What's the Trail Address?

Hope Lake picnic area address

Trailheads don't get mail, so they don't have a postal address. Back in the day, no one cared. But GPS systems are now standard for deliveries, emergency response, Uber, and everyday navigation. More and more people want a simple street address instead of a big long description of how to get somewhere.
We've therefore taken the step of providing approximate street addresses to many of our trailheads. These are not official addresses, but should get you in the right general area. And we're placing these approximate addresses on the sign kiosks. Look for the black numbers nailed to the outside of the kiosk. In a few locations, the address are also posted prominently on entryway trees or gates. The addresses will be placed on our trail maps as well.

Pine Lake Kiosk is 133 Shelton Ave.

This should make it easier to tell people how to get to a specific parking location. For example, on Nells Rock Road there are three parking locations for hikers and sometimes people go to the wrong one:

• 160 Nells Rock Road: Nells Rock Trail near L'Hermitage
• 226 Nells Rock Road: Hope Lake Picnic area & Oak Valley Trail
• 316 Nells Rock Road: Dog Park

Nells Rock Corner parking for Rec Path & Dog Park

Sometimes it doesn't work: When there are nearby houses, it's pretty easy to come up with an approximate address that makes sense and works when you plug it into Google Maps. There are a few spots where this doesn't work. The Birchbank trailhead, located where Indian Well Road and Birchbank Road meet, is one of those areas. No address seems to work for this spot. We do have some Google "Plus Codes" that can be used in lieu of an address if you are using Google Maps, and we'll post those in the kiosks and use them for events. For the Birchbank trailhead, you would enter "9v35+jg Shelton, CT" into Google Maps and that should give you a very accurate point to navigate to. Google Plus Codes are based on latitude and longitude but easier to enter into your phone.

Maybe some day procedures will change and allow for official addresses to be assigned to locations that don't have buildings. Until then, we'll do our best to estimate an address that will work in your phones.