This hike occurred on July 14, 2012 Trail Heads: Chestnut Ln., Hamden, CT – Parking: There’s a lot of roadside parking available here. The road is extremely quiet which was nice. Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT – Parking: On the weekends, Sleeping Giant charges money ($8-10) to enter the park with your vehicle. To avoid this, … Continue reading Sleeping Giant – Violet trail
This hike occurred on July 16, 2012 Trail Heads: Brainard Hill Rd., Higganum, CT – Parking: At this trail head, there is off-road parking available for, at max, 2 cars. The road is residential and very quiet so you could probably get away with parking on the side of the road, although the road is pretty … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 6
This hike occurred on July 12, 2012 Trail Heads:Aircraft Rd., Middletown, CT – Parking: To reach this trail head, you’ll need to drive past a section of the Cockaponset State Forest. If you came off of Rt 9 and travel towards Pratt and Whitney, the trail head is on your right. The majority of parking here is on the … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 5
This hike occurred on July 9, 2012 Trail Heads: Bear Hill Rd., Middletown, CT – same as the last post Aircraft Rd., Middletown, CT – same as the last post Length/Distance: According to my GPS tracking program, our route was approximately 2.75 miles. According to the CT Walk book, the route was 2.5 miles long. Summary: For this hike, we … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 4
This hike occurred on June 19, 2012 Trail Heads:Bear Hill Rd., Middletown, CT – Parking: There is off-street parking for 3-4 cars. The road is also very quiet and has a sizable shoulder so parking isn’t an issue at this trail head. This trail head was easy to find. Aircraft Rd., Middletown, CT – Parking: To … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 3
This hike occurred on June 11 & 15, 2012 Trail Heads: Brooks Rd., Middletown, CT – Parking: right by the Asylum Reservoir Number 2, there is off-street parking for 2 cars. The 2 times we’ve been here, parking was always available. The Blue trail (going in the southerly direction) is almost directly across the street from the … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 2
This hike occurred on June 8, 2012 Trail Heads:River Rd., Middletown, CT – Parking: The parking area for this trail head is located next to a power plant. You go down River Rd, pass the Kleen Energy entrance on your right and keep going for a bit. You’ll see another power plant of some kind … Continue reading Mattabesett Trail – Part 1
We began and ended this hike on June 1, 2012 Trail Heads: 85 River Rd., Killingworth, CT – Parking: across the street from the trail head, there is parking for 2 cars. The road is very quiet and doesn’t see much traffic, though what traffic there is tends to drive very fast. Be wary of … Continue reading Chatfield Trail
As I was examining my photos from my last hike, I became puzzled as my brain produced two names for the flowering plant I had seen. Was it a Mountain Laurel or a Rhododendron? So I began exploring the interweb. Turns out, they have a lot in common and do resemble each other which explains my … Continue reading Mountain Laurel vs. Rhododendron
Things to Know about Ticks From a young age, I’ve always had an interest in wilderness survival. I have some small amount of practical knowledge from my years of reading survival books as a child. True wilderness survival training takes much more than being an armchair general. It takes an intense amount of work, time, and physical … Continue reading Trail Safety
