Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition
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Kearsarge Valley Road to Wadleigh State Park
Total Distance: 4.0 miles Estimated time: 2.5 hours
Total Ascents: 290 feet Total Descents: 200 feet
Overview: The portions of this segment of the SRKG that are not on roads have been named the Kearsarge Valley Trail. It leaves Kearsarge Valley Road in Sutton and uses old woods roads interspersed with interesting new trails, passes wetlands and through Shadow Hill State Forest to reach Wadleigh State Park in Sutton. The trail is marked by white trapezoids, which are oriented to show the direction of the trail. There are few, if any, blazes on traveled roads.
Finding the Trailheads: The eastern trailhead is on Kearsarge Valley Road, which runs from North Road in Sutton to NH 11 in Wilmot Flat. The trailhead is 3.6 mi. from NH 11. From I-89 exit 10, the trailhead is reached by going east; then immediately turn right and then left on the next road, Kearsarge Valley Road. The trailhead is 0.5 mi. on the right (behind the sixth telephone pole on the right side of the road). Parking is in a sandy open area on the east side of Kearsarge Valley Road (there is a sign for the Link Trail at the beginning of the woods at southeast edge of the open area). Walk south along the road 20 yd. from the parking area until you see the Kearsarge Valley Trail sign on the west side of Kearsarge Valley Road. The western trailhead is off NH 114 in the village of North Sutton. It may be reached by following signs to Wadleigh State Park. There is a parking area on the south side of the Green in North Sutton across from Kezar Lake. From the parking area walk south, and turn right at the fork onto Penacook Road. The park entrance is reached in about 100 yd. The SRKG to Chalk Pond continues straight ahead.
Trail: From the trailhead, the SRKG enters the woods, then turns right onto a gravel road, and bears left on the edge of the field where it then reenters the woods. The SRKG goes over two bridges and eventually turns into a woods road that is followed until it comes to an open area a few hundred yards from North Road (0.6 mi.).
At this point the Kearsarge Valley Trail (SRKG) turns a sharp right back into the woods road for 0.4 mi. to come out on Shaker Road. Turn left on Shaker Road, then almost immediately right and under I-89 on the Gile Pond Road (1.3 mi.). The trail follows Gile Pond Road straight ahead for 0.2 mi. then turns right onto the gravel Gile Road. After another short distance the trail turns left into Shadow Hill State Forest (1.9 mi.) and heads toward Gile Pond.
Waterfowl and beaver can be found here. In fall the hardwoods in the wetlands at the north end of the pond turn a bright scarlet. Gile Pond was one of the many ponds in NH in which logs were placed for storage after the 1938 hurricane. The ends of logs cut from trees downed by the storm can be seen breaking the pond's surface. Obviously not all of the logs in Gile Pond were recovered.
At the south end of Gile Pond (2.1 mi.), still in Shadow Hill Forest, the Kearsarge Valley Trail/SRKG crosses the paved Gile Pond Road. It climbs, swings right, and comes out at the intersection of Gile Pond Road and NH 114 (2.5 mi).
The trail crosses NH 114, turns left and almost immediately turns right (40 yd.) into the forest and follows the stone wall up the hill to Music Hill Road. The trail turns right on Music Hill Road and after 0.2 mi. turns left and enters the forest (2.7 mi). It crosses an old road, circles around Wadleigh Hill, then enters the Sutton Town Forest and travels along the side of the town wetlands. Side trails lead to the water's edge to reach good waterfowl and animal viewing areas.
The SRKG reaches Wadleigh Hill Road (3.7 mi.) and turns right (there is parking room here for several vehicles). It continues for 0.2 mi. on Wadleigh Hill Road, over the bridge of the Lane River, which provides views of Mount Sunapee to the left and Mount Kearsarge to the right.
Stone pillars on the left side of the road indicate the SRKG turns into the woods and Wadleigh State Park (3.9 mi.). The trail continues with a baseball field to the left. After 0.4 mi. the SRKG turns right onto a gravel road and immediately turns left onto Penacook Road to end this segment (4.3 mi.).
