Find the top rated trails in New Milford, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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These three contiguous trails—the Raymond G. Esposito Memorial Trail, Old Erie Path and Joseph B. Clarke Trail—occupy the former right-of-way of the Erie Railroad's Nyack and Piermont Branch. Each...
It’s hard to pick a favorite season to experience the Hop River State Park Trail, set amid the dense forests of Eastern Connecticut. Sections of the 20-mile rail-trail dive through steep rock cuts...
The Pequonnock River Trail is not a name you will see on the ground along this developing trail in southwestern Connecticut. Formalized in 2001 by the state, the regional trail pieced together...
The paved Charter Oak Greenway rolls more than 13 miles through the tree-covered hills and eastern suburbs of Hartford before crossing the Connecticut River and ending in the capital’s downtown. At...
The Stratton Brook State Park Trail presents a great way to work up an appetite for a picnic at Stratton Brook State Park, the first state park in Connecticut to be entirely wheelchair accessible. The...
While not a "rail-trail," the Hook Mountain/Nyack Beach Bikeway is a very scenic trail along the Hudson River in Rockland County. The southern half of this trail is flat and runs right along the...
A part of Connecticut's first bus rapid transit line, the CTfastrak Trail serves as recreational and multi-use path for walking and bicycling between Downtown New Britain and Newington Junction. The...
Tallman Mountain State Park Bike Path is partially paved and bisects the Tallman Mountain State Park. The route provides a motor-vehicle-free way for bicyclists using US Route 9W to connect with...
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Much of New York's 15-mile Heritage Trail, sails past wide fields of corn and wheat. The trail starts in Harriman at the Mary Harriman Park. From there, it heads northwest to Monroe. At Crane Park,...
The Middlebury Greenway provides a paved, off-road option for a self-propelled journey across suburban Middlebury. The trail touches on several business districts and parks, ending at an amusement...
When completed, the Norwalk River Valley Trail will run from Danbury to Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut, for a total of about 27 miles. Currently, several disconnected sections totaling...
The 3.1-mile Kress Family Trail in Roxbury occupies the former route of the Shepaug Valley Railroad (the Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad). The railroad was famously known as the “crookedest...
First a canal, then a railroad, and now a trail define the history of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Completed segments span Connecticut south to north, from New Haven to the Massachusetts...
The William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail is a local treasure in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and for good reason: the 13-mile trail runs through what seems like a perpetually green...
The South County Trailway is a zippy paved trail heading north from Yonkers through the Hudson River Valley communities of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Greenburgh, and...
The North County Trailway is the longest of the four connected rail-trails breathing new life into the former New York Central Railroad's Putnam Division line. The "Old Put" provided passenger and...
A dozen miles west of Connecticut’s capital of Hartford, the Farmington River Trail forms a 16.5-mile arc that connects to the larger Farmington Canal Heritage Trail on both ends. The rail-trail was...
The Bronx River Greenway will one day stretch 23 miles along the river through New York's Westchester and Bronx counties. Currently, 18 miles of the trail are complete in disconnected segments largely...
The first phase of the New Milford River Trail runs southeast from Gaylordsville via the scenic but lightly traveled River Road, through Sega Meadows to Boardman Bridge, a distance of about 5 miles....
Note: Per the State of Connecticut's website, the trail is open from dawn to dusk April 1–November 14. Eagle nesting activities can delay the opening of the southern trail head in Windsor Locks. Due...
Much of New York's 15-mile Heritage Trail, sails past wide fields of corn and wheat. The trail starts in Harriman at the Mary Harriman Park. From there, it heads northwest to Monroe. At Crane Park,...
The Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail stretches just over 3 miles along Long Island’s north shore. Construction was completed in two phases with the first trail section opening in 2009...
Located in the mid-Hudson Valley is a remarkable trail that is picturesque and family friendly. This flat, paved Hudson Valley Rail Trail stretches 5.5 miles through hardwood forests, over Black Creek...
