River Highlands State Park / Cromwell Creek

Great place for a couple hours, several trails, lots of fun bits to ride but every difficult spot had a side trail to go around easier, making it a nice spot for beginners as well that might be nervous about some of the log runs, cliff edges, and some bridges.

Nemba is putting lots of work into this area and its great to see. Big thanks to the trail builders!

Great variety not many jumps we saw but were very happy plus it's close by so win win

While this park is on the smaller side, there is enough here to keep you entertained for hours. Word of caution: to appreciate this trail system, you will have to come here a bunch of times to get used to where everything is. Yes, there is less than 10 miles of trail here, but there are lots of cross trails to get used to. There is quite the variation in grade levels and features once you get acquainted: wooden bridges, small hops, many logs, multiple wood plank jumps, skinnies, and dips. Long story short: if you come here once or twice, River Highlands is a park easy to categorize as mediocre. Come here a handful of times and learn the trail system well, it's easily one of the more fun systems in central CT.

My boyfriend really got me into mountain biking earlier this year when I bought my first mountain bike. At first I was nervous about River Highlands. There is quite a bit of single track that runs on the edge of ravines/cliffs, but the topography is really interesting. The trails are very fun. It is considered a beginner park, but I honestly would say it is a beginner/intermmediate park. There are a few challenging climbs scattered around, especially on the white trail going up alongside the railroad tracks. Some cool features too (jumps, many logs to ride over, bunny hops). The sidewinder section in the north side of the park is super fun. You could even take a break along the CT River and have lunch or a snack in the middle of your ride if you choose to. One of my favorite places to bike!

I'll give River Highlands some love. I rode here yesterday after work just to check out something different. My son does a golf program at TPC, so this trail has been on my mind lately. My two local go-to places are Rockland and Tyler Mills. Everything that these two places are (rocks, challenging, tight switchbacks, popular), River Highlands is not. But, that's not to say that I didn't have fun or a good ride, because I did. As pointed out in previous reviews, it is mostly flowy dirt singletrack. I managed to hit most of the trails with the exception to the yellow trail. The white trail along the river was nice, but there were a couple of steep washed-out climbs that I chose to hike-a-bike instead (many purpose-built mountain bike trails would have a switchback trail for a climb like this).
Spotting the trail markers can be a little tough, but I don't think anyone can get truly lost here. Some of the blazes looked fairly fresh, so that was nice to see. I did see evidence of a couple of new trails.
Overall, a fun trail network. I am thinking of bringing my son and middle daughter out here to get a feel for mountain biking on some less challenging trails.

A truly underrated trail system, River Highlands (aka Cromwell Creek) is a unique place to ride. Nestled along the Connecticut River, this park has geological features absent anywhere else in the state. The blowhole as locals call it, is a valley in between uplands on either side, which leads to the river via crossing some neat bridges. There are very few rocks to be found here, aside from some on the sandy sections of trail. This park is not very technical really, but it is very flowy and fun. The trails are mostly flat or low grade, but there are a few challenging climbs scattered around the park. Features: the white trail runs on a bluff above the CT River in one section. Here there are really nice views of the river. The yellow trail meanders across the creek running through the park, with multiple bridges to ride over until to get to the sandy beach area on the river, which has a few fire pits and picnic benches. The green trail on the southern side is nice and has numerous dips, some berms, and 2 skinnies to ride. Throughout the park, there are a few scattered bunny hops/jumps.
The best news however, is that there is a new trail off of one of the Fire roads and a member of Central CT Nemba is working to complete another 2 sections of trail.
Although considered a beginner system, anyone can have 2-3 hours of fun here.

2018 Update: There are 2 new trails in the southern section of the park off of red on the right heading towards Nooks Hill Road. Called Upper and Middle Powerglide, these are 2 really fun flowy trails, adding close to an additional mile of trail, close to 2 miles if you include Lower Powerglide, which is also fairly new.

December 2018 Update: The first part of the blue trail reroute in the northern end of the park is complete. The northern end of the park will be more fun in the near future.

This is known as river highlands state park/Cromwell creek

Fun place for quick easy ride. Good for beginners. Needs a new map, but well blazed.

Relative small, but nice park. Most of the trails are beginner to intermediate single track, though the main trail is double. What makes this park stand out is that there are virtually zero rocks here, a rarity for New England.

2018 Update: NEMBA has added and improved several trails in recent months, including a couple logs for practice riding.

2019 Update: NEMBA has added even more trails, and improved a few more. Four years ago this park was kind of small and unique. Now, this has become a really nice place to ride! If you allow yourself a couple hours, or multiple trips to really explore, you'll find there's a really nice mix of true singletrack with reasonably easy to intermediate options that offer great riding.

One word of caution, the map that appears at the parking lot is very out of date, trying to use it as a guide is almost impossible.

Nice trails
This is not for you pro riders though some logs etc. no jumps drop offs etc
Pretty smoth with a few climbs and pretty small overall
There are no motorized vehicles alowed but there is a horse on occasion