Trail Overview
East Inlet Road starts as a well-maintained track that winds alongside the Connecticut River, offering several scenic pull-offs ideal for fishing and sightseeing. Enthusiasts of back-road bridges will find this route particularly appealing. As you head further north, the terrain transitions into a rugged logging trail. The path also serves as a gateway to multiple hiking trailheads and a cartop boat launch situated at the southern end of the East Inlet Flowage pond.
Difficulty
Starts out as a gravel road and turns into a rough logging track. Please be aware that this is an active working forest, and you should expect frequent encounters with heavy machinery, including trucks, bulldozers, and skidders. These vehicles always have the right of way; we are only granted access to this area through the courtesy of the forestry operators and owners, so please exercise caution and yield to all heavy equipment.
History
During the height of the logging era, the remote forest required an extensive network of access routes. Winter logging roads, haul roads, skid roads, and other woods roads were developed to move men, equipment, and timber through the forest. In the spring, some of the timber harvested during the winter was historically moved by water, with log drives traveling down the Connecticut River toward mills farther south.
As logging methods and transportation changed, many of these early woods roads remained as permanent corridors through the forest. Improved roads and motorized equipment gradually replaced the traditional log-drive system, while the old logging network continued to provide access for forestry, hunting, fishing, and travel into the remote portions of the Connecticut Lakes region.
The modern trail system is therefore closely connected to this earlier logging infrastructure. Many of the roads used today for recreation originated as routes created to access timber stands, logging operations, camps, and remote portions of the working forest. Rather than being constructed solely as a modern recreational trail system, much of the network evolved from the transportation infrastructure established during the region's logging history.
