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.