1
Collis P. Huntington State Park
Nature preserve
417 acres9.4 mi of trail
BlueGreen
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Bethel
Bethel, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 14% of Bethel is conserved land, roughly 1,478 acres. There are about 27 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Collis P. Huntington State Park (9.4 mi), Stephenson Preserve (1.8 mi), and Overlook Park (1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Bethel, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Bethel outdoors
Conserved land
14%
1,478 of 10,824 acres
Trails
27 mi
1.6 mi per sq mi · 12 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
9
71 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
8.6 mi
1.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Stephenson Preserve
Managed by Redding Land Trust
129 acres1.8 mi of trail
Stephenson TrailPond Loop
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Overlook Park
Park
20 acres1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
The Nature Conservancy Wolfpits Nature Preserve (Owned)
Managed by The Nature Conservancy
59 acres
Dogs usually not allowedTypical for Nature Conservancy preserves. Check posted rules
No trailhead mapped yet
All 9 parks & preserves
Collis P. Huntington State Park417 acres · 9.4 mi of trail
Stephenson Preserve129 acres · 1.8 mi of trail · Redding Land Trust
Overlook Park20 acres · 1 mi of trail
Putnam Memorial State Park21 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Joan Plishner Wildlife Preserve4 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Redding Land Trust
The Nature Conservancy Wolfpits Nature Preserve (Owned)59 acres · The Nature Conservancy
Meckauer Park16 acres · Town of Bethel
Bennett Memorial Park6 acres · Town of Bethel
Parloa Park4 acres
Who protects the land
1,478 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 135 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 87 of 94 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes1.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes7.7 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis12
- Basketball12
- Baseball11
- Soccer6
- Tracks2
- Lacrosse2
- Football1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Bethel and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel | 13.7% | 26.8 mi | 9 |
| Danbury | 14.8% | 47.5 mi | 25 |
| Redding | 29.6% | 75.6 mi | 46 |
| Brookfield | 11.5% | 19.4 mi | 20 |
| Newtown | 16.2% | 63.4 mi | 72 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Bethel's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.