Mattabesett Trail - Part 9

This hike occurred August 8, 2012

Trail Heads:
Corner of Pisgah Rd and Sand Hill Rd, Durham, CT - Parking: This technically isn't a trail head but I was perfectly happy parking on the side of the road. There is a sizable shoulder (there's enough room to have the car completely off the road) and no signs saying you can't park there. We didn't have any problems and saw other cars parked there too. 

Crooked Hill Rd., Guilford, CT - Parking: So we ended up parking on the side of the road here. There was a dirt road (I believe Old Crooked Hill Rd) that led to a trail head but there were lots of "no trespassing" signs on the trees and we weren't sure if those were telling us to stay on the road or get out. So we decided to be safe and park on the road... not that it mattered in the end anyway.  

Length/Distance: This is a bit complicated. The hike we set out to complete was 3.5-4 miles long. We were going to hike the Blue trail from Pisgah Rd to Lone Pine Trail which was supposed to lead to Crooked Hill Rd according to the map. Sadly, something went wrong. We looked for the Lone Pine trail but never saw it. We did see a very clear sign indicating that the Lone Pine trail was behind us by over a mile but that wasn't helpful. According to the CT Walk book, the hike we ended up doing should have been 6.7 miles. Our route was approximately 7.7 miles.    

Summary: As noted above, this hike didn't go as planned. We packed water to last us 3-4 miles and didn't bring any snacks because it should have been only 1-1/2 hours of hiking at most. Up to about the 3 mile mark, things were going as planned. We began on Pisgah Rd and hiked on the road towards the trail head. We saw some nice flowers on the side of the road. 

As soon as we entered the woods, the trail climbed pretty sharply. We climbed straight to the summit of Mt Pisgah and were rewarded with some beautiful views. 

 It was obvious this was a popular spot with the local young ones. 

Up near the top of the mountain, there was a very nice clearing with soft spongy moss and flat ground that was clearly a popular place to camp (even though camping is not technically allowed). 

We then descended into a ravine with a creek at the bottom. We found many cute little frogs hopping around on the trail. 

We soon came to the sign for Cream Pot Road and the access trail split off from the main trail. 

We came to an area where the blue trail was marked fairly well but had two other trails (orange and red) intersect with it in strange ways. Neither of these were marked as being blue-dot trails, which would have indicated they were part of the Blue Trail system. There was a really big bolder (the Pyramid) where the orange trail split from the main blue trail.  

There was then an extremely steep section of trail which led us out to a slanted section of rock called the Mica Ledges. 

 This provided some great views.

We could even see where we parked our car at Crooked Hill Rd (upper left near the tree). We could tell we must be getting close to the intersection with the Lone Pine trail split from the main blue trail. We were out of water by this point but not worried because we were almost done....right?

We then came to the Selectman's Stones. They're basically carved stones marking the boundaries between Durham, Madison, and Guilford. 

We then descended a section of trail that was rather dangerous. It was steep, covered in tiny pebbles, and required a lot of acrobatics to negotiate. 

We soon came to signs saying we were on the Town of Madison's land. I was slightly annoyed they were using nails to post their tags. 

Another sign: 

A bit after this, we came to the Charcoal Site. According to the Rockland Preserve Trail Guide, the Charcoal Site is located on the Houston Trail which is red-blazed. 

By this point, we were rather annoyed. Our GPS showed us that we were heading further from our car and going in the wrong direction. Right across the blue trail from the Charcoal Site was a sign saying the Lone Pine trail was 1.2 miles back the way we'd come. We decided that since we'd missed the trail split, we'd just keep going on the main blue trail. That was a mistake. We should have gone back. Near here, we saw a mother of a mushroom. It was rather impressive. We felt a photo op was needed. 

After a bit of hiking, we came upon these signs which crushed any hopes we'd had about getting out of the woods by sunset (8pm). We began our hike around 5:30pm and had expected to be done with the hike by 6:30-7pm. 

 We began calling friends because we realized that not only would we be leaving the woods after dark, we also would be about 3 miles away from where we parked our car. We were able to find someone who would come and pick us up and bring us water. Because we were super-thirsty by this point! We picked up our pace even more, trying to get as far as possible before the light failed. We came upon this sign which I thought was hilarious. 

