The Mclean Game Refuge Trails are a total of 17.5 miles of trails in a privately owned nature reserve near Granby named after their founder and original owner. There are 4400 acres of forest, fields and streams and is open from 8am to 8pm in the summer. The landscape is heavily shaped by Glaciers in the past and now known for its wide range of and diversity of birdlife.
In Depth Guide
This nature preserve is a little known gem in CT. It actually has a little bit of everything you can find in CT from a waterfall, lakeside cabin, rocky lookout and peaceful quiet woodland. With a dizzying number of very short trails we combined some of the most prominent CFPA blue blazed trails into one big 11 mile loop trail that’s shaped like 2 figure of 8s with the car parked in the middle giving you the option to choose any or all of the 4 main loops we created. Just be warned the blaze marking are aged and hard to see in some places so make sure you bring a map with you.
George Mclean was the 59th Governor of Connecticut and donated the refuge after he passed away.
You may also be interested in my bigger guide to the Best Trails of CT here.
Lower Trail 0.4 Miles
Our trail was supposed to start with Lower Trail but it is effectively gone ( despite the CFPA walk book saying otherwise) so we used a track to get along to the Spring Pond Trail.
Spring Pond Trail
After the Lower Trail area you get to spring pond which has a little camping cabin near the northern tip.
Creek Trail 0.3 miles
After the pond we took the Creek Trail which had a thin plank crossing over the widest part of the creek.
Blue Loop Trail 2.1 Miles
After the Creek Trail we created a loop with the Blue Loop trail which goes up some steeper elevation to go round a slightly rocky outcrop area and arrives at a second pond with another bigger cabin.
Summit Trail 0.7 Miles
After the Blue Loop our figure of 8 headed out to the Summit trail which has a steep and rocky uphill to a lookout that’s well worth the effort.
South trail 0.7 Miles
The other ‘8’ shaped loop we did goes off from the opposite direction to where we parked the car and heads out west on the south trail through more quiet woodland.
East loop Trail 1.2 miles
At the furthest point west is the East loop. Which if you think about it makes absolutely no sense at all! This quiet loop also has scenic woodland and when you reach the road at the westernmost point cross the road to look at the gorgeous Northgate Falls and even cool off in the water there.
Weed Hill Trail 1.3 Miles
This trail is currently closed and has been for some time.
Summary
The Mclean Game refuge Trails are a total of 17.5 miles of trails in a privately owned nature reserve named after their founder and original owner. There are 4400 acres of forest, fields and streams and is open from 8am to 8pm in the summer. The landscape is heavily shaped by Glaciers in the past. Its a very beautiful place to visit but be warned some trails are closed (even though the CFPA website doesn’t say so) and the markings are poor and sporadic so you must have a good map or gpx gps system with you if you are going to walk more than a few miles.
