1
Nehantic State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
1,616 acres13.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · East Lyme
East Lyme, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 21% of East Lyme is conserved land, roughly 5,492 acres. There are about 58 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Nehantic State Forest (13.3 mi), Rocky Neck State Park (11.7 mi), and Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve (8.9 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in East Lyme, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
East Lyme outdoors
Conserved land
21%
5,492 of 26,721 acres
Trails
58 mi
1.4 mi per sq mi · 39 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
27
293 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
4.5 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 1.2 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
Rocky Neck State Park
Nature preserve
1,183 acres11.7 mi of trail
Old Route 156
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve
Managed by Town of East Lyme
451 acres8.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
The Sheffield Scientific School-Yale University
Nature preserve
1,660 acres4 mi of trail
Aunt Ruth's Turnpike
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Darrow Pond Property
Managed by Town of East Lyme
300 acres3.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Ravenswood Tract
Managed by East Lyme Land Trust
27 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
McCook Point Park
Managed by Town of East Lyme Parks & Recreation
22 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Cini Memorial Park
Park
5 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 27 parks & preserves
- Veterans Memorial Field9 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Hole-in-the-Wall Beach2 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Nehantic Nature Preserve292 ac
- Hathaway Farms151 ac
- Bobrow Property134 ac
- Hilles Preserve126 ac
- Pattagansett Marshes41 ac
- Rosecliff Tract27 ac · Directions
- Farm Meadow Road Tract27 ac
- Beaver Brook Tract12 ac
- Town Open Space (Corey Lane)6 ac
- Irvingdell Place Open Space4 ac
- Pine Grove Ballfield3 ac
- Bride Brook Wildlife Sanctuary3 ac · Directions
- Glendenning Field1 ac
- Town Open Space (Lunde, Mabry Property)1 ac · Directions
- Town Open Space (Bramblebush Drive)1 ac
- Town Open Space (Southeast Of Brainard Road)1 ac
- Gorton Pond Boat Launch1 ac
Who protects the land
5,492 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 261 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 61 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 paths1.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes3.3 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis20
- Baseball10
- Basketball6
- Soccer5
- Pickleball3
- Football2
- Multi-sport1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
East Lyme and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about East Lyme'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 25.6-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.