1
Canfield - Meadow Woods Nature Preserve
Managed by Essex Land Trust
259 acres5.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Essex
Essex, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 12% of Essex is conserved land, roughly 886 acres. There are about 34 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Canfield - Meadow Woods Nature Preserve (5.1 mi), The Preserve (3.7 mi), and Bushy Hill Nature Preserve (3 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Essex, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Essex outdoors
Conserved land
12%
886 of 7,544 acres
Trails
34 mi
2.8 mi per sq mi · 18 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
26
130 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
1.8 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
The Preserve
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
76 acres3.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Bushy Hill Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
120 acres3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Viney Hill Brook Park
Park
109 acres2.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Windswept Ridge
Managed by Essex Land Trust
50 acres2.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Turtle Creek Preserve
Managed by The Nature Conservancy
50 acres1.4 mi of trail
Dogs usually not allowedTypical for Nature Conservancy preserves. Check posted rules
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Johnson Farm Preserve
Managed by Essex Land Trust
49 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Heron Pond Preserve
Managed by Essex Land Trust
28 acres1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 26 parks & preserves
- Doanes' Woods17 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Platt Preserve26 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Woodja Hill16 ac · 0.8 mi trail · Directions
- Fern Ledge13 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Incarnation Center41 ac · 0.5 mi trail · Directions
- Pond Meadow16 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- James Glen4 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Essex Tennis Courts3 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Great Meadow43 ac
- Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park Trail26 ac · Directions
- Comstock Park12 ac
- Essex Land Trust11 ac
- Sunset Pond8 ac · Directions
- Hubbard Field4 ac
- Essex Park2 ac · Directions
- Comstock Pond/Stream1 ac
- Triangle (Deep River Road)1 ac
- Park Triangle1 ac
Who protects the land
886 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 167 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 57 of 64 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 lanes1.8 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball2
- Tennis1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Essex and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | 11.7% | 33.5 mi | 26 |
| Deep River | 22.1% | 34.0 mi | 24 |
| Lyme | 47.6% | 90.1 mi | 48 |
| Westbrook | 12.6% | 23.9 mi | 19 |
| Old Saybrook | 16.1% | 36.2 mi | 14 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Essex'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.