The Ridgefield Rail-Trail meanders for nearly 2.5 miles through the forested exburbs of Ridgefield, Connecticut. The trail passes among suburban acreages, along a creek at one point, and past a couple...
The Jack Harrington White Plains Greenway was recently renamed to honor a long-time member of the city's conservation board. The trail's corridor follows the former New York, Westchester & Boston...
A dozen miles west of Connecticut’s capital of Hartford, the Farmington River Trail forms a 16.5-mile arc that connects to the larger Farmington Canal Heritage Trail on both ends. The rail-trail was...
The final passenger cars of the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad ran in 1958, but the rail line that so influenced development of this area still sparks nostalgia. The "Old Put"...
Just an hour north of New York City, the Timp-Torne Trail offers a scenic hike through Bear Mountain and Harriman State Parks with panoramic vistas of the Hudson River. The rugged blue-blazed trail...
The Stratton Brook State Park Trail presents a great way to work up an appetite for a picnic at Stratton Brook State Park, the first state park in Connecticut to be entirely wheelchair accessible. The...
The Railroad Ramble occupies a corridor abandoned by the Central New England Railroad, which provided service from 1871 through 1967. In Lakeville, the trail can be found just off of Route 41 behind...
It’s hard to pick a favorite season to experience the Hop River State Park Trail, set amid the dense forests of Eastern Connecticut. Sections of the 20-mile rail-trail dive through steep rock cuts...
The Kennedy Trail begins at the northwest corner of the 68-acre campus of John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers. The town, which sits 30 miles from White Plains and 55 miles from New York...
When complete, Connecticut’s Shoreline Greenway Trail will be a scenic 25-mile route through four quaint New England towns off Long Island Sound. From Lighthouse Point to Hammonasset Beach State Park,...
The South County Trailway is a zippy paved trail heading north from Yonkers through the Hudson River Valley communities of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Greenburgh, and...
Harlem Valley Rail Trail provides a scenic ride through rolling farm fields and dense woods on the bed of the New York and Harlem Railroad that ran from New York City to Chatham. The rail-trail is...
Coming in at just under 3 miles, the Sue Grossman Still River Greenway is anchored by the towns of Winchester to the north and Torrington to the south. It occupies the right-of-way of the Naugatuck...
Running alongside both the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers, the Derby Greenway demonstrates a seamless integration of Connecticut’s natural river systems and parks with man-made interventions of the...
The Kings Park Hike & Bike Trail runs for 1.5 miles between Old Dock Road at Church Street in Kings Park and Nissequogue River State Park. The trail is a town of Smithtown park and follows an...
The Cheney Rail Trail follows part of the corridor of the South Manchester Railroad, built by the Cheney brothers in 1869. The line was a 2.5-mile spur from the main Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill...
The Columbia Greenway Rail Trail offers just over 2 miles of paved, tree-lined pathway through Westfield in southwestern Massachusetts. The trail runs from Main Street, across the Great River Bridge...
Harlem Valley Rail Trail provides a scenic ride through rolling farm fields and dense woods on the bed of the New York and Harlem Railroad that ran from New York City to Chatham. The rail-trail is...
With vistas of the Catskill Mountains and a vast blue lake, the Ashokan Reservoir Promenade is a stunner. The paved pathway begins in Olivebridge, a hamlet in southeastern New York, and spans just shy...
The South County Trailway is a zippy paved trail heading north from Yonkers through the Hudson River Valley communities of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Greenburgh, and...
Coming in at just under 3 miles, the Sue Grossman Still River Greenway is anchored by the towns of Winchester to the north and Torrington to the south. It occupies the right-of-way of the Naugatuck...
The Klara Sauer Trail (formerly known as the Beacon Riverside Trail) runs for 1 mile along the Hudson River on the west side of New York's village of Beacon. The trail occupies the same corridor as...
The Pequonnock River Trail is not a name you will see on the ground along this developing trail in southwestern Connecticut. Formalized in 2001 by the state, the regional trail pieced together...
