Vernon Greenways Volunteers

05/28/2026

2026 CFPA Trails Day
The Connecticut Forest and Park Association is celebrating the great outdoors in Connecticut, partnering with over 70 organizations. CFPA is coordinating over 200 hikes and walks throughout Connecticut June6 and 7. Find your hike or walk at www.trailsday.org.
On Sat. June 6, Vernon Greenways Volunteers and the Ellington Trails Committee is partnering a walk and hike along the beautiful Hockanum River. You have your choice of two hikes. Both start in Ellington and cross the Hockanum River on the unique David Smith suspended “swing“ bridge in Vernon. You can then return back to Ellington for a total of 2 miles, or continue along the Hockanum River to “Dart Hill North” and see marshes, beautiful scenery, and wildlife. Then return back to Ellington for a total 5 mile hike. Learn more and register at www.trailsday.org/events/three-for-one-trail-hike. Space limited.

05/20/2026

This is a fantastic project!

Connecticut’s All-Terrain Wheelchair Program is back for another season — and expanding access to even more of our State Parks and Forests.

Starting June 6, visitors will once again be able to reserve free all-terrain wheelchairs at seven locations across Connecticut, helping more people experience trails, nature, scenic overlooks, and outdoor recreation opportunities that can sometimes be difficult to access.

Over the past year, DEEP improved trails, removed barriers, upgraded signage, and streamlined the reservation process based directly on user feedback and support from the Bronco Wild Fund.

Programs like this help make Connecticut’s outdoors more welcoming, accessible, and connected for everyone. We had a strong start to this program during the 2025 season, and we are excited to see it grow in 2026.

Learn more and reserve: ctparks.com/all-terrain-wheelchairs

05/18/2026

Our annual Spring Kick-off meeting is almost upon us. It is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19 at 6:00. The Vernon Historical Society has agreed to allow us to use their meeting room at their building, 734 Hartford Turnpike (across from the police station).

It is open to the public for prospective volunteers so please join us if you'd like help out!

Laura Kelly, CT Trail Finders Program Coordinator, and Emily Wilson, Geospatial Educator will provide an Audio/Visual presentation on CT Trail Finders and CT Trail Census. Laura will demonstrate and navigate through CT Trail Finders, with detailed write-ups of the hundreds of trails in CT. Included in that, are trails in Vernon - Valley Falls Trails, Vernon Middle School Trails and Walkers Reservoir (still in progress) with more to come! We are working with Laura to put as many trails in Vernon as we can on their website. We want the rest of the state to know what treasures we have here in Vernon!

Emily will present on the CT Trail Census, a program that monitors the use of trails throughout Connecticut. This is near and dear to our heart, as VGV Member, and Trail Manager John Horan is in charge of the trail counter and trail counting for the Hop River Trail here in Vernon. As you may know, our trail has consistently rated in the top 5 of all the trails in CT.

Of course, we will also bring you up-to-date on our plans for 2026 and what we have accomplished and what we plan to accomplish.

So, we hope to see you all there!

05/18/2026

I'm pleased to report that trail garden mulching work has been completed for the 2026 spring season. This week a group of volunteers completed mulching the remaining trail gardens at Center Rd, Tunnel Rd and Phoenix St, as well as additional mulching at Elm Hill Rd. In total this year, volunteers spread 26.5 yards of mulch across 10 trailhead gardens.

On Tuesday, we spread 3/4 yard of material at the Center Rd garden on both sides of the street. We also performed some additional w**d whacking to further clean the area.

Also on Tuesday, we spread and raked 2.5 yards of material at the Tunnel Rd garden. We returned Saturday morning to spread an additional 2 yards over a grassy area which has been intruding on the garden.

On Friday, we completed mulching the Elm Hill Rd garden with an additional 1 yard of material.

And today, we spread and raked 2.5 yards of material at the Phoenix St. garden spanning both sides of the street. A small amount of mulch will be ordered to be spread over a couple of areas to complete that work.

Thank you everyone for volunteering! We will begin planning trail maintenance outings sometime in June.

05/17/2026

it's a beautiful day get out and enjoy the trails at Valley Falls and along the Greenways!

05/05/2026

It's been another busy week or so as we continue to clean and mulch several trail gardens.

Last week, we completed mulching the RT 30 gardens.

Also last week, we completed mulching the Warren Ave garden.

Over this past weekend, we completed cleaning the Phoenix Street gardens, now ready for mulching.

And today, 5 volunteers completed mulching both the Washington Street and Elm Hill Rd gardens. Thank you everyone for your help today. We did run a little short of mulch at Elm Hill Rd so an additional yard will be ordered soon.

We have 3 gardens remaining to be mulched: Phoenix Street, Tunnel Road and Center Road. We hope to organize a work party soon to tackle all 3 soon on the same day.

05/04/2026

The Friends of Valley Falls, Inc. Vernon CT
This Sunday: Spring Bird Walk at 7am!

05/03/2026

Did you know there are over 40 miles of trails in Vernon alone along the Greenways? We have some fantastic views and great wildlife and birdwatching and opportunities, especially in the Valley Falls area. Please tag or send any photos you take along the trails that you'd like to share with us, and we will feature them on our page!

05/02/2026

In 2025, the CT Trail Census program collected trail use data using infrared counters at 27 different trail sites around Connecticut, and here's what we found! Across all the sites where counts were measured during the whole year, trails were used an average of 274 times per day. Find out about estimated trail use by month, day of the week, and hour of the day, plus how trail use was affected by weather, and how this year compared to previous years! Read the full report here: https://cttrails.uconn.edu/pubs/reports/