Off Road Trails in New Hampshire – Jeep Trails, OHV and 4×4 Trails in NH
Want to learn more about the offroading landscape in New Hampshire? Well, you have come to the right place. Where2Wheel can help you find Jeep trails, truck/SUV trails, fourwheeling trails, OHV trails, and all other offroad trails for 4WD vehicles.
This blog will cover a brief overview of the offroad trails and offroading landscape in NH. To find more information and for full trail descriptions visit W2W’s Trails Map.
I am sure you have landed on this blog because you are searching for places to go offroading in New Hampshire. Lucky for you, Where2Wheel has several different trail listings of places to kick it into 4WD in NH! I am also sure you have heard about Class 6 Roads if you are familiar with the NH landscape, and we will cover these options for offroading, but we also have a few other listings that you might not have heard or found before.
We will start out with Field and Forest Recreation Area. This campground area is located in the Southern part of the state, about an hour away from Concord and a little over an hour from Manchester. Field and Forest is a private campground and outdoor facility area that also holds their own offroading events throughout the year. The catch is you MUST be a camper there to go offroading on the property. This is not a public trail area and they also do not rent individual campsites, you have to go with a group. This is a perfect spot for an annual retreat or event for any off road club or organization. They also work well with the Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs (nea4wd.org) and other organizations in their area. If you are interested in learning more about Field and Forest or are interested in planning an event, you can contact them and learn more on their website.
With this next trail listing, we will be moving to the northern part of NH. One of the tougher places around to go offroading in New Hampshire is in Jericho Mountain State Park. This state park is located a few miles northwest of the town of Berlin. It was updated a few years ago and since then they have added several new trails. Word of caution: Most of the 4×4 trails located in Jericho are very rocky and technical. I would recommend minimum 35″ tires along with rocksliders and skid plates for extra protection. There is an easier trail under construction, not quite sure when it will be finished, but you can contact the park officials to inquire about its finish date. A few other notes: there is a vehicle fee that needs to be bought before you can access the park – you can find this information on their website here. Lastly, they do have a few OHV rules that they request be followed while inside the park. Here is the layout of the rules and you should definitely read them before heading out to off road in Jericho.
Now that we have covered a few other places to go offroading in New Hampshire, we will tackle the Class 6 roads. As offroaders up north know, both Vermont and New Hampshire are famous for their class road systems – Vermont with their Class 4 Roads and NH with their Class 6 Roads. These are both great options for offroading, but there are a few things that you should know. The first item is what exactly are class 6 roads? In 1925, all non-maintained public highways were classified as Class VI. Basically what makes a road a class 6 road is the lack of maintenance on the road. The road has to have the absence of maintenance or care for five consecutive years before it can be classified as a class 6. This doesn’t mean that there are no rules nor is it the wild west. There are still rules, they are just less enforced and less of them than normal public roads. One of the main rules is that these Class 6 roads are closed from March 1st until June 1st. This is because the roads are extremely muddy during this time and alot of damage can be done to the trail and vehicles while they are in this condition. Most towns close their Class 6 roads during the snow and mud season to ensure the trails dont get destroyed. One of the more popular Class 6 Roads is Called Cat Hole Road. It is located up near Claremont and is basically a large open area in the woods with tons of mud to play in. You can learn more about Cat Hole Road on W2W”s Trail Listing.
If you are bored with the Class 6 Roads and trail options in New Hampshire, then you can also drive right next door to Vermont and check out their offroad landscape. If you would like to learn more about the offroad and Jeep trails in Vermont then feel free to check out our blog about the Offroad Landscape in VT.
Lastly, here is a screenshot of the W2W map of New Hampshire with trail listings (tire pins) and members (orange pins). Our goal is to help the offroad community by making legal off road trails more accessible. If you would like to help us with our mission and know more information about offroading in New Hampshire or off road trails in NH, then please feel free to let us know or add them to the Where2Wheel Trails Map.
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