After hiking this section of the trail, I have to tell you, there weren't any big scary cliffs or drop-offs. I've seen much, much worse trails all along the Mattabesett and on other trails like Sleeping Giant and NO ONE has ever posted one of these signs, even when they might have been helpful. I was rather delirious by this point so I thought it was funny. 

From here on out, we just hiked like there was no tomorrow. It became very dark very quickly under the covers of the trees. There were a lot of hills to climb (which might have been the Broomstick Ledges). Eventually, we came to a steep downhill section that led us to Rt 77 and the Bluff Head trail head, right next to Bluff Head Cemetery.

Here, we waited for a friend to pick us up. Our dog was exhausted, as were we. I had progressively developed heat exhaustion. I felt nauseous, light headed, dizzy, muddled, and was sweating profusely. Thankfully, our friend brought a lot of cool water and sports drinks. This helped me get more quickly back to normal. Both my friend and I had blisters on our feet and very painful knee joints by the time the hike was done. These issues persisted for the next week or so. 

The next day, our dog was limping badly. I checked his paws and it turns out his metacarpal pad had blistered from walking too much and then torn. I cleaned him up and kept an eye on it over the next few days. Thankfully, it healed quickly. It will probably be a while before we go hiking again. This was an aggravating, painful hike.   

Mattabesett Trail - Part 8

This hike occurred July 22, 2012

Trail Heads: 
Miller's Pond State Park, Durham, CT - Parking: There is a lot of parking available at Miller's Pond; they have a lot that holds a few dozen cars so unless you're hiking on a hot Saturday afternoon, you should be able to find a parking spot quite easily. 

Corner of Pisgah Rd and Sand Hill Rd, Durham, CT - Parking: This technically isn't a trail head but I was perfectly happy parking on the side of the road. There is a sizable shoulder (there's enough room to have the car completely off the road) and no signs saying you can't park there. We didn't have any problems and saw other cars parked there too.    

Length/Distance: This hike was rather long. We started at Miller's Pond and hiked to the corner of Pisgah and Sand Hill Roads. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 7.3 miles [I tried to edit the map and it changed my mileage; the map's mileage is incorrect. It really was 7.3 miles! Sorry!]. According to the CT Walk book, it should have been 5.9 miles. The difference between the two was substantial at 1.4 miles. This was rather irritating.

Summary: We began our hike at Miller's Pond. It was a beautiful summer day and many people were at the pond swimming, splashing, and picnicking. We went down to the water to see the areas people were using to swim. The water looked cool and refreshing. 

I grew up within 30 minutes of here and had only heard about the park online from people's reviews saying it was an excellent place to bring your dog and swim. As you can see from the sign at the top of the blog, it is explicitly listed as a "swim at your own risk" kind of place. They don't do water testing, have life guards or designated swimming areas, or charge money to enter the park. This is an awesome hidden gem. 

The trail from the parking lot to the blue trail is the white trail. It takes you part way around the lake before joining up with the blue trail which then leads around the rest of the lake. The lake was beautiful. We're planning on returning to the lake soon to do some swimming of our own.

Because of the news articles, I was on the lookout for the cliffs I'd heard about. There is a smallish section of cliffs in the middle of the northwest side of the lake. From what I could tell, it is extremely difficult to get to the cliffs; if you can walk there, it's a bare minimum of 1/2 mile from the parking lot. They seemed to be most accessible from the lake. It obviously takes quite a bit of effort to find them and jump off of them. Seems like a waste of energy to me; the rest of the lake looks so relaxing. After going around the lake, the trail heads up Bear Rock. The trail upward was rather steep.  

But the views were very nice!

After these views, we then headed back down. The trail down was... steep. It involved a lot of rock climbing and tree hugging to make sure we didn't fall to our deaths.  

My dog managed to survive it just fine but an older dog or less agile person would want to take the side trail that avoids this section (Bear Rock Bypass). The CT Walk book recommends utilizing this trail bypass during inclement weather and during the winter when the main trail may have ice on the rocks.  

After this section, the trail is mostly just little ups and downs and a whole ton of walking. There were some very cool trees that grew around a rock. Made us wonder if the rock had been moving over the past hundred years. 

There was a large rock formation made up of Milky Quartz. 

