Hike Just One Mile To This Abandoned Train Yard In Connecticut
By Lisa Sammons|Published January 28, 2022
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Lisa Sammons
Author
Lisa loves animals and has dogs, rats, cats, guinea pigs, and snakes. She is passionate about animal rescue and live music - traveling across the country to see a favorite band is a pretty regular occurrence! Being out hiking in the woods enjoying the scenery with her beloved dogs is another favorite hobby, and also checking out the Pokemon Go scene in whatever city she happens to be in at any given time (coffee and dog leash in hand). You can reach Lisa at lsammons@onlyinyourstate.com
There are so many great hiking trails in Connecticut that it’s understandable you might one with that special “oomph” factor. After all, we each only have so much energy and so much free time. One trail that’s an easy 1.1-mile hike and features some fascinating scenery is the Tidal Marsh Trail in North Haven. It’s not far from a commercial area, so you may not expect too much, but this is a really neat trail, especially to be so short. It leads to an abandoned train yard with a giant bear sculpture, and also has some lovely marsh views.
The trail is right behind a Target, so you might not think there's much nature to be seen, but you'll actually get some lovely marsh views.
You'll come across remnants of an old train yard. The Cedar Hill Yard once handled more than 5,000 railroad cars a day, but shut down as railroad transport of freight fell out of favor.
The tunnel is now covered in graffiti, and it's wild to imagine that this was once a thriving place of rail yard integral to product transport of the area.
One newer addition to the trail is a giant polar bear sculpture. The bear was created by a local artist out of materials from a dilapidated building on site.
At 14 feet in height, he's quite an unexpected sight to see while hiking in Connecticut!
Parts of the trail can be overgrown after rain, so keep an eye out for poison ivy. Because the hike is in an industrial area of a city, it may be a good idea to go with a companion for safety purposes.