Find the top rated birding trails in Old Saybrook, 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.
This trail is beautiful in the fall. Well maintained and mostly paved. Its a smooth ride but gets a bit rocky crossing between bolton and vernon. Other than that this trail is amazing. Can be a bit crowded on weekends though
After heavy rain on April 16th, the trail along the Willimantic River is temporarily flooded and impassable,
The wife and I are getting back into biking and this trail is great for the beginner/novice. There are slight inclines which reminded us on why we are taking it slow to get back into shape for more challenging trails as the weather improves.
I am fairly new at skating, so I am always on the lookout for nice trails to try. Near the park itself, the skating is great. It is fairly smooth, has nice wide paths, and only a little bit of hill. As I went further from the main park however, it was almost entirely up hill, and there were several bridges that may not be too bad normally, but they are rougher and have lips that prevent just coasting onto them. On this particular day it had snowed recently so while the paths were dry, the bridges were covered in slush and very hard to do anything but carefully walk on while holding the railings. It took me a long time just to go half a mile because of the slope and bridges, and then when I decided to turn around, the hill was so steep, I frequently had to go into the grass to avoid going too fast. Normally I would just ride hills like that out, but the path was rather curvy, and there always seemed to be a rough bridge at the bottom. My brakes were useless. If you are an advanced skater, this may be a fun challenge, but for me, it was more trouble that it was worth. Nice park/trail for other purposes though.
I have used this trail for many purposes. First off, I love finding dog parks and having one right on this trail is a great asset. While it is not my favorite, and dogs being there is rather hit or miss most days, it is still functional for what it is and my dog enjoys going there before or after our walks. There are also a few places where the dogs can access the water if they are into swimming.
Second, it is a pleasant walking trail that is both scenic and urban. It leads from the dog park, follows the river, and into downtown Putnam where lots of shops, restaurants, and more await. As a dog trainer, I highly recommend the trail because you get all kinds of training done in one location (dog on dog greeting, urban walking, trail walking, and socialization with all kinds of people and places).
Also, I recently took up Inline Skating, and this trail is perfect for it! It is smooth all the way, and while there are a couple hills, they aren't very hard to go up or down. I couldn't be happier with my skating experience here.
Lastly there is always a lot of available parking at various points along the trail: at the dog park, near two river access points, near picnic areas, near a band stand, and of course in downtown Putnam itself. It is so convenient! I love this trail and visit it often.
Went for the first time yesterday. it was beautiful. Nice and wide, not over-crowded. some hills for a bit of a challenge and best part is that I was able to bring my fur baby in a safe walking environment . .
very safe plenty of hills good visibility nice and wide
It's a fantastic trail. I went after a snowstorm a few days after and to my surprise the trail itself was nice and clean, snow cleared! It runs along the Quinebaug River and it is a very peaceful place for a walk. I have not completed this trail seeing how we just started walking but will look forwarded to completing this trail. Great place for a bike ride, Walk, Run, skate, strollers. All paved once you get to the trail.
The new portion heading under the Merritt Parkway entrances (via tunnels) are installed and old train bridge over Rt 15 is now open and it's complete.
It is a continuous trail from Bridgeport (Beardsley Park) to Newtown.
Great work in completing this section.
Now we need to get Newtown on board to extend it.
The previous reviewer indicated there was standing water on the trail in Andover. This is due to frost-thaw cycle that starts in November. The stone dust trails become very mucky once this starts and makes cycling a bit harder and messier. Paving would solve the problem.
This trail is great; what a gem. I can see why the locals refer to it as a favorite. The two reasons we didn't rate it a 5 is the standing water on a couple sections near Andover, CT (there's been no rain in days) and secondly, for a 3-wheeled recumbent trike -- the un-passable automobile barriers at the road crossings (had to carry our trike over the stones adjacent to the barrier). The trail has a few areas with small grades but for the most-part is really flat. The trail surface is hard packed, we saw numerous skinny wheeled street bikes experiencing no difficulties once so ever. The trail is heavily used but everyone we encountered was respectful of other users right-of-way. My wife rode the trail on a recumbent trike and I on a Mt bike.
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