Branch off from the main route of Fairhaven’s Phoenix Bike Trail to explore the scenic shores of Little Bay at Little Bay Conservation Area. With a small fishing pier that offers a gorgeous view of salt marshes and wildlife, this 70-acre town-owned conservation area is worth a stop on your next bike ride.

Set behind the Fairhaven Public Works Department, Little Bay Conservation Area is perhaps best known as home to the Little Bay Extension of the popular Phoenix Bike Trail. Snake your way down this scenic one-mile bike path offshoot to enjoy a spectacular vista of Little Bay and Nasketucket Bay from the conservation area’s small concrete pier.

Little Bay Conservation Area is also a great destination for fishing. Many anglers come to Little Bay in spring to try catching “schoolies”: juvenile striped bass that is on the hunt for smaller fish.

The Little Bay Extension of the Phoenix Bike Trail runs for approximately one mile north-south from Arsene Street through Little Bay Conservation Area to Orchard Street. Beginning from here, you can travel north to the main bike path and the Mattapoisett Rail Trail or head south down Sconticut Neck Road toward West Island.

In addition to the paved bike path, there is a small network of unmarked trails that loop for about a half-mile through the woods. If you have a hybrid or mountain bike, you can detour off the bike path to discover streams and vernal pools along these trails.

Little Bay is fed by the freshwater Nasketucket River and opens up to Nasketucket Bay, creating a rich estuary where countless species of birds, fish, and shellfish thrive. Watch for herons and egrets silently stalking their prey among the salt marshes, while ospreys and terns soar overhead in search of food. In winter, flocks of ducks bob on the water’s surface as they feed.