Pachaug North · Route 49

A loop around the north side of Pachaug from Jewett City: take CT-138 to Voluntown, climb CT-49 through the forest past Beachdale Pond, pass Ekonk Hill to Sterling Hill, head west on CT-14A to Plainfield and come back on CT-12. It's 26 miles of low-traffic backroads, good for an afternoon. The 4 miles of CT-138 between Hopeville and Voluntown are shared with the Pachaug South & Pequot Trail loop, so the two join in Voluntown for a day of about 80 miles.

Jewett City is named for Eliezer Jewett, who opened a sawmill on the Pachaug River in 1771; the cotton mill that came later was bought in 1823 by Samuel Slater and his brother John, who also ran a mill in Hopeville. That mill, the "Hope Mill," gave its name to Hopeville Pond, whose state park the Civilian Conservation Corps built in the 1930s, and the route rides through Hopeville on CT-138 on the way to Voluntown. Those 4 miles between Hopeville and Voluntown are shared with the Pachaug South & Pequot Trail loop, so the two join for a day of about 80 miles.

North of Voluntown, CT-49 runs through Pachaug State Forest, the largest in Connecticut. Beachdale Pond's boat launch is on the east side of the road, and Headquarters Road leads into the Chapman area, with the Mt Misery overlook and the Rhododendron Sanctuary, which blooms in June and July; the forest's campgrounds run from April 10 to October 12 in 2026. Farther up, Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm keeps its farm store open all year and runs a corn maze in September and October, before the climb to Sterling Hill and the turn west toward Plainfield.