Cockaponset State Forest

My friends and I had a great time. It is a little too advanced for our skill level, but nevertheless had a good experience. We will definitely try it again.

This was a great ride and I had a blast but it was a little tough. The typical New England chunky rideing like I said I had a blast but just a little to hard for my skill level but still had a blast.

This was a pretty fun trail. This was the first time my friends and I tried it. There were a lot of fun technical stretches with cool natural landmarks. I can't to try it again.

This trail system has a mix of double and singletrack. Singletrack is very technical with rock gardens everywhere. A lot of trails to ride here so it's difficult to cover all of them on one pass. There are two trails that are foot traffic only so watch out for them. Red trail has some nice downhill sections and short climbs but it continuously switches from singletrack to doubletack. Blue and gold trail is around the lake and very narrow. White trail is a continous rock gardens and very challenging. Bridges , stream crossing are some of the features in this trail system. Overall good technical XC trail.

Absolutely beautiful ride! There are a lot of trails, but little signage so don't get lost. You can ride the tire a little more air because hard pack trails and lots of rocks. You don't want to damage a rim...I increased air to 36psi front and 33 rear. I rode in summer so bring deet spray or the horseflies will get you. Nice climbs and super fast rocky sections, stay up on the pedals and keep the front pointed down hill and you can get some major speed!

Definitely try this out just for the Forrest scenery and super cardio.

I was fortunate to hook up with two local trail riders who knew this trail system well, so it made my ride much more enjoyable. I highly recommend trying to meet a local rider as trail marking of not so good and it would be very easy to get lost. The trail has no significant climbs but lots of rocks and roots. There is one rock climb that is a technical challenge

Cockaponset State Forest covers the mountain biking Mecca regions of Cockaponset, Middlesex, Miller's Pond, and Chatfield Hollow with over 100 miles of trails. For online maps of the area that you don't have to pay for, go to Connecticut Explorer's Guide > State Forests > Cockaponset and then click on the map. This area is the best mountain biking local in the state and serves up some of the most difficult technical trail riding in the country.

The directions are a little incorrect. Turn right onto the cedar lake road. I did not turn left at the lake but continued until I can around another lake, parked and found trail on left side of road with 3 or 4 boulders at the entrance. This proved to be one great singletrack with some serious lungbuster climbs and great fast sections. There were some boggy areas to get you a little muddy and was not too technical. I pretty much rode out the whole trail, crossed a road and continued on another trail. It was a great experience and i'll be going back soon. You need to be in decent shape though because those hills are killer.