Metacomet trail - Part 11

This hike occurred on November 16, 2013

Trail Heads:
440 New Britain Ave., Plainville, CT - We parked in a doctors' offices parking lot across the street from where the Metacomet enters the woods again after a road walk. The parking lot is very large and is not used by patients on evenings and weekends. 

Parking for Metacomet Trail, Colt Highway (RT-6), Farmington, CT - This Metacomet trail head has both a small parking lot as well as on-street parking where the trail crosses the highway. 

Length/Distance: According the Connecticut Walk book, the route between the trail heads on New Britain Ave & Colt Highway/Rt-6 was 3.7 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 4.35 miles.

Summary: We started from Colt Highway/Rt-6 and hiked towards New Britain Ave. Near the beginning of the trail, there was a tricky section of rock we had to climb over. 

After a bit of a walk, we emerged near the Channel 30 broadcast towers. 

Not too long after this, we hiked by Will Warren's Den which is a small cave with historical significance. 

We climbed to the top of a cliff with some beautiful views. 

The trail then went down and around the cliff. For whatever reason, there were hundreds of hornets flying in and around the rocks. Their bodies and wings together were about the size of a thumb.

We had to hike through a hole in the rock.

We quickly scrambled down the hill behind the cliff, trying to avoid being stung by the swarms of hornets. 

Underneath the power lines, we found what we were pretty sure was Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna). 

From under the power lines, you could see quite a ways north. 

We found remnants of an old lookout tower. 

There was a view of hill we'd climbed. 

We reached the area of Rattlesnake Mountain where many folks go climbing. 

After a bit more hiking, we reached the trail head on New Britain Ave.