1
Shenipsit State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
1,545 acres24.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Ellington
Ellington, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 18% of Ellington is conserved land, roughly 3,861 acres. There are about 43 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Shenipsit State Forest (24.8 mi), Pinney Street Open Space (1.2 mi), and Ernie Boothroyd Nature Preserve (1.2 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Ellington, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Ellington outdoors
Conserved land
18%
3,861 of 21,973 acres
Trails
43 mi
1.2 mi per sq mi · 31 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
50
235 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
Pinney Street Open Space
Managed by Town of Ellington
69 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Ernie Boothroyd Nature Preserve
Managed by Northern Connecticut Land Trust
57 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
4
Shenipsit Street Open Space
Managed by Town of Ellington
63 acres1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trail sign
5
Ellington Highlands
Managed by Town of Ellington
30 acres0.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Kimball Forest
Managed by Town of Ellington
63 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Shenipsit Lake Watershed Reserve Land
Managed by Connecticut Water Company
312 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
8
Shenipsit Woods Preserve
Managed by Northern Connecticut Land Trust
39 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 50 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 50 parks & preserves
Shenipsit State Forest1,545 acres · 24.8 mi of trail · Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Pinney Street Open Space69 acres · 1.2 mi of trail · Town of Ellington
Ernie Boothroyd Nature Preserve57 acres · 1.2 mi of trail · Northern Connecticut Land Trust
Shenipsit Street Open Space63 acres · 1 mi of trail · Town of Ellington
Ellington Highlands30 acres · 0.9 mi of trail · Town of Ellington
Kimball Forest63 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Town of Ellington
Shenipsit Lake Watershed Reserve Land312 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Connecticut Water Company
Shenipsit Woods Preserve39 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · Northern Connecticut Land Trust
Arbor Park5 acres · 0.4 mi of trail · Town of Ellington
Meyers Farm Preserve73 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Northern Connecticut Land Trust
Who protects the land
3,861 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 862 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 86 of 113 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
- Soccer11
- Tennis10
- Baseball7
- Basketball5
- Softball4
- Football3
- Lacrosse2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Ellington and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellington | 17.6% | 42.5 mi | 50 |
| Tolland | 18.2% | 58.6 mi | 79 |
| East Windsor | 11% | 13.6 mi | 10 |
| Willington | 11.1% | 35.2 mi | 34 |
| Stafford | 25.9% | 74.0 mi | 37 |
| Vernon | 18.9% | 30.7 mi | 37 |
| Somers | 22.2% | 39.4 mi | 19 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Ellington'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 27.9-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.