Find the top rated birding trails in East Haven, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Our inaugural ride on the Maybrook trailway today. Rode from Lake Tonetta (Town of Southeast Park) in Brewster to Whaley Lake in Patterson and back, about 25 miles.
A real treat to ride on this brand-new trail, part of the Empire State system. The route out from Brewster starts flat and then becomes a very gradual uphill grade to Whaley Lake. Not really anything to be concerned about…very doable, and we enjoyed the gradual downhill for the second half of the ride. The route is very open – since the trail parallels the old (still there) tracks, there’s a feeling of openness – bright sun the entire way. The sections through Lake Tonetta, the “Great Swamp,” and the “Ice Pond” are very picturesque, with occasional view of hills in the distance along with the lake views. The best part is a 2 mile section along Whaley Lake – beautiful views of the lake and some very nice houses on the opposite shore. All in all, a great new trail – and in Fall this is going to be spectacular. A few notes: bathrooms available at Southeast Town Park (start of trail, adjacent to Lake Tonetta). I didn’t see any other bathrooms along the route, haven’t yet explored on-road possibilities e.g. nearby stores at the crossings. Bring sunscreen – very open, lots of sun. The route continues to Hopewell Junction where it picks up another section of the Empire State Trail – lots of info on the web.
Very smooth and safe. Great with kids and beginners. Lots of trees and not too crowded. Highly recommended.
Nice trail well maintained but kinda boring. I had done another longer trail in the area and this was a bonus. It’s great that the locals have this amenity but it’s not a destination ride.
Rode the northern part of this trail on 4/26/21 from Hopewell Junction to Holmes as part of my ride from New Paltz. Trail was scenic and smooth with few and easy road crossings. I imagine because of the width of the railroad tracks and the trail making this pretty much in the sun for most of the ride. Just keep in mind it’s not fully recorded in red on the trail map. Great trail if you want a great distance ride.
This is a nice even, smooth trail, mostly flat and very easy to skate. Just a few small hills, I can usually build enough momentum to coast most of the way up. It's not very long so it's a nice stop if I don't have a lot of time. Can be crowded in the evenings, after work and school, lots of people walking their dogs.
Rode the Maybrook trail for the first time this morning starting in Brewster, going north. Lots of gradual uphill going north which made the return trip easier. Beautiful natural scenery.
Road this entire trail this past week as an out-and-back from Brewster. It's in perfect condition with limited road crossings.
As previous comments noted it's not exactly flat. Signage states you cross the Appalachian Mountains (known as the Taconics in this area)!
In Brewster I parked in Markel Memorial Park which is closer to the southern end than Southeast Town Park. It has a short road hop to an on-ramp to the Trailway.
If you want to take the older section to Connecticut the new Trailway dead ends at Peaceable Hill Rd with steps down to the road. There is an unmarked road section leading to another flight of steps on East Main Street (bypassing an unusable trestle). Note that the trail ends about a mile south of the steps where the trail is being reconstructed (no signs of activity).
This trail is nicely paved, but extremely short. Great for a short walk or bike trail for LITTLE children. But, definitely not a trail for older kids or family bike ride.
Just tried the trail for the first time doing the first 10 miles from Southeast Town Park. In those 10 miles there was one road crossing and you can still go further without one - I didn't go to the end yet. There is a long gradual grade of about 500' over 5.5 miles but really not bad. There are a few spots with a flat rock as a bench but no bathrooms at all and nothing much around as far as stores or such. My estimate is that trail will be mostly shady before noon but will be lots of sun in the afternoon.
Very scenic trail though residential and park like areas including a nice section through a swamp area - bring your bug repellant.
Awesome trail. I consider myself a novice rider and I found this trail very enjoyable. There was the perfect amount of challenging areas on the trail...would highly recommend this trail to all riders
The trail is nice but swampy in areas. There is no parking.
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