Bradbury to Pineland Corridor (Elmwood Trails), Pownal

The reserved lands are marked in green, the corridor trail in blue, and Bradbury State Park in orange.

This path provides access to the backside of Bradbury Mountain State Park. If you start at the parking lot on Lawrence Road (where there’s room for six or so cars), it’s about a 2.5-mile hike to the mountain summit along a wide, wooded trail. On the other side of Lawrence Road, you can walk a mile or so to the power lines (or, preferred, the connector paths), and from there, if you’re so inclined, walk about four miles to the woods of the Pineland Public Reserved Lands area. All told, you can do miles of walking or biking. There are some pretty river crossings on the Bradbury Mountain side. Snowmobile paths intersect the power lines about half way through. More info at the Royal River Land Trust.

In the summer of 2017, the start of a 1.3-mile trail was opened so that you can bypass some of the power lines! Once you reach Elmwood Road, turn right, and after a short distance, you will arrive at the town forest. Cross the road and continue down the logging road 0.5-mile to the field. Turn right onto the snowmobile path here and walk a short ways to the power lines. 

Directions: There are several trailheads for this system. You can pick up the connector trail at 819 Elmwood Road, where there is a medium-sized lot and trailhead kiosk. Another trailhead and sizeable parking area is located on the west side of Lawrence Road, 0.9 miles from the junction, and 0.6 miles from the Elwood Road junction. Additionally, if the Lawrence Road parking lot if full, try the small pullover on Sweetser Road, where there’s room for three cars. And of course, you can always park at Bradbury Mountain State Park or Pineland Public Reserve Land trailhead and walk the full system and get an epic workout!