Details

Trail Length: 27+ miles
Towns: Hamden
Allowed Uses: Hiking, Horseback Riding (designated trails only)
Partners: Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), Sleeping Giant Park Association

Trail Overview

The “Sleeping Giant” is a rugged traprock mountain located 8 miles north of New Haven; it is a prominent landscape feature that is visible for miles. The Giant receives its name from its resemblance to a slumbering giant human figure lying in repose in Sleeping Giant State Park.

Sleeping Giant State Park is a popular recreation area containing over 32 miles of hiking trails, including 5 miles of the 23-mile Quinnipiac Trail. The Sleeping Giant Park Association maintains an extensive trail system within the park. The trails offer distant views from the rocky crags, remote quiet woods, pleasant pine groves, and mountain brooks with mossy cascades.

CFPA acknowledges we are on the traditional lands of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the Mohegans, the Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Nipmuc, and Niantic peoples. We pay our respect to the Indigenous people who are no longer here due to colonization, forced relocation, disease, and warfare. We thank them for stewarding this land throughout generations. We recognize the continued presence of Indigenous people on this territory who have survived attempted genocide, and who still hold ties to the land spiritually and culturally. We shall be good stewards of the land we all call Quinnentucket, Connecticut.