1
Nipmuck State Forest
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
5,446 acres55.2 mi of trail
Bigelow Hollow Park Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Union
Union, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 57% of Union is conserved land, roughly 10,787 acres. There are about 91 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Nipmuck State Forest (55.2 mi), Yale-Myers Forest (14.1 mi), and Bigelow Hollow State Park (7.3 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Union, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Union outdoors
Conserved land
57%
10,787 of 18,963 acres
Trails
91 mi
3.1 mi per sq mi · 80 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
8
named on the map
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
Yale-Myers Forest
Managed by Yale School Forests
3,073 acres14.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Bigelow Hollow State Park
Managed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
488 acres7.3 mi of trail
East Ridge Trail
Dog rules not recorded
4
Nipmuck State Forest Laurel Sanctuary
Nature preserve
165 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 8 parks & preserves
- Camp Pomeraug167 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Mashapaug Pond301 ac · Directions
- Manchester Field and Woods84 ac
- Mashapaug Lake Boat Launch1 ac · Directions
Who protects the land
10,787 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 987 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 63 of 68 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
- Tennis1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Union and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | 56.9% | 90.5 mi | 8 |
| Woodstock | 17.4% | 29.2 mi | 30 |
| Stafford | 25.9% | 74.0 mi | 37 |
| Ashford | 31.6% | 55.4 mi | 23 |
| Eastford | 50.2% | 43.9 mi | 6 |
| Willington | 11.1% | 35.2 mi | 34 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Union'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.