1
Belding Wildlife Management Area
Managed by State of Connecticut
745 acres7.6 mi of trail
Wildflower Meadow Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Vernon
Vernon, CT parks, trails & bike paths
About 19% of Vernon is conserved land, roughly 2,180 acres. There are about 31 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Belding WMA (7.6 mi), Valley Falls Park (3.7 mi), and Rambling Ridge Open Space (2.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Vernon, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Vernon outdoors
Conserved land
19%
2,180 of 11,520 acres
Trails
31 mi
1.7 mi per sq mi · 23 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
37
71 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
9.3 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 9.3 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
Valley Falls Park
Managed by Town of Vernon
191 acres3.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Rambling Ridge Open Space
Managed by Town of Vernon
107 acres2.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
4
John S. Risley Memorial Park
Nature preserve
156 acres2.1 mi of trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
5
Webster Preserve
Managed by Northern Connecticut Land Trust
34 acres1.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Bolton Notch State Park
Nature preserve
61 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
7
Boulder Crest Lane Park
Managed by Town of Vernon
30 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
8
Box Mountain Forest
Nature preserve
70 acres1.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
All 37 parks & preserves
- Stickney Hill Preserve17 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Dart Hill Park16 ac · 0.7 mi trail · Directions
- Echo Ridge Property13 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Dobson Mills Historic Site20 ac · 0.5 mi trail · Directions
- Hop River State Park Trail70 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Walkers Reservoir Park13 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Shenipsit Lake Watershed Reserve Land96 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Camp Newhocka20 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Talcott Park2 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Henry Park55 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Town of Vernon Property2 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Central Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Rockville Fish and Game Club104 ac
- Rockville Spur State Trail50 ac · Directions
- Vernon Town Property22 ac
- Chelsea Ridge Open Space12 ac
- Dobsonville Pond7 ac
- Talcottville Pond6 ac · Directions
- Bamforth Road Open Space6 ac
- Legion Drive Property (Rear)6 ac
- Saxony Mill Park4 ac · Directions
- Tillinghart Property4 ac
- West Street Railroad Open Space3 ac
- Tracy Drive Property (Rear)3 ac
- Lydall Woods2 ac
- FHRLPV Property2 ac · Directions
- Meadowbrook Drive Open Space1 ac
- First Congregational Church of Vernon Memorial Garden1 ac
- South Street Open Space1 ac · Directions
Who protects the land
2,180 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 72 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 101 of 119 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 paths9.3 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball18
- Tennis12
- Soccer3
- Basketball3
- Football2
- Lacrosse1
- Softball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Vernon and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon | 18.9% | 30.7 mi | 37 |
| Bolton | 11.5% | 37.8 mi | 25 |
| Tolland | 18.2% | 58.6 mi | 79 |
| Ellington | 17.6% | 42.5 mi | 50 |
| Manchester | 17.6% | 101.0 mi | 52 |
| South Windsor | 11.6% | 29.6 mi | 50 |
| Coventry | 17.4% | 30.1 mi | 70 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Vernon'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.