Sleeping Giant - Violet trail

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, you can park on Mt Carmel Ave and walk in. Parking on the road isn't allowed during the week (only Sat/Sun). It is a good option during the summer but during the spring/fall when college is in session, there is often no roadside parking available. But of course, then the park doesn't charge. There is a small amount of overlap during spring/fall and it's a complete pain!  


Length/Distance: We completed the Violet trail, which according to the Sleeping Giant Park Association is 3.2 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.8 miles. 

Summary: This was a somewhat easy hike, especially compared with the Blue and White trails. There was a decent climb at the beginning where you had to scramble up some rocks but overall, it was fairly flat. At the beginning, there was some nice views of Mill River.   

There were also some cool ruins (more information can be read here), I believe these are either from an old grist mill or the Axle Shop. 

A bit further up the trail, there were ruins of a building that still had a roof. 

Overall, it was an easy hike with some good views. It was very nice to see parts of Sleeping Giant that we have hiked but from the ground. Considering it was 90+ degrees out, we were perfectly happy to not be climbing mountains.