Old Furnace Trail

This hike occurred on May 25, 2013

Trail Head:

Old Furnace State Park, South Frontage Rd, Killingly, CT - Parking: We parked in the Old Furnace State Park parking lot. This park does not charge, regardless of the season. There was plenty of room; the lot could easily fit a dozen cars. At the moment, using Google Maps' Old Furnace State Park location will land you at Ross Pond State Park. We ended up at Ross Pond but just followed Ross Rd to South Frontage Rd to get to Old Furnace. 

Length/Distance: 

We completed a loop hike using the Blue trail and another, unmarked trail. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 4.28 miles. The Old Furnace trail was approximately 2.5 miles, began at South Frontage Rd and ended at Squaw Rock Rd. From Squaw Rock Rd, there was a wide, unmarked trail that paralleled I-395 and brought us back to the parking lot of Old Furnace State Park. 

Summary: 

We began our hike at the entrance. There was a sign indicating the Old Furnace trail head. We followed the blue blazes for the entire hike; be forewarned: there were a LOT of extra side trails that were either orange or unmarked. The trail quickly lead us to a roaring creek. 

The water was quite high as it had been raining for the past week (and continued to rain while we hiked). 

We followed the trail (which was surrounded by lots of side trails) and found a very large tree near the path. 

On the trail, we saw over a dozen Pink Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium acaule). They seemed to like more open areas near the trail.     

We also saw some very vibrant orange mushrooms/fungus. 

There was a nice bridge to assist us over parts of the creek.

The trail went up and around some cliffs.   

After the trail ended at Squaw Rock Rd, we headed onto an unmarked trail that paralleled I-395. We got to slog through sections of flooded trail, as was to be expected given all the rain. 

The path traveled over the creek again. 

We got to jump the creek, using a rock in the middle as a midpoint as the creek was too wide to jump altogether. 

We saw a small grill/furnace on the side of the trail, though it probably isn't the "old furnace" the park name refers to. 

Overall, the hike went smoothly. Some areas were flooded or slippery because of the rain but the blue trail was well marked and easy to follow. I'm sure we'll be back in this area of Connecticut for other Blue trails.  

After the hike, we went and visited Sharpe Hill Vineyard in Pomfret. They had a number of wines; most notable for us were the Ballet of Angels and a dessert wine not listed on their website. 

Sleeping Giant - Green trail

This hike occurred on May 16, 2013

Trail Heads: 

Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT - Parking: For this hike, it was early enough in the season that the state park was not yet charging for parking. We parked one car in the picnic loop and there was plenty of parking. 

Chestnut Lane, Hamden, CT - Parking: We parked another car on Chestnut Ln, on the far side of Sleeping Giant. There was roadside parking for at least 1/2 dozen vehicles. They don't charge for entering the park this way which is nice (though there aren't any bathrooms).

Length/Distance: 
We completed a through hike, taking the Tower trail to the White trail to the Green trail which was slated to be around 3 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.42 miles 

Summary: We began our hike at the main entrance of Sleeping Giant. We trekked up the Tower trail until it intersected with the White.  

The White trail is pretty steep at this point and stays at a steady incline until it reaches the summit. 

The trail also winds so you can see the cliffs you'll soon be climbing. 

After a bit more climbing, the White trail travels among some boulders and interesting cliffs on your way to a great view. 

Once we got to the peek point of the White trail, there were some amazing views. 

In the picture below, you can see Quinnipiac's York Hill campus. 

It also provided a bird's eye view of Quinnipiac's Mount Carmel campus.

 

Out in the distance, you could see New Haven and Long Island Sound. 

 

After the view, the Green trail was easy to miss on the left. Thankfully, the rangers marked the entrance to the trail very clearly. In all honesty, I'd never noticed this trail before. 

From here, the trail wound through the woods.

The Green trail takes you around one of the giant's hips. 

After the White trail, we were glad to have a smooth trail to hike with very little incline. 

There was a swampy area about 2/3rds of the way down Green. 

But there was a way around.

The last bit of the hike was slightly downhill, after we turned right at the big mound of rocks. 

We finished out the hike at Chestnut Ln. 

Overall, it was a good hike with some awesome conversations about Despicable Me, stereotypes, and evolutionary psychology.  

Sleeping Giant - Diamond and Hexagon trails

This hike occurred on May 3, 2013

Trail Head: 
Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT - Parking: For this hike, it was early enough in the season that the state park was not yet charging for parking. We parked in the picnic loop and there was plenty of parking despite it being a lovely Friday. 

Length/Distance: 
We completed a loop hike using the north-south Diamond and Hexagon trails which according to the Sleeping Giant Park Association is 1.8 miles. The GPS tracking app had a malfunction and did not save our hike. However, we were able to replicate our approximate trail on the tracking website and our route was a bit more than 2 miles. 

Summary: 

We parked in the picnic loop and used Violet to connect up with the Diamond trail. 

The trail paralleled the river for a while. We saw people fishing and wading in the water. 

The second 1/4 mile of the trail was uphill but evened off after a bit. We crossed over the Blue trail and followed Diamond to clearing with a beautiful view of the Sleeping Giant's Head. 

Not too far down the trail from the clearing, there were two old buildings.  

 

After this, the trail continued on following the river until the Diamond trail finished at Tuttle Rd. 

From Tuttle Rd, we turned around and went back along Diamond for a bit until the trail met up with Hexagon. 

The beginning half of Hexagon was all uphill. Hexagon flattened out where it crossed over Blue again and met up with the Tower trail. 

From there, we followed parts of the Tower trail off and on as we hiked down Hexagon. We hiked Hexagon until the trail ended where it met Mount Carmel Ave. From there, we hiked on the road back to the entrance of Sleeping Giant. 

It was a beautiful day for a hike and the hike did have some good views. After this hike, we still have 1/2 Blue, 1/2 White, Green, Triangle, Circle, and Square to finish Sleeping Giant. 

Sleeping Giant - Other 1/2 Orange & 1/2 Yellow loop hike

This hike occurred on May 1, 2013 

Trail Head: 
Chestnut Lane, Hamden, CT - Parking: For this hike, we parked on Chestnut Ln, on the far side of Sleeping Giant. There was roadside parking for easily 1/2 dozen vehicles. We have hiked through here before and never had a problem finding parking. They don't charge for entering the park this way which is nice (though there aren't any bathrooms). 

Length/distance: 
We completed a loop hike using 1/2 of the Orange trail and 1/2 of the Yellow trail which according to the Sleeping Giant Park Association is 2.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.15 miles for a total of 5.8 miles between the Orange and Yellow trails (we did walk the connector twice). 

Summary: We began our hike approximately an hour before sunset. We were able to finish by 15 minutes after sunset with enough ambient light to see our way. We hiked on the Orange trail first. Towards the beginning of our hike, we had to walk through a swampy section of the trail. Thankfully, it hadn't rained lately so it wasn't too bad. 

There was a bog nearby as well. It looked pretty nasty. 

After some gradual assents, we found ourselves on a rocky rise under some pine trees.

From there, we could see the tower through the trees (center of photo). 

From there, it wasn't too far to the Orange/Yellow connector. 

After we reached the Yellow trail and began following it back towards Chestnut Ln, we came upon a clearing that allowed us a spectacular view of the countryside, including East Rock, New Haven, and Long Island Sound in the distance. 

Right near this area, we did see 3 white-tailed deer. After this, the trail trended downwards, while also wrapping around some rock cliffs.

Near this area, we interrupted a flock of Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) roosting for the night.

From here, it was a short distance back to the Chestnut Ln trail head. Overall, it was a fairly light hike with some rewarding views and a variety of wildlife.