Maintained by: The Ellington Hockanum River Committee (EHRC)

Parking at the beginning of the trail:
The trailhead and parking are on Windemere Avenue, on the south side of the street and the west side of the river. Note that there currently is 1-way traffic over this bridge.

The trail walk:
The first part of the trail is a level path along the river, on the left, as you hike downstream, following the old railbed; with a large pond full of cattails on the right. There is a bench, to view straight down the river, on the left close to the water, perhaps 1/4 of the way from the trailhead.

The trail then crosses over a brook coming in from Pinney Street; and then both river and trail make a sharp left turn into the Ellington Marsh. Here the trail again follows the river, into the Marsh over mounds of dirt from a river relocation and excavation many decades ago, probably from the time of the initial railroad construction in the 1800's.

Towards the end of this segment of the trail is a bench on a knoll, with more panoramic views of the river and marsh in all directions.

The trail goes only a short distance further, and ends in marshland which is very wet and unhikable except during very dry seasons.

Canoe/Kayak:
For Canoeists and Kayakers, at the trailhead there is a nice, easy canoe and kayak access, for a great, leisurely trip downstream through the very tortuous Ellington Marsh, with take-out about 200 feet past Windsorville Road on the left.

As A Result of Construction: There is no canoe or kayak put-in access at the Windemere Avenue river crossing due to bridge replacement work. This is expected to continue until October 1, 2009.

In Addition: There is a major log jam about 1/2 mile downstream in the Ellington Marsh, and severely overgrown wetland vegetation making the usual 2 mile passage to take-out at the Vernon Sewer Plant impossible until the log jam is cleared. Hopefully this will be taken care of later this summer 2009.