1
Housatonic State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
3,993 acres7.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Canaan
Canaan, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 51% of Canaan is conserved land, roughly 10,667 acres. There are about 26 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Housatonic State Forest (7.3 mi), Great Mountain Forest (4.1 mi), and Appalachian Trail Scenic Open Space (1.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Canaan, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Canaan outdoors
Conserved land
51%
10,667 of 21,143 acres
Trails
26 mi
0.8 mi per sq mi · 16 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
9
9,078 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 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
Great Mountain Forest
Nature preserve
1,782 acres4.1 mi of trail
Crissey Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
3
Appalachian Trail Scenic Open Space
Managed by National Park Service
163 acres1.8 mi of trail
Appalachian Trail
Dogs usually limitedNational parks restrict dogs on most trails. Check posted rules
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Dean's Ravine
Managed by Connecticut Forest & Park Association
11 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 9 parks & preserves
- The Nature Conservancy (Canaan Mountain)(Easement)34 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Page Road Swamp183 ac
- Nature Conservancy139 ac
- Town Of Canaan115 ac
- The Nature Conservancy (Canaan Mountain (Foster))(Easement)6 ac
Who protects the land
10,667 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 2,350 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 77 of 110 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 paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis4
- Football1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Canaan and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canaan | 50.5% | 26.1 mi | 9 |
| Salisbury | 40.2% | 56.6 mi | 44 |
| Norfolk | 48.6% | 50.2 mi | 13 |
| North Canaan | 20.9% | 10.6 mi | 4 |
| Cornwall | 43.9% | 52.9 mi | 21 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Canaan'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 20.2-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.