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2 Best Connecticut Dirt Bike Trails To Start Riding Now (2023)

While Connecticut doesn’t have a lot of dirt bike trails to explore, there are still some fairly decent forests to open up the throttle.

Places whereby you don’t need to haul for hours to actually ride, especially if you live in Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford or Stamford. You can get to these 2-wheel friendly areas within an hour or so, provided the traffic isn’t too heavy.

Best Connecticut Dirt Bike Trails

You’d rather be out there than researching riding areas online, so Frontaer has stepped in to bring you this guide. We’ve looked at online resources such as the State of Connecticut website and forestry sites to see what’s actually open to offroad enthusiasts.

We’ve omitted MX clubs like Central Cycle Club and Milford Riders Club because, while closed-circuit racing is a lot of fun, the problem is that you’re probably looking for enduro trails, right? That single track which is hard to find, but you do have a couple of good options here.

From our experience, these are Connecticut’s best dirt bike tracks:

1. Pachaug State Forest

Pachaug State Forest is well known by local dirt bike riders as the go-to place to have some serious fun on a 4-stroke. There is a long loop that goes on for about 58 miles, so ensure your fuel tank is full to the top.

The trail isn’t too challenging and most beginners can get through it just fine. They are bi-directional and shared with other users, so keep this in mind to avoid accidents as these do happen. Unfortunately, Pachaug is only open to registered dirt bikes and the police do regular checks in the staging areas.

Ensure that you stick to the tracks with red arrows. Given that this is a multi-use area, mountain bikes and horse riders have their own section(s) to ride. The trail system is open all year long though it does close with heavy rainfalls as the trail effectively turns to mud. Fun for some…but not for the sane folk among us!

2. Thomaston Dam

Thomas Dam (part of the Naugatuck River System) isn’t as long or as big as Pachaug but definitely worth checking out. It’s a single track loop which only runs for about 12 miles, but it’s certainly better than nothing especially as there are some technical spots to test out your skills. Again, it’s tight forest tracks.

The weekends here are very busy with riders from all over Connecticut heading in early to tear up the tracks. Even some riders come in from New York State and if you rock up and see the carpark full, you know the track is full of riders.

These tracks are closed in winter in leui of snowmobiles and skiing. Also, if it does rain, then this place gets closed for a few days to preserve the track otherwise it gets ripped up pretty damn easily. It’s best to call ahead prior.

Finding Riding Groups and More Areas

One of the biggest challenges, apart from having two distinct areas in which to ride your dirt bike, is finding others who share the same passion. Fortunately, there are a couple of Facebook groups with Connecticut-based dirt bike riders. If you don’t get along with this crew, then there is a massive New York State group that organizes group rides on private property in the north-west corner of the state.

Our best recommendation is to actually plan a decent vacation with your dirt bike out of state. Heading north almost towards the border opens up so many excellent riding areas to explore on 2 wheels. Some people literally chart an itinerary of 2 weeks in which to hit up 10 to 15 epic riding spots while camping along the way. This is also advantageous if you have children who are getting into the MX scene as there isn’t much offered at all in the state for kids to develop their skills legally.

So essentially, there are way more riding areas out of state if you’re prepared to do a decent road trip with some buddies.

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