2025 Year In Review

With 2026 well underway, it’s time to look back at last year. 2025 was the Trails Club’s 20th year, and we celebrated all year long. Our signature event was

the Hopkinton Trails Day, held at the Hughes Farm property. Attendees enjoyed games, goats(!), guided trail walks, a scavenger hunt, and information about

the town’s trails.

We used the event to show off our big project for 2025 - the new Cattle Run trail on the recently-acquired Colella property (adjacent to Hughes). First noticed

as a faint line on terrain maps, the Club spent six months clearing the path and creating connecting trails back to the Hughes property. The final piece was

completed just days before the Trails Day event! The clearing revealed historic features long hidden in the brush, and the trail has turned out to be

enormously popular.

Monthly guided walks: We went out every month except April, walking in rain, snow, and everything in between. We stayed mostly in town, exploring many

old favorite trails and a few new ones, but also ventured out of town for one walk. We had groups as big as 20, and as small as 4. In total, 110 people (and

several dogs) joined us for the 2025 walks.

Trail work: We were busy in 2025. In addition to the monthly trail workdays, there were also mid-week workdays, regular maintenance, and several one-time

projects. The work on the Cattle Run Trail occupied us for the first half of the year, but we also cut a new trail at the Fruit Street property, built bridges

(LOTS of bridges!), cleaned up after storms, cleared brush, and more. We worked with other groups as well. In April, a crew from Dell cleared the drainage

ditches on the Center Trail and installed a new culvert. In May, a group of Hopkinton High School seniors spent their Saturdays clearing invasive plants,

picking up trash, and helping build trails. And we worked with Scouts from Troops 1, 4, and 11, sometimes on the monthly workdays, sometimes on Eagle

projects, including the installation of exercise equipment along the Center Trail. All totaled, volunteers contributed nearly 490 hours of trail work in 2025, an

in-kind donation to the Town of almost $20,500.

We brought out hula hoops (always a big hit) once again for Hopkinton’s annual Family Day in September, and in November, we had our annual anniversary

walk at College Rock, then recognized several members of the Club with awards at our monthly meeting. We finished off the year with one final workday in

December - spreading wood chips on the Hughes Trail extension - and a walk at Saddle Hill.

All in all, a wonderful year, and a great celebration of 20 years of service to the trails in Hopkinton. As we said, 2026 is well underway…we’ve already had the

first workday! Many thanks to everyone who joined us in 2025, and we hope to see you again on the trails. Happy trails to you!

[By the way, you can see photos from ALL of our 2025 events on our website, along with photos from our entire 20 years of activities.]