1
Shenipsit State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
5,303 acres43.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Stafford
Stafford, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 26% of Stafford is conserved land, roughly 9,686 acres. There are about 74 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Shenipsit State Forest (43.3 mi), Nipmuck State Forest (8.7 mi), and Culver Pond Nature Preserve (1.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Stafford, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Stafford outdoors
Conserved land
26%
9,686 of 37,388 acres
Trails
74 mi
1.3 mi per sq mi · 57 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
37
841 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
Nipmuck State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
1,410 acres8.7 mi of trail
Bradley TrailNorth LoopBradley Loop TrailWest Murray TrailEast Murray Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
3
Culver Pond Nature Preserve
Managed by Northern Connecticut Land Trust
191 acres1.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Hyde Park
Managed by Town of Stafford
117 acres1.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Nipmuck Woods
Managed by Northern Connecticut Land Trust
84 acres1.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
6
West Stafford Conservation Area
Managed by Town of Stafford
73 acres1.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trail sign
7
Dennis Pond Preserve
Managed by Town of Stafford
36 acres1.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 37 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 37 parks & preserves
Shenipsit State Forest5,303 acres · 43.3 mi of trail · Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Nipmuck State Forest1,410 acres · 8.7 mi of trail · Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Culver Pond Nature Preserve191 acres · 1.8 mi of trail · Northern Connecticut Land Trust
Hyde Park117 acres · 1.6 mi of trail · Town of Stafford
Nipmuck Woods84 acres · 1.3 mi of trail · Northern Connecticut Land Trust
West Stafford Conservation Area73 acres · 1.3 mi of trail · Town of Stafford
Dennis Pond Preserve36 acres · 1.1 mi of trail · Town of Stafford
Somers Sportsmen's Association23 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Somers Sportsmen Association
Stafford Fish and Game Club213 acres · Stafford Fish and Game Club Inc.
Sun Valley Beach Club188 acres · Sun Valley Camping Cooperative
Who protects the land
9,686 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 160 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 29 of 33 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
- Tennis8
- Baseball6
- Softball4
- Football2
- Basketball1
- Skate park1
- Soccer1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Stafford and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stafford | 25.9% | 74.0 mi | 37 |
| Willington | 11.1% | 35.2 mi | 34 |
| Ellington | 17.6% | 42.5 mi | 50 |
| Somers | 22.2% | 39.4 mi | 19 |
| Union | 56.9% | 90.5 mi | 8 |
| Monson | 18% | 28.9 mi | 11 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Stafford'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 26.3-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.