New England National Scenic Trail
215 mi long · across 3 states · centroid 33 mi from Hartford
The New England National Scenic Trail incorporates the older Metacomet-Monadnock and Mattabesett trails, running roughly 215 miles from Long Island Sound through Connecticut and Massachusetts, with proposed extensions into New Hampshire. Designated in 2009, it follows the trap-rock ridges of the Connecticut River Valley.
- States
- Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire
- Length
- 215 mi
- Trail type
- National Scenic Trail
- Network
- National (nwn)
- Centroid nearest city
- Hartford, CT · 33 mi · ~55 min drive
- Centroid coords
- 42.2217°, -72.4790°
- Official site
- newenglandtrail.org
- OSM relations
- 2 sub-relations on OpenStreetMap
Termini
Southern terminus: Long Island Sound, Connecticut.
Northern terminus: Royalston, Massachusetts (with proposed extension into New Hampshire).
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked New England National Scenic Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Stay nearby
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.