New England Trail Weather Planner

For hikers in Connecticut and Massachusetts, one of the primary weather concerns is cold air temperatures and wind chills. While New England summers can be gorgeous, late fall and winter can get quite cold and hikers need to have proper data for planning their trips during these seasons. Additionally, hiking through mountain areas (like Mount Monadnock and along the Metacomet Ridge) can expose hikers to significant wind chill.

This NET page is our first opportunity to incorporate Wind Chill into the planners, which accounts for how the weather actually feels on exposed skin. This site uses the Steadman methodology for calculating apparent temperature, which both applies heat index when humidity is high and wind chill when temperatures are low with significant wind. vations in the Metacomet Ridge and Mount Tom Range.

In addition, we have added cold weather warnings to the Weather Planner tools on this and the other trail pages. This will trigger whenever expected actual or apparent temperatures are expected to fall below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a critical threshold for hikers, as most standard cold-weather camping gear (sleeping bags, insulating layers, shelters) is rated to around 20 degrees. Conditions at or below this level may push typical gear (such as puffy jackets and sleeping bags/quilts) to or beyond their limits, and extra care in gear selection and camp planning is warranted.

This is different than the formal Wind Chill Watches, Warnings, and Advisories issued by the National Weather Service at different levels. These thresholds may vary by region and time of year. In southern New England, a Wind Chill Warning is typically issued when wind chills are expected to reach −10 °F to −20 °F, and a Wind Chill Advisory at −5 °F to −10 °F — though local NWS offices may adjust these thresholds. Always check your local NWS forecast before heading out in cold conditions.

• Trail Route: As one of the shorter National Scenic Trails, the New England Trail runs about 200 miles from Guilford, CT on Long Island Sound to Royalston Falls, MA. It is also one of the newer scenic trails that has been built by connecting a number of existing trails into a single unit. Its southern end is the Menunkatuck Trail, which runs 16.4 miles up from Long Island Sound in Guilford to meet the Mattabesett. At that meeting point the Mattabesett heads two ways: northwest along the main NET, and northeast toward Middletown, CT. That northeast arm is offered here as an alternate trail for those who wish to start or end in Middletown instead. Because it branches only 16.4 miles up from Guilford, starting at Middletown makes for a longer hike (about 219 miles), not a shorter one. Mileages on this page come from the National Park Service's official NET centerline, which combines Connecticut Forest & Park Association and Appalachian Mountain Club survey data; it measures 235.7 miles in total — 206.8 on the main route plus a 28.8-mile Middletown spur.
• Roadway Gaps: The NET is also one of the newer trails in the scenic trail system, having only been formally designated by law in 2009. It is still a work in progress, and while there are many miles of traditional hiking paths the trail utilizes, there are also portions that require walking along roads and sections with significant gaps. There are all stitched together as single map, and the mileage is calculated as if there are no breaks. But please note your experience on hiking day may not be as seamless as it appears on these maps. The official centerline has one real break in it, shown on the map as a dashed line to make clear it is not trail.
  
  The Connecticut River crossing (near mile 133, Easthampton / South Hadley) has no pedestrian crossing at all. Per the official NET thru-hiking guidance, hikers arrange a ride across by car or boat; rideshare runs roughly $15–$30. Northbound the trail resumes on Old Mountain Road near Skinner State Park; southbound it resumes at 2–98 Underwood Ave, Easthampton. There is a 10.2-mile road walk around via US-5N and MA-47N, but the NET itself does not recommend it because of the distance and traffic. The Westfield River has similar issues.
  
  (An earlier version of this page described a second break near mile 16, where the Menunkatuck meets the Mattabesett. That was our own mapping error, not a gap in the trail: the Menunkatuck joins the Mattabesett partway along a single line in the source data, and we had been reading that whole line as the Middletown spur. The trail there is continuous, and CFPA's own data confirms it.)
  There are also areas (such as the "Plainville Gap") where there are significant road sections hikers must contend with. This mileage is also included on the map like any other normal part of the trail. Though thankfully State and local governments are working to improve these sections in ways that balacne the needs of hikers and impacted neighbors.

• New England Trail: Official web site for the New England Trail. Includes trail maps, conditions, and planning guides, and information on some unique conditions (like extended roadwalks and major river crossings) inhert to thru-hiking the NET. Also includes the NET Nature Watch resource for encouraging and coordinating hiker participation in citizen science programs tracking area plant and animal populations.
• NET - Trust for Public Land: Nonprofit devoted to acquiring and protecting land for public use. As the NET is still a trail under development, the Land Trust's assistance is vital for obtaining rights of way for hikers, ensuring beautiful viewscapes, and working collaboratively with private landowners to support the trail in their areas.
• CTWoodlands: Web site of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, which manages the Metacomet Trail section of the NET (as well as the Menunkatuck and Mattabesett Trails). Includes detailed narrative on the trail routes, trail closure notices, and information on other intersecting trails overseen by the State of Connecticut.