And this trail apparently goes past Coginchaug Cave. It wasn't much of a cave, honestly. It was a rock overhang with an indent. Right towards the end of the trail, there were the remains of what we thought was probably a raccoon. It was rather interesting. 

 After this, the trail came out onto Old Blue Hills Road. The trail was marked fairly well on the telephone poles. We walked almost a mile on the road, crossed Rt. 79 (where this sign was located), and arrived at our car! 

I'm also thrilled to report that my hiking sneakers arrived. I like them a lot!

Mattabesett Trail - Part 7

This hike occurred on July 19, 2012

Trail Heads: 
Brainard Hill Rd., Higganum, CT - Parking: At this trail head, there is off-road parking available for 2 cars maximum. 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 narrow. 

Miller's Pond State Park, Durham, CT - Parking: So the blue trail doesn't enter Miller's Pond State Park near their parking lot. No, it's about 1/3 of a mile down the road. The road is also littered with these signs: 

I'm pretty sure they're around because Miller's Pond is a popular place to go swimming, even though you're technically not allowed, so their parking lot fills up quickly. If you're ever interested in Miller's Pond, know that it is a walk-in park only. Though we haven't seen them yet, apparently there are cliffs surrounding the pond that young people like to use to go cliff jumping. This has resulted in numerous injuries and a handful of deaths in the past 10 years. Someone has already died there this year.      

Length/Distance: We started out at Miller's Pond and hiked to Brainard Hill Rd. Because we had to walk down the road from Miller's Pond, we added about 3/10ths of a mile to the hike. According to the CT Walk book, the hike was 3.2 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.48 miles. All things considered, I believe the CT Walk book was actually correct for once!

Summary: The first part of the hike is all on the road. We hiked from Miller's Pond and down Foot Hills Rd; we entered the woods approximately 9/10ths of a mile into the hike. This hike was a bit more difficult than our previous ones because we were trying to hurry since we had very limited sunlight left when we began. Once in the woods, we encountered a cool-looking rock.

We also saw the cutest tiny frog ever!

The rest of the hike was rather rushed and the light was fading so we couldn't see very much. There was one place where the trail came out to an opening in the trees on a rock ridge. It was beautiful. 

A bit after this, the trail lead out under the high power lines and we could see some open sky. 

The sun going down reflected on the clouds. 

After this, we spent maybe 20 minutes tripping through the woods. I managed to sprain both ankles about 5 minutes apart. I can't wait for my new hiking shoes to show up. I'm pretty sure they'll be more stable than my 3-year-old sneakers. Yay for ankle instability! If you have an interest in seeing what the ankle repair surgery looks like, there are pictures here. I think I may need to suck it up and wear braces on both ankles every time I go hiking.  

Mattabesett Trail - Part 6

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 narrow. 

Seven Falls State Park, Haddam, CT - Parking: This roadside park has a parking lot right before Me and McGee's and also has parking available on Saybrook Rd's shoulder. 

Length/Distance: According to the CT Walk book, it should have been 1.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, the route was 2.17 miles.  

Summary: For this hike, we ended up walking between two Blue-blazed trail heads (Saybrook Rd & Brainard Hill Rd). The entire walk was on pavement/public roads. After looking at the elevation, we decided to hike from Brainard Hill to Saybrook Rd instead of the other way around. This was a good choice. The majority of the hike was down hill. Most of the roads were residential so they weren't too busy but there was still a fair amount of traffic. The road was well blazed with lots of telephone poles being marked like this one. 

Early on in the hike, we encountered a small farm stand. At the present, they only had plants. I wonder if they have veggies later in the season. 

There were some nice Queen Anne's Lace on the road as well. 

We saw some more Verbascum Thapsus growing between some rocks at a farm. 

We also saw some very pretty flowering Staghorn Sumac. 

This was a fairly quick and easy hike which was good since it was 90+ degrees and rather humid. The bugs did try to nibble on us but thankfully, we'd sprayed down with bug repellent. At the end of this hike, as we walked through Seven Falls park, one of my ankles gave out and I fell, twisting my ankle. Hopefully, it should be back to normal in a few days. Unfortunately, it's a rather common occurrence for me. This event also encouraged me to purchase a new pair of hiking shoes with more stability.