1
Nehantic State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
2,138 acres26.6 mi of trail
Balanced Rock Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Lyme
Lyme, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 48% of Lyme is conserved land, roughly 10,450 acres. There are about 90 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Nehantic State Forest (26.6 mi), Hartman Park (9.3 mi), and Jewett Preserve (5.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Lyme, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Lyme outdoors
Conserved land
48%
10,450 of 21,931 acres
Trails
90 mi
2.6 mi per sq mi · 77 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
48
4,538 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
Hartman Park
Managed by Lyme Land Conservation Trust
316 acres9.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Jewett Preserve
Nature preserve
427 acres5.1 mi of trail
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Johnston Preserve
Managed by Lyme Land Conservation Trust
249 acres3.7 mi of trail
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Pleasant Valley Preserve
Managed by Lyme Land Conservation Trust
234 acres3.3 mi of trail
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Selden Neck State Park
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
565 acres3.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
7
Mount Archer Woods
Nature preserve
264 acres3 mi of trail
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Ravine Trail Preserve
Managed by Lyme Land Conservation Trust;The Nature Conservancy
133 acres2.1 mi of trail
Dogs usually not allowedTypical for Nature Conservancy preserves. Check posted rules
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 48 parks & preserves
- Selden Creek Preserve163 ac · 2 mi trail · Directions
- Young Preserve83 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve81 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Becket Hill State Park Reserve233 ac · 1.5 mi trail
- Banningwood Preserve100 ac · 1.4 mi trail · Directions
- Gillette Castle State Park24 ac · 1.4 mi trail · Directions
- Beebe Preserve81 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- Eno Preserve100 ac · 1.2 mi trail · Directions
- Walbridge Woodland46 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Slawson Preserve55 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Chestnut Hill Preserve43 ac · 0.7 mi trail · Directions
- Czikowsky Hill94 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Fehrer Preserve46 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Thach Preserve11 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- Pickwick’s Preserve18 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Chapal Farm Preserve7 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Selden Landing3 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Eightmile River Wildlife Management Area54 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Hand Smith Preserve23 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Roaring Brook Preserve7 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Grassy Hill Preserve4 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Lord Cove Natural Area Preserve246 ac
- Lord Cove Preserve234 ac
- Nott Island Wildlife Management Area85 ac
- Plimpton Preserve81 ac
- Hilles Preserve69 ac · Directions
- Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge45 ac
- Selden Creek Unit45 ac
- Idlewild Preserve43 ac
- Honey Hill Preserve37 ac · Directions
- Augur Preserve29 ac
- Clucas Preserve24 ac
- McIntosh Pond20 ac
- Ram’s Horn Creek Preserve13 ac
- Bloom Preserve10 ac · Directions
- Bob & Esther Heller Preserve5 ac · Directions
- Riverside Preserve5 ac · Directions
- Lower Pond5 ac
- Hamburg Fair4 ac
- Darling Road Preserve1 ac
Who protects the land
10,450 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 3,754 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 271 of 312 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
- Tennis3
- Basketball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Lyme and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | 47.6% | 90.1 mi | 48 |
| Old Lyme | 17.5% | 51.4 mi | 26 |
| Deep River | 22.1% | 34.0 mi | 24 |
| Essex | 11.7% | 33.5 mi | 26 |
| East Lyme | 20.6% | 58.2 mi | 27 |
| Chester | 35.8% | 44.5 mi | 13 |
| East Haddam | 25.9% | 119.6 mi | 64 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about 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 23.9-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.