Regicides Trail

Hike occurred on November 15, 2014

Trail Heads: 

Short St & Hard St, New Haven, CT - This is an official trail head for West Rock Ridge State Park, with access to the Blue/Yellow Westville Feeder Trail as well as Teal and Teal/White trails. The parking lot has space for parking for at least 8 cars and is open sunrise to sunset. There is additional parking available at 1 Valley St that has access to the playground area via a foot bridge. 

507 West Shepard Ave, Hamden, CT - This is the closest parking available to the beginning of the Regicides Trail. It's a dead end road and there's side of the road parking for 3-4 cars. 

Length/Distance: According the DEEP's trail map, the entire trail was 7.04 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 8.69 miles, which included 0.3mi from the car to the trail, 0.3mi of backtracking from the northern terminus, and 0.6mi along the Blue/Yellow feeder trail as off-trail mileage.

Summary: Originally, we'd planned to park one car at the southern terminus of the Blue trail which was within the park. However, the park closed to car traffic after the last weekend in October. Instead, we parked one car at the Westville Feeder trail and then headed to West Shepard Ave. The day was a bit brisk (~high 30's) and windy. 

We began hiking by stepping over the low metal barrier and continuing up West Shepard Ave. 

This area felt very strange. We were greeted by a carved head hanging from a tree. 

There was electric lines going back along the road as well as street lights (which were on in the middle of the day). After maybe 2/10ths of a mile along the blocked off road, the road went by an old abandon house and barn. 

We continued along the road until it ended at a pile of rocks, with some spray painted rock formations. We could see the blue trail blazes from there.  

 

From there, we headed to the right along the trail, to walk back to the northern terminus of the Regicides, at the intersection with the Quinnipiac. 

There was some snow at the trail intersection. 

 Near the intersection, there was a good view. 

From here, we continued back the way we had come, passing by the end of West Shepard, and hiked south. We passed by a view of Farm Brook Pond. 

There was also a good view of New Haven. 

We then had some good view of Lake Watrous. 

We passed by a little stone shed with no roof. 

We had some views of Lake Dawson. 

 

Eventually, we crossed over the Rt 15 tunnel. 

And went by the tunnel's ventilation shaft and emergency exit which was much larger than pictures had led me to believe. 

We passed by Judges Cave which was really more like gaps between rocks than a cave. 

After a walk that skirted along the edge of the cliff, the trail finished behind the pavilion.

 

 There was some beautiful views from the parking area. 

 The sleeping giant...

From here, we headed back along the Blue trail to the Blue/Yellow Westville Feeder Trail. 

After a bit of slipping and sliding down the trail, we arrived at the park entrance where we had parked one car. 

Overall, it was a good hike, though a bit longer than our typical. 

Quinnipiac Trail - part 4

This hike occurred on September 13, 2014

Trail Heads: 
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. 

Cheshire & Chatfield Rds, Prospect, CT - This was the final terminus of the Quinnipiac Trail. There was room to park maybe 2 cars on the side of the road near this sign. 

Length/Distance: According the Connecticut Walk book, the route between the trail heads on Mountain Rd and trail's end was 4.0 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.79 miles.

Summary: We started at Mountain Rd and hiked towards Cheshire/Chatfield Rds. We hiked along Mountain Rd for a few hundred yards then crossed the road and entered the woods, following the blue blazes. 

 There were some pointless ups and downs (PUDs) but overall, the elevation was minimal. There was a rock scramble partway through the hike, where the trail skirted around a small farm. 

 

We passed by the Roaring Brook Falls spur.

The trail paralleled Roaring Brook for a time. 

Right at the three mile mark, the trail emerged onto Cornwall Ave where we followed the blazes along a road walk all the way to the end of the Quinnipiac Trail. It began to rain just as the car came into our line of sight. We quickly took a picture of the final trail sign and then hoofed it to the car. 

NH AT section hike #2, day 4

Start: Lake of the Clouds hut
End: Pinkham Notch/Joe Dodge Lodge
Mileage: 14.9

Last night I went to sleep fairly early; I was in bed by 9pm and asleep by 9:30pm. I slept until 6am and I got up and put my pack together so I could leave right after breakfast. After breakfast, I said goodbye to my new acquaintances and hit the trail by 7:30am. It was a sunny, lightly breezy day with high visibility; you couldn't ask for nicer weather.

Early morning at Lake of the Clouds

View of Lake of the Clouds hut from partway up Mt Washington

After starting at Lake of the Clouds hut (5012'), I was at the peak of Mt Washington (6288') by 8:30am. At the peak, it was around 40 degrees with another 10-20 additional degrees of wind chill.  I spent half an hour relaxing, taking pictures, and changing into less warm clothes since the sun had started to warm things up.

From there, I headed down to Edmunds Col (4938'), the intersection with the Israel Ridge path (4313'), Thunderstorm junction (5500'), and then Madison Spring hut (4800'). 

The Cog railway tracks

Cog railway

Cog railway

View of Mt Clay, Mt Jefferson, Mt Adams, and Mt Madison

View of Mt Clay, Mt Jefferson, Mt Adams, and Mt Madison

View from Gulfside & Airline trail intersection

View of Monroe, Ammonoosuc Ravine, & Boott Spur

I stopped at the hut for some lunch; they thoughtfully had tomato lentil soup in addition to their turkey soup. I had a hot bowl of soup with some wheat bread and peach coffee cake. From the hut, I climbed Mt Madison (5366').

View from Madison

Another view from Madison, with Mt Washington in the background

After that, it was a long, long hike downward; it seemed to take forever. 

The trail follows the ridge. The trail markers are entirely made of cairns and the footing was very unstable.

View of Mt Washington and Mt Madison (right)

View of Mt Washington (left) and Mt Madison (center)

I passed by the Osgood tentsite (2540') and the West Branch of the Peabody river (2300'). 

Then I climbed to Low's Bald Spot (2860') and from there, decended to Pinkham notch and Joe Dodge Lodge (2050'). I arrived at 5pm.

I was sad to see the hike finish though my right elbow, knees, and feet were perfectly happy to be done. I had a shower, followed by a nice dinner and chats with fellow guests. Tomorrow, I'll have breakfast early and then catch the AMC shuttle back to Lincoln and my car. And from there, home!