Mattabesett Trail - Part 7

This hike occurred on July 19, 2012

Trail Heads: 
Brainard Hill Rd., Higganum, CT - Parking: At this trail head, there is off-road parking available for 2 cars maximum. The road is residential and very quiet so you could probably get away with parking on the side of the road, although the road is pretty narrow. 

Miller's Pond State Park, Durham, CT - Parking: So the blue trail doesn't enter Miller's Pond State Park near their parking lot. No, it's about 1/3 of a mile down the road. The road is also littered with these signs: 

I'm pretty sure they're around because Miller's Pond is a popular place to go swimming, even though you're technically not allowed, so their parking lot fills up quickly. If you're ever interested in Miller's Pond, know that it is a walk-in park only. Though we haven't seen them yet, apparently there are cliffs surrounding the pond that young people like to use to go cliff jumping. This has resulted in numerous injuries and a handful of deaths in the past 10 years. Someone has already died there this year.      

Length/Distance: We started out at Miller's Pond and hiked to Brainard Hill Rd. Because we had to walk down the road from Miller's Pond, we added about 3/10ths of a mile to the hike. According to the CT Walk book, the hike was 3.2 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.48 miles. All things considered, I believe the CT Walk book was actually correct for once!

Summary: The first part of the hike is all on the road. We hiked from Miller's Pond and down Foot Hills Rd; we entered the woods approximately 9/10ths of a mile into the hike. This hike was a bit more difficult than our previous ones because we were trying to hurry since we had very limited sunlight left when we began. Once in the woods, we encountered a cool-looking rock.

We also saw the cutest tiny frog ever!

The rest of the hike was rather rushed and the light was fading so we couldn't see very much. There was one place where the trail came out to an opening in the trees on a rock ridge. It was beautiful. 

A bit after this, the trail lead out under the high power lines and we could see some open sky. 

The sun going down reflected on the clouds. 

After this, we spent maybe 20 minutes tripping through the woods. I managed to sprain both ankles about 5 minutes apart. I can't wait for my new hiking shoes to show up. I'm pretty sure they'll be more stable than my 3-year-old sneakers. Yay for ankle instability! If you have an interest in seeing what the ankle repair surgery looks like, there are pictures here. I think I may need to suck it up and wear braces on both ankles every time I go hiking.  

Mattabesett Trail - Part 6

This hike occurred on July 16, 2012

Trail Heads: 
Brainard Hill Rd., Higganum, CT - Parking: At this trail head, there is off-road parking available for, at max, 2 cars. The road is residential and very quiet so you could probably get away with parking on the side of the road, although the road is pretty narrow. 

Seven Falls State Park, Haddam, CT - Parking: This roadside park has a parking lot right before Me and McGee's and also has parking available on Saybrook Rd's shoulder. 

Length/Distance: According to the CT Walk book, it should have been 1.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, the route was 2.17 miles.  

Summary: For this hike, we ended up walking between two Blue-blazed trail heads (Saybrook Rd & Brainard Hill Rd). The entire walk was on pavement/public roads. After looking at the elevation, we decided to hike from Brainard Hill to Saybrook Rd instead of the other way around. This was a good choice. The majority of the hike was down hill. Most of the roads were residential so they weren't too busy but there was still a fair amount of traffic. The road was well blazed with lots of telephone poles being marked like this one. 

Early on in the hike, we encountered a small farm stand. At the present, they only had plants. I wonder if they have veggies later in the season. 

There were some nice Queen Anne's Lace on the road as well. 

We saw some more Verbascum Thapsus growing between some rocks at a farm. 

We also saw some very pretty flowering Staghorn Sumac. 

This was a fairly quick and easy hike which was good since it was 90+ degrees and rather humid. The bugs did try to nibble on us but thankfully, we'd sprayed down with bug repellent. At the end of this hike, as we walked through Seven Falls park, one of my ankles gave out and I fell, twisting my ankle. Hopefully, it should be back to normal in a few days. Unfortunately, it's a rather common occurrence for me. This event also encouraged me to purchase a new pair of hiking shoes with more stability.