Bicycling on the Hop River State Park Trail
The following information is quoted from a publication
by the Vernon Parks and Recreation Trail System in 1997:
Rails-To-Trails; Hop River Linear Park Extension.
This multi-use "greenway" consists of 5.7 miles of trail
along an abandoned railway (Hartford, Providence and Fishkill RR)
from the Vernon/Bolton town line. From Bolton, the railway has
been re-graded 15 more miles to Willimantic and is identified as a
Connecticut State trail named the "Hop River Linear Park Trail".
In Willimantic, it joins the Airline Linear Park Trail which is
approx 40 miles long......
Rails-To-Trails; Rockville Spur.
This multi-use "greenway" consists of 3.8 miles of trail along
an abandoned railway which splits from the Hop River Linear Park Trail
and heads northerly into the historic center of Rockville, Ct. ...
Our one day in Vernon was spent on these two trails, and what great trails!
Our favorite part of the ride was the north-east portion of
The Hop River Linear Park trail. When the improved portion of the
trail ended we continued to ride on the rough surface. It was REALLY
rough -- two-inch sized stones piled deep! But it was so beautiful up
there. In one spot you could see the confluence of three small streams.
We loved it! Ferns were everywhere and so was Mountain Laurel,
which was in full bloom.
As for where to park, there is a "Park and Ride" area in a Church
parking lot on Highway 30 in Vernon right beside the Rockville
Spur of the trail. We assumed that it would be OK to park there,
even though we didn't see a sign that said so.
One word of caution. Be sure to use tick repellent when you ride
this area. My husband had
Lyme Disease two weeks after our ride on this trail. His doctors are
sure he was bitten while we were there.
Click here to
read a journal submitted by an e-mail pen pal from Connecticut, a user
of this website. She is the one who brought this trail to our
attention. You will find much more information here about other
parts of the trail and parking places. We appreciate her sharing
this and hope you enjoy it. We wish we had read this before our
trip.
Please be aware that this site is not sponsored by
the Hop River Trail management.
It is simply our endorsement of a trail that
we enjoyed and want people to know about. To obtain further information
about the trail, you may refer to the
the Rails-To-Trails' new
TrailLinks.com,
and search for a list of all the rail trails in Connecticut and
check out the Hop River Trail link.
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