A moderate trail. The trailhead is 0.2 miles back on a Class 6 road. Reminder: a Class 6 road is an unmaintained road and will usually require a vehicle with high clearance.
The first part of the trail is along a snowmobile trail with a slight incline, 0.2 miles to the pond. The snowmobile trail turns right and the hiking trail is straight ahead. Around the pond it's flat, with a small brook crossing over some rocks. At 0.7 miles, turn right back onto the snowmobile trail which runs past the concrete dam, then an earthen dam and back to the trail split, left and back down to the trailhead. The upper end of the pond where the incoming brook runs into the pond is tricky; you have to clamber over the brook on rocks. In winter, the rocks can be icy, and in spring, the high water can make the crossing difficult. There is also a section of the trail that is over a rock field. The beginning of the trail is through hardwood with a few pines, logged in 2005. The other side of the brook is mostly thick and untouched hemlock. There are many deer signs and an occasional moose. There are also many birds, and, in the migrating season, the pond holds ducks and geese.
If you bring two vehicles, a second vehicle can be staged on the Borough Road at the sharp turn on the traffic island, a second trailhead. At the Halls Pond trailhead walk out the Class 6 road into Acworth, just past the forested swamp, 0.8 miles to a T intersection (just past a large open swamp on both sides of the road), turn a sharp left onto another Class 6 road which will bring you back to the Borough Road trailhead. Total length 2.1 miles. This trail uses some private property and runs over the Acworth town line for a short distance and back into Charlestown, between a farmhouse and barn. The trail skirts some vernal pools so is strictly hiking and horseback riding only.
Visit Town of Charlestown online for more information or contact:
Charlestown Conservation CommissionFollow North Hemlock Road to Borough Road, then 0.6 miles to Halls Pond Road and straight onto Peter's Hill Road (a Class 6, unmaintained road: high-clearance vehicles needed) 0.2 miles to trailhead at clearing.
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