Off-Road Biking in Shelton

All trails located on City of Shelton Public Open Space property are open to bicycles.  The Paugussett (Blue Dot) Trail, however, is NOT open to biking because it is partially located on private property, in some cases with an easement that specifies foot travel only.  The large network of trails at Shelton Lakes is by far the best place to ride in Shelton.

Advanced mountain bikers:   Hard-core mountain bikers report all trails at Shelton Lakes to be easy to moderate for them.  In addition to using the marked trails, many bikers ride up the powerline and gasline corridors.  This is fine, as long as you stay on public property (refer to the Shelton Lakes map).  Please use caution on one very steep stretch of Dominick Trail south of Oak Valley Road: One biker broke his pelvis here! 

Casual bikers: We do not yet have anything comparable to rails-to-trails types of paths that are super-easy to ride.  We do, however, have some trails that an average bicyclist, equipped with an average mountain bike, should be able to ride without getting off the bike very much.  You will have to watch out for occasional rough spots on the trail:

Nell's Rock Trail: A 0.7 mile loop with just one spot where you will probably have to get off the bike a walk (stepping stones over a short wet area). About half of the trail is on old woods roads, all of it is level.   It connects to several other trails that are relatively easy to bike.

Shelton Lakes Recreation Path: 4.4 miles. Ultimately this trail will be like a rails-to-trails path, so most of it is pretty level, parts are wide, and a bit is even paved.  One difficult section is the part along Wesley Drive in Huntington Woods.  To skip that section you can use Wesley Drive-Scotch Pine Road-Crab Apple Circle instead (all are pretty quiet).

Two easy multi-trail routes:

1. Nell's Rock Trailhead to Huntington Center (about 2.3 miles one-way)

2. Bridge-to-Bridge bike route to Huntington Center(about 5 miles one-way)