Manuel F. Correllus State Forest

September 7, 2020 Sunny

The Manuel F. Correllus State Forest is located on Martha’s Vineyard and offers 14 miles of trails for biking and hiking. It’s located adjacent to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. It was designed, in part, as a reserve for the Heath Hen, a type of grouse. There’s even a statue honoring the Heath Hen, which apparently went extinct in 1932.

We reached the forest via an easy bike ride from Vineyard Haven, where our ferry arrived. Although the ride to this forest was somewhat hilly, the forest itself is mainly flat, with low pitch pine and oak forest.

It also has a grid of both paved and unpaved trails throughout. For our ride, we stuck to the paved routes through the forest, first heading south toward the airport.

Reaching the fence, we followed west, and then at the edge of the airport fence we turned north.

Much of the forest consists of short trees with scrubby and sandy soil. We saw a few trailheads to the side but no hikers and surprisingly few riders, even on a beautiful weekend.

After about 3 miles of riding we exited the park the way we came in, and then continued onward to Oak Bluffs, which is mainly a downhill ride from this part of the island.

This state forest is pleasant enough but much of the scenery looks the same and there’s nothing particular distinctive about it. On the other hand it’s peaceful and would make a great place for younger riders to practice their biking skills.

The forest is pleasant enough but not memorable, unlike most other attractions on Martha’s Vineyard.
This park is probably the most boring part of Martha’s Vineyard.
There was a cool airport with smooth, grid-like paths. Excellent!
It was fun to ride our bikes, and the trail was flat.
The bike path was fun, and we got past the airport, and it was through the woods, and it was smooth.