It’s hard to pick a favorite season to experience the Hop River State Park Trail, set amid the dense forests of Eastern Connecticut. Sections of the 20-mile rail-trail dive through steep rock cuts...
Connecting the Walkill River and Shawangunk Ridge, the aptly named River-to-Ridge Trail, which opened in September 2018, runs from New Paltz to the Mohonk Preserve. Begin at the Carmine Liberta Bridge...
The Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park follows the route of the Old Croton Aqueduct, which carried water to New York City from 1842 to 1955. Most of the structure lies beneath the trail and has...
The Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway is a 12-mile linear park that runs from the town of Ossining north to Westchester County's Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill. The trail is built on land...
The Quarry Trail is currently a 600-foot long unimproved strip of land along what is known as Quarry Road in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The trail links Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic...
The final passenger cars of the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad ran in 1958, but the rail line that so influenced development of this area still sparks nostalgia. The "Old Put"...
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail extends more than 20 miles between Kingston and Gardiner along the route of the old Wallkill Valley Railroad, which, in the late 1800s, carried produce from Ulster...
The North County Trailway is the longest of the four connected rail-trails breathing new life into the former New York Central Railroad's Putnam Division line. The "Old Put" provided passenger and...
The Stratton Brook State Park Trail presents a great way to work up an appetite for a picnic at Stratton Brook State Park, the first state park in Connecticut to be entirely wheelchair accessible. The...
A former right-of-way of the NY & NJ Railroad. Near historical Mount Ivy which was the center of a Quaker settlement in the 18th century. Hiking along railroad bed and wildlife observation and...
The William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail is a local treasure in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and for good reason: the 13-mile trail runs through what seems like a perpetually green...
The Cheney Rail Trail follows part of the corridor of the South Manchester Railroad, built by the Cheney brothers in 1869. The line was a 2.5-mile spur from the main Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill...
First a canal, then a railroad, and now a trail define the history of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Completed segments span Connecticut south to north, from New Haven to the Massachusetts...
The Southwick Rail Trail extends from the Massachusetts–Connecticut state line north to the Westfield town line and connects to the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail. Along the way, it travels through...
This is a beautiful paved trail for biking, running, walking, strollers, and wheelchairs. It is well-kept and offers scenic views--from rolling fields, to bridges, to train cars, to even an old cemetery. My husband and I biked the entire length and back on a gorgeous fall day. It was a really nice ride, but be aware that it is often a false flat trail. One other major thing to be aware of is that you CANNOT access this trail from Mary Harriman Park in Harriman. Your best bet is to access if from Monroe. If heading east on the trail toward Harriman, the trail comes to a dead end fenced off bridge with no access and you're forced to turn around and go back the way you came. Hopefully someday they will fix this and extend it into Harriman for better access. That is my only complaint about this otherwise beautiful trail.
I love to walk the trail and have since 1971, the cross over on Whitney Ave in Trumbull is Terrifying, The cars cannot see any one passing the road way until they are in the roadway. The line of sight is completely obscured by vegetation and the small sign in the middle of the Street??? I have seen people run right across the road with out even slowing down prior to or while crossing Whitney Ave. I personally saw a woman hit the side of a car as she could not stop running in time to avoid the car. This section is an accident waiting to happen. Whitney Ave. crossing needs to be safer for both motorist and trail user.
In April 2018 the Windham Town Council approved $1,300,000 for rehabilitation on the Willimantic River bridge behind Mackeys. This would include 800 feet of trail. It was put out for bids due on July 26th. I haven't seen any work yet. There is still the bridge over the Hop River which looks to be in terrible shape and may never be repaired.
Quick update that a stretch of trail less than one mile between Cornwall Av. and West Main St. in Cheshire is now officially opened, avoiding a detour onto Willow St. There is now a continuous, paved, off-road stretch of trail some 25 miles from Temple St. in downtown New Haven to Lazy Lane in Southington.
