Appalachian Trail - part 2

This hike occurred on August 16 & 17

Trail head:
395 Undermountain Rd (Rt 41), Salisbury, CT - Off of Rt 41, there's a large parking lot with space for maybe a dozen cars. In addition, there's also road side parking.

Length/Distance: According to the CT Walk book and the Appalachian Trail guide, the first section of trail we completed should have 3.6 and the second, 3.2. Our GPS tracking program said the first was 3.66 and the second was 3.42. However, it's worth noting that we only traveled a few miles on the AT.

Summary: 
We parked at the base of Undermountain Trail. We hiked up Undermountain trail, past the intersection with Paradise Lane Trail. 

We eventually made it to the intersection with the AT, Riga Junction. 

   

We went to the right and climbed up Bear Mountain. 

The view from the top of the rock tower was great. 

 

We met two SOBO thru-hikers, talked, and gave them some of our beer. One of my friends went searching for blueberries (as they're in season) and found a lot. 

From there, we descended the mountain, into Sages Ravine. 

 Shortly after that, we came to the campsite. 

We set up camp and then went swimming in the creek. 

 

Our campsite was quite nice, with a spring and privy nearby. 

We had dinner and then settled in for the night. It rained a little bit overnight but nothing major. In the morning, we made oatmeal and added fresh blueberries we'd picked the day before on the top of the mountain. 

After breakfast, we packed up and headed back to the parking lot, taking the AT to Paradise Lane to Undermountain Trail. We packed our stuff into the car and headed out. On the way home, we stopped for second breakfast at JDT's Brickhouse in Thomaston.  

Quinnipiac Trail - part 3

This hike occurred on August 9th, 2014

Trail Heads: 
370 Brooks Rd, Bethany, CT - This road is a narrow, wooded residential road. There's space for maybe 2 cars on the side of the road near the trail head.

76 Mountain Rd, Prospect, CT - This is an official trail head for the Naugatuck State Forest and provides a small parking lot with parking for 3-4 cars. 

Length/Distance: According the Connecticut Walk book, the route between the trail heads on Brooks Rd and the entrance of the Quinnipiac Trail into Sleeping Giant State Park was 5.4 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 4.98 miles.

Summary: We started at Mountain Rd and hiked towards Brooks Rd. It was a sunny but relatively cool (high 70's) day. We followed the trail over a creek. 

The blue trail soon turned right up a hill and we left behind a number of hikers that were exploring the state forest. From the top of the first hill, we had some nice views. 

We then descended the hill and wound around a YMCA outdoor center (Camp Tepee).

 There was a lean-to near the trail, a bit away from the camp. 

The trail exited the woods near the camp and we had a substantial road walk; the blazes were a bit sparse. 

We saw the cutest roadkill ever (image of dirty stuffed bunny on its back).

We entered the woods again and did a bit of climbing up Mad Mare Hill. We had some good views. 

And also discovered an old stone house.

From here, it was a fairly short hike back to the car. We were pleasantly surprised to find the hike was shorter than anticipated. 

Quinnipiac Trail - part 2

This hike occurred on August 2, 2014

Trail Heads: 
370 Brooks Rd, Bethany, CT - This road is a narrow, wooded residential road. There's space for maybe 2 cars on the side of the road near the trail head.

250 Mt Carmel Ave, Hamden, CT - We parked on the side of the road by Sleeping Giant State Park. Street parking is allowed during the weekend; we did this so we could avoid the park's fee. 

Length/Distance: According the Connecticut Walk book, the route between the trail heads on Brooks Rd and the entrance of the Quinnipiac Trail into Sleeping Giant State Park was 4.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 4.89 miles.

Summary: We started from Brooks Rd. The day was overcast; it had rained earlier in the day so underbrush was damp. Less than a mile into the hike, my companion was stung six times by an unidentified insect; most likely, it was a wasp. After treating the stings, we continued on with our hike. Towards the top of a hill, we found Lowbush Blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 

There were a few ripe blueberries to be had. We also found bushes of American Red Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) along the trail. At 1.1 miles, we came to a T with the Quinnipiac and the northmost portion of Regicides Trails.

After a bit more hiking, the trail has a road walk along Paradise Ave; in the future, this is where we'd access the northmost point of the Regicides, given the trail intersection was ~0.6 miles from Paradise Ave. There's also a parking area at the dead-end. 

The trail entered the woods again at the end of the cul-de-sac, fairly quickly leading to a road walk along Old Coach Hwy, Nolan Rd, Shepard Ave, and Rocky Top Rd. We then entered the woods again to the left side of Rocky Top Rd. This took us up and over York Hill. This portion of the trail was relatively overgrown and very noticeably so because of the prickers. There was some nice Staghorn Sumac (Rhys typhina). 

Along this portion of trail, we also saw an old stone chimney and oven. 

The trail emerged onto Kimberly Ave, right down the road from the Quinnipiac York Hill campus with the TD Bank Sports Center. They had some nice Lilacs planted in the area. 

From there, we road walked down West Woods Rd, over Whitney Ave, and then into the woods by Sleeping Giant. The trail lead around Mill River back to Mt Carmel Ave. 

There was a deer in the middle of the path by the river. 

Since we had previously hiked the entirety of the Sleeping Giant Blue Trail/Quinnipiac in years past, that finished our hike. We have two more hikes left to finish the entire Quinnipiac.