America’s newest national park is a 235-mile ridge walk hiding in Connecticut and Massachusetts

It’s older than the park system itself

The New England National Scenic Trail runs 235 miles from the shore of Long Island Sound all the way to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, threading through 41 towns across two states.

It became one of America’s newest national parks in December 2023, but the trails it’s built on go back more than 50 years. You’ve probably never heard of it.

Millions of people live within a short drive of it. That gap is exactly what makes it worth knowing about.

From Long Island Sound to the New Hampshire line

The trail starts at Chittenden Park in Guilford, Connecticut, where you can see Faulkner’s Island and the Long Island Sound shoreline.

From there, it runs 235 miles north, crossing more than 100 public roads and passing through 41 communities before it reaches the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.

Of the 11 National Scenic Trails in the country, this is the shortest. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

It means you can take it one piece at a time, close to home.

Three old trails that became something bigger

The NET pulls together three trail systems that have been around for more than half a century: the Mattabesett, the Metacomet, and the Monadnock.

All three were named after Indigenous peoples and landmarks of the region. Congress combined them into a single National Scenic Trail on March 30, 2009.

The National Park Service manages the whole route in partnership with the Appalachian Mountain Club in Massachusetts and the Connecticut Forest and Park Association in Connecticut.

Ridges carved by ancient lava flows

The trail follows the Metacomet Ridge, a long spine of basalt that formed about 200 million years ago when North America was tearing away from Europe and Africa. Lava welled up through the cracks.

Over time, it weathered to a reddish-brown and broke into column-like formations. These ridges rise hundreds of feet above the valleys on either side, pushing up dramatic cliff faces along the way.

There’s nothing else quite like this geology on any other trail in the eastern United States.

Castle Craig watches over the Hanging Hills

In Meriden, Connecticut, you’ll find Castle Craig sitting at 976 feet on top of East Peak.

The 32-foot stone tower went up in 1900, built from local traprock and given to the city by industrialist Walter Hubbard. Climb it and you can see Long Island Sound to the south and the Berkshire foothills to the north.

The surrounding Hubbard Park covers 1,800 acres, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designed with input from Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect who shaped New York’s Central Park.

The tower a man built his wife as a castle

Heublein Tower rises 165 feet from the top of Talcott Mountain in Simsbury, Connecticut. Gilbert Heublein, a wealthy Hartford industrialist, had it built in 1914 as a summer home.

The story goes that he promised his future wife a castle on a mountain.

The design draws comparisons to Bavarian architecture, though what exactly inspired it is still debated. From the top, the Farmington River Valley spreads out below you, and the Hartford skyline sits in the distance.

The ridgeline had earlier structures before this one. Wind took them all.

Gray schist and sea-bottom rock near Guilford

Near the trail’s southern end, Bluff Head is an exposed traprock ridge where you can look out over Long Island Sound toward Hartford. The Guilford Land Conservation Trust has protected more than 700 acres around it.

Just below the ridge, the Broomstick Ledges tell a completely different geological story. That gray rock is schist, originally ancient sea bottom, pushed up and transformed over millions of years.

Standing on both formations in one afternoon means standing on two completely different chapters of the earth’s history.

The highest traprock peak on the whole ridge

Mount Tom in Holyoke, Massachusetts, tops out at 1,202 feet, the highest traprock peak on the entire Metacomet Ridge. Its cliffs fall more than 1,100 feet to the Connecticut River Valley.

The Goat Peak observation tower at 822 feet gives you a wide look at the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Range.

From Dry Knoll, another overlook on the ridge, you can see the Oxbow, a dramatic bend in the Connecticut River that painter Thomas Cole captured in 1836.

During spring and fall migrations, Mount Tom is one of New England’s best hawk-watching spots.

Where the river splits the mountains in two

Between Mount Tom and the Holyoke Range, the Connecticut River cuts straight through the Metacomet Ridge, splitting it into two distinct sections.

The river is New England’s longest, running 410 miles from the Canadian border down to Long Island Sound. Hikers cross it on a road bridge to continue the route.

The valley between the two ranges is part of the Pioneer Valley, a stretch of farmland, college towns, and river views that sits at the geographic center of the trail’s Massachusetts section.

Seven Sisters and a ridgeline that doesn’t quit

East of the Connecticut River, the Holyoke Range runs along a series of rugged traprock knobs called the Seven Sisters. The highest reaches 1,005 feet, standing about 800 feet above the valley floor.

Walking this section means constant steep climbs and descents, one after another. It’s one of the hardest stretches on the whole trail.

At the eastern end, Mount Holyoke’s Summit House looks out over the Connecticut River Valley. The range is split between Mount Holyoke Range State Park and J.A. Skinner State Park.

Bears, bobcats, and more than 400 bird species

The trail corridor runs through serious wildlife country. White-tailed deer, black bears, coyotes, porcupines, and bobcats all live along the route.

More than 400 bird species have been recorded in the landscape the trail passes through, and Mount Tom’s ridge acts as a critical flyway for migrating birds moving along the Connecticut River.

The traprock habitat also supports reptiles and amphibians you don’t see everywhere, including the marbled salamander and the eastern box turtle, both considered rare or of special concern in the region.

Ice formations and glacial potholes near the trail’s end

Mount Grace, near the northern end of the trail, is the highest point on the entire NET at just under 1,700 feet. An observation tower at the summit looks out over the forests of north-central Massachusetts.

A short distance away, Royalston Falls drops along Falls Brook in winter, and the freezing spray builds up into ice formations that look unlike anything else in New England.

Upstream, the water has carved glacial potholes and a natural rock bridge into the bedrock over thousands of years.

Explore the New England National Scenic Trail

You can pick up any section of the trail for free, year-round, and dogs are welcome on leash in most areas. The trail’s official website has an interactive map with detailed section-by-section guides.

Printed trail maps are available through the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.

The trail’s headquarters sits at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site in Springfield, Massachusetts, at 1 Armory Square. Day hikers and section hikers make up most visitors.

Very few attempt the full 235 miles.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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