The Cunningham Pond Trails at the Cunningham Pond Conservation Area (Monadnock Conservancy) in Peterborough, New Hampshire is an easy 2-mile loop hike that features views of Cunningham Pond and follows several named trails.
Trail name: Peterson Trail, Cunningham Pond Loop and Carriage Road
Location: Cunningham Pond Conservation Area, Cunningham Pond Road, Peterborough NH
Allowed activities: Hiking, nature study, snowshoeing
Trail Restrictions: Stay on marked trails. No Littering
Hours: Daylight hours
Fees and Parking: There is no fee to park or to use the trails. The parking area is small, allowing for 3 or 4 cars to park at the trailhead.
Pets: Dogs on a leash are allowed on the trails
Accessibility: The trails are not wheelchair accessible
Sanitation: There are no restrooms or trash bins at the trailhead or along the trail. Please carry out all trash.
Length and Trail information: The trailhead is just off of the parking area and there is an information kiosk with a posted map. We did this easy 2 mile hike as a loop. The trails are very well blazed and all junctions of trails are very well marked with colored blazes and wooden information signs. There are some areas along the trails where hikers will need to cross over streams and will find it easy to do so using the very sturdy well-constructed bridges that have been strategically placed along the trail.
The substrate is fairly easy to traverse, especially at the start of the trail where drainage rocks outline the path. There are the expected trip hazards: rocks and roots along the trail. The hike takes visitors through a dense forest along streams and lovely open field with great view Pack Monadnock and Temple Mountain, then back into the forest and down along Cunningham Pond. Cunningham Road does not have any colored blazes, but is easy to follow. There is excellent marking when the trail turns off of Cunningham Road, and goes back into the woods and heading away from the pond. Sadly, there are no great views of the pond from the trail. The shrubs growing alongside the banks of the pond are quite dense so hikers will only get glimpse of the pond now and then.
The Cunningham Pond Conservation Area is under the stewardship of the Monadnock Conservancy. There are roughly 100 acres on Cunningham Pond in Peterborough, New Hampshire, are now permanently protected and open to the public as a recreation area.
A trail map can be downloaded from the Monadnock Conservancy website or by following the link below:
