was generously given to Five Rivers Conservation Trust in 2003 by Nancy N. Sweatt in loving memory of her husband, Robert A. Sweatt. Robert was a decorated veteran of World War II. During his many years in the service, he lived in various locations around the globe. His love for his boyhood town of Hopkinton and his land on Old Stagecoach Road never diminished. He and his wife were committed to preserving this land as a preserve for all to enjoy. The trail was built and maintained by volunteers from Five Rivers Conservation Trust.

The 59-acre Smith Pond Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, owned and managed by New Hampshire Audubon, is made up of a diverse mosaic of wetland habitats surrounding Smith Pond.

This kettle hole pond, named for James Smith who settled nearby in 1765, covers almost eight acres. A kettle hole pond is created when a block of ice, buried in soil left behind by a retreating glacier, eventually melts and creates a deep, steep-sided pond.

Smith Pond Bog is open throughout the year during daylight hours. Although the trails are not currently maintained because of beaver activity, walkers can view the pond from the adjacent Beyer Property where an old logging road leads to a view the bog. The sanctuary’s primary purpose is to protect vital habitat for wildlife and plant life.

Directions: From Hopkinton Village, proceed 1/4 mile west on Route 9/202, across from Gage Hill Road.

The Rollins property, 48 acres on the north side of Penacook Road, just west of the junction with Gould Hill Road, has partly open fields that provide a view toward Mount Kearsarge. The view was one of the reasons the town voted to purchase the property in 2004 with money from the Open Space bond.

The property also has frontage on Little Tooky Road, where a trailhead and small parking area (.2 miles down Little Tooky Road) provides access to the one-mile Little Tooky Trail, and includes a section on the historic Concord-Clarement Railroad line.

The town has conveyed a conservation easement on the property to Five Rivers Conservation Trust.