The Yale Nature Preserve is in Woodbridge in New Haven Connecticut off Fountain Street. Its a well hidden peaceful nature preserve with trails that meander through rocky outcrops and pine woodland.
As most loops round this preserve take about 3 miles you can also enjoy nearby trails at Naugatuck and Regicides in the same day.
Full Guide
This trail is the most unassuming and unlikely candidate for one of my favourite trails in CT. It has no epic vistas, no waterfalls or grand elevation and yet somehow manages to be an incredibly peaceful. It somehow hides the road noise from the nearby Wilbur Cross Parkway and although being very small feels MUCH BIGGER when you are inside.
History of Yale Nature Preserve
There is no Nature Preserve sign at the entrance, no car parking and no sign that this preserve exists other than some scruffy chain link fencing. On a map this thin sliver of land is squashed between the busy Merrit Parkway and the Yale Golf Course.
Shonas Trail
Once inside the trail you can basically meander roughly southwards on one of a few trails. On the left you will get glimpses of Yale Golf Course and if you listen carefully the Wilbur Cross Parkway can just be heard behind a steep natural ridge off to your right. You’ll cross a wooden boardwalk through a wetland area and eventually turn left at a fork through some old open mesh fence gates past some tall reeds.
You’ll eventually meet a crossroads with yellow circular markings on them from here go uphill at the junction and follow the well laid yellow blobs across about 1.5 miles of undulating and meandering path that has been cleared by the odd mountain bike that goes through here. I’ve come to to call this part marked in yellow ‘Shonas Trail’ after my wife who regularly runs through here and found the route.
Foam House Ruins
At the south western tip of the the Yale Golf Course is the remnants of an old 1960s expanding foam experimental house. It can be quite a surprise seen from a distance.
Once you get down to the southern most part of the trail you have a number of options to get back. you wont get lost because you will always have the golf course on the right and Wilbur Cross Parkway on your left to help guide and orientate you back. In fact there is a path back that literally follows the treeline by the parkway, one through the middle of the preserve and one sightly to the east by the golf course side, all heading back to the entrance. You can also access Maltby Lakes from this southern area but remember you need a permit to visit Maltby Lakes preserve as its run by a regional water authority.
Parking
The preserve entrance is located opposite Seneca Rd where it meets Fountain Street in New Haven. You can park considerately on any of the side roads along Fountain Street.
