1
Indian Brook Park
Managed by Town of Essex
499 acres7.9 mi of trail
Indian Brook Outer LoopIndian Brook Loop TrailMcGee Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Essex
Essex, VT parks, trails & bike paths
About 6.7% of Essex is conserved land, roughly 1,482 acres. There are about 70 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Indian Brook Park (7.9 mi), Saxon Hill (5.7 mi), and Saint Michael's College Natural Area (3 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Essex, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Essex outdoors
Conserved land
6.7%
1,482 of 22,041 acres
Trails
70 mi
2 mi per sq mi · 20 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
17
129 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
8.6 mi
2.4 mi lanes · 6.2 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
Saxon Hill
Park
116 acres5.7 mi of trail
FlowMojoFree FallExtendo
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trailhead
3
Saint Michael's College Natural Area
Managed by Saint Michael's College
239 acres3 mi of trail
Jeff Vincent TrailMike New LoopBlue TrailFr. Marcel LoopRed Connector
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
4
Colchester Pond Natural Area
Managed by Winooski Valley Park District
125 acres1.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
5
Mathieu Town Forest
Managed by Town of Essex
89 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
6
Woodside Natural Area
Managed by Winooski Valley Parks District
48 acres1 mi of trail
Woodside Loop
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the trailhead
7
Forestdale Natural Area
Park
26 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
8
Fort Ethan Allen Parade Grounds and Park
Park
17 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trailhead
All 17 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 17 parks & preserves
Indian Brook Park499 acres · 7.9 mi of trail · Town of Essex
Saxon Hill116 acres · 5.7 mi of trail
Saint Michael's College Natural Area239 acres · 3 mi of trail · Saint Michael's College
Colchester Pond Natural Area125 acres · 1.9 mi of trail · Winooski Valley Park District
Mathieu Town Forest89 acres · 1.2 mi of trail · Town of Essex
Woodside Natural Area48 acres · 1 mi of trail · Winooski Valley Parks District
Forestdale Natural Area26 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Fort Ethan Allen Parade Grounds and Park17 acres · 0.6 mi of trail
Pearl Street Park16 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
Sand Hill Park9 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Who protects the land
1,482 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 651 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 10 of 25 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes2.4 mi
- Off-road bike paths6.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
- Flow (bike route)2.1 mi
- Outer Limits (bike route)2 mi
- Out 'n Back (bike route)1.9 mi
- Mojo (bike route)1.3 mi
- Postal Route (bike route)1.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis11
- Baseball9
- Pickleball8
- Basketball3
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Essex and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | 6.7% | 70.3 mi | 17 |
| Williston | 13.7% | 61.9 mi | 6 |
| Essex Junction | 18.2% | 13.8 mi | 4 |
| South Burlington | 4.2% | 40.9 mi | 14 |
| Jericho | 11.4% | 37.7 mi | 1 |
| Westford | 5.1% | 15.9 mi | 2 |
| Colchester | 8.2% | 57.7 mi | 20 |
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 25.9-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.