1
Lake Saltonstall Watershed Reserve Land
Managed by Regional Water Authority
1,097 acres11.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Branford
Branford, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 21% of Branford is conserved land, roughly 3,728 acres. There are about 74 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Lake Saltonstall Watershed Reserve Land (11.7 mi), Supply Ponds Preserve (7.5 mi), and Saltonstall Mountain Preserve (2.9 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Branford, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Branford outdoors
Conserved land
21%
3,728 of 17,808 acres
Trails
74 mi
2.6 mi per sq mi · 53 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
23
132 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.8 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.8 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
Supply Ponds Preserve
Managed by Branford Land Trust
353 acres7.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Saltonstall Mountain Preserve
Managed by Branford Land Trust
153 acres2.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Queach Preserve
Managed by Branford Land Trust
203 acres2.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
5
Beacon Hill Preserve
Nature preserve
76 acres2.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Youngs Pond Park
Park
59 acres2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Short Beach Preserve
Nature preserve
44 acres1.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
8
Vedder Preserve
Nature preserve
22 acres0.8 mi of trail
Red Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 23 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 23 parks & preserves
Lake Saltonstall Watershed Reserve Land1,097 acres · 11.7 mi of trail · Regional Water Authority
Supply Ponds Preserve353 acres · 7.5 mi of trail · Branford Land Trust
Saltonstall Mountain Preserve153 acres · 2.9 mi of trail · Branford Land Trust
Queach Preserve203 acres · 2.5 mi of trail · Branford Land Trust
Beacon Hill Preserve76 acres · 2.2 mi of trail
Youngs Pond Park59 acres · 2 mi of trail
Short Beach Preserve44 acres · 1.4 mi of trail
Vedder Preserve22 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Goss Preserve14 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Foote Memorial Park30 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Town of Branford
Who protects the land
3,728 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 346 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 53 of 77 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.8 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis44
- Baseball19
- Pickleball8
- Basketball7
- Soccer3
- Football1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Branford and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branford | 20.9% | 73.5 mi | 23 |
| East Haven | 13.3% | 18.0 mi | 23 |
| Guilford | 24.9% | 154.7 mi | 61 |
| North Branford | 36.9% | 56.3 mi | 21 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Branford'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 20.7-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.