I just road the Airline Trail across the Willimantic River and then toward the newer ending at Mackie's Ag. Store near the Columbia town line. It was in fine shape. However, what I was looking for is evidence that the work on the Willimantic River bridge was started. I found nothing underway. I road to the easterly end of the Hop River Trail hoping that it was starting at that end. No such luck. Does anyone out there have any information on when this section will be started?
This is a really nice trail, most of it is under a canopy of trees, nice scenic spots on the river if you want to stop for lunch. I took my hybrid the full 40 miles out and back. Except for maybe a half mile of stones and gravel in Bolton Notch where a mountain bike would be better, the rest was nice hard pack dirt and pulverized stone. I saw thin tire street bikes on this trail as well. There are very long stretches on this trail where you don't cross any roads, and except for maybe one exception, most of the crossings have little traffic and are side roads. I also like the width of the trail. Two thirds of the trail is very wide. After Andover it gets a bit more narrow but there were also fewer people on the trail towards Willimantic. The only down side is that the trail terminus in Willimantic is pretty anticlimactic. You come to a road that that's it. No parking lot or grassy area, just a road and you know its over unless you want to continue on-road biking to Willimantic.
As of September 8th 2018 there is only one thing holding back the expansion of the Charter Oak Trail from Porter Street to the Hop River Trail in Bolton, the bridge over Camp Meeting Road. It should be the completion of just a few details that will allow this section to be open to the public: accepting the last bridges and some land scaping work. Once the bureaucracy is done, riders will be able to connect from East Hartford to Bolton and beyond. That's about 15 miles of the Charter Oak Trail and 20 miles of the Hop River Trail that will be connected, finally. Of note, there are two more bridges in Windham and Columbia at the eastern end of the Hop River Trail that are going to bid this fall. Once done, it will open a trail from the Hartford area to Pomfret CT. Be patient. What's another year or so to get all these trails linked.
I have been on this trail for the last 10 years. I love this trail just for the scenery and the simple fact that its 10 minute drive away. But I recently discovered that there is a connecting rail trail. This is abandoned Erie branch line in Greycourt that passes through Washingtonville and rejoins the Erie Newburgh Shortcut at Vails Gate Junction in Vails Gate. This abandoned branch line runs directly in front of my house all the way to the orange Heritage trail. So instead of driving to this trail, I can actually can ride my bike and connect two trails.
I am lucky emough to live 1/2 mi from the Farmington Valley Trail and use it quite frequently along with a few of my friends.
I used to ride my horse along this route before it was scheduled for paving for a rail trail. Back then very FEW people used it. Mostly young motorcross kids and horseback riders.
Since it has been paved - horses are now NOT ALLOWED!! (Too bad for us); but as I have moved away from horse riding to personal trail use I am SO HAPPY that I have this wonderful gift in my back yard. There are many many miles and it spans on into southern massachusetts as well.
The trail itself is wonderful; paved, stripe’d and mowed in my area. I have ridden into Mass and south to Simsbury. Before my section was paved I had to load my bike and drive to Simsbury and unload, reload etc. Now, I just hope onto bike (or walk) and go for as long or far as I choose. The scenery is mostly rural, treed and very few homes are seen unless you are crossing streets. I know there are black bears near our home (area) but have not SEEN one ON the trail (daytime use).
It is SUCH a marvelous thing - and I see dozens and dozens of folks biking, walking, & rollerblading. Its a joy to be out in nature!!
Labor Day weekend, 2018
I had a hard time finding the entrance at Swamp Road, it is only marked “No authorized vehicles” and, more ominously, “Police are monitoring illegal activities.” My 7-yr-old son was alarmed and frightened by the signs and the broken down structures, rusty dumped machines and the lack of a path about 500 feet in. Instead it’s a broad overgrown cement yard - too broad to find the narrow throughway to continue south. We rode around a bit on the broken glass and shards, and left feeling unsafe.
I will probably return without him to try again, as I would really like to find a path off the street to get to Trumbull, but I can’t recommend this segment above Pepper.
Well-maintained, great bike ride. Lots of really cool stops along the way. Beautiful views on the trail north of Hartford.
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