Vilas Pool Park
Managed by Town of Alstead
37 acres0.8 mi of trail
Cold River TrailRock River Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Alstead
Alstead has 29 miles of mapped trails, 0.8 for every square mile of land
37 acres are parks and preserves, 24 per 1,000 residents. 16% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 6% of Alstead’s land is conserved, about 1,567 acres.
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
6%
1,567 acres · of 38.8 sq mi of land
Trails
29 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
37 ac
24 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
16%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,768 ft
Smith Hill
Lakes & rivers
13
3 beaches · 1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Alstead?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Alstead have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Alstead is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Alstead’s overall grade.
Conserved land6% of the land · typical NH town 19% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (29 mi) · NH 1.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land24 acres of park per 1,000 residents (37 acres) · NH 44 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home16% of residents within a half mile of a park · NH 40% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 60%
LessMore
New Hampshire towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 19%; the U.S., 4%), so Alstead’s 6% is ahead of 5% of New Hampshire towns, while its trails per square mile lead 10% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Vilas Pool Park, with 0.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Alstead Conservation Land
Managed by Alstead Conservation Commission
295 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Feuer State Forest
Managed by NH Dept of Resources & Econ Dev
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Paper Mill Village Park
Managed by Town of Alstead
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
1,567 conserved acres
6% of Alstead’s land. Who manages Alstead’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits2,042 ac
Other state land273 ac
Town or city152 ac
Joint109 ac
Not recorded126 ac
Conservation Easement · 2,279 acLocal Other or Unknown · 396 acPrivate Conservation · 26 acState Resource Management Area · 3 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,142 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 33 of 48 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gardner Local Other or Unknown | Other state land | 273 | Unknown |
| Newall Pond Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 87 | Unknown |
| Vilas Pool Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 36 | Unknown |
| Tibbetts (E) Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 24 | Unknown |
| Feuer State Forest State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 3 | Unknown |
| Tibbetts (D) Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 2 | Unknown |
Things to do
14 places to go in Alstead
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Alstead
Corona Beach
DirectionsTurtle Beach
DirectionsPlus 1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Alstead
1 playground without a name on the map.
Boat launches in Alstead
Warren Lake Boat Access
DirectionsPeaks in Alstead
Smith Hill1,768 ft elevation
DirectionsMoose Hill1,640 ft elevation
DirectionsCobb Hill1,568 ft elevation
DirectionsPrentice Hill1,562 ft elevation
DirectionsPratts Rock1,365 ft elevation
DirectionsCook Hill1,188 ft elevation
DirectionsCock Hat Hill584 ft elevation
DirectionsPlus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Alstead
1 campground without a name on the map.
Trails & water
5 named trails and 13 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 4.3 mi
Cold River Trail0.6 mi
Murphy Hill Road (unmaintained)0.5 mi
Cook Hill Road (unmaintained)0.3 mi
Rock River Trail0.2 mi
Livermore Road (Class VI)0.1 mi
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
1Soccer
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Alstead: May and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 33 | 41 | 54 | 66 | 74 | 79 | 77 | 70 | 57 | 45 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 3.7 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 5.1 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Alstead →
Next door
Alstead and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alstead | 6% | 0.8 | 24 | 16% | B |
| Gilsum | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Marlow | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Langdon | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Walpole | 16% | 0.8 | 40 | 32% | A− |
| Surry | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Acworth | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Alstead
Where can I hike in Alstead?
The longest trail networks: Vilas Pool Park, 0.8 miles; Alstead Conservation Land, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Alstead is conserved land?
6% of its land, against a typical 19% for a New Hampshire town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Alstead’s trails?
Vilas Pool Park and Alstead Conservation Land don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Alstead?
16,237 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Alstead or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 65 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Alstead have?
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Alstead neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →