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 2

This hike occurred on August 2, 2014

Trail Heads: 
370 Brooks Rd, Bethany, CT - This road is a narrow, wooded residential road. There's space for maybe 2 cars on the side of the road near the trail head.

250 Mt Carmel Ave, Hamden, CT - We parked on the side of the road by Sleeping Giant State Park. Street parking is allowed during the weekend; we did this so we could avoid the park's fee. 

Length/Distance: According the Connecticut Walk book, the route between the trail heads on Brooks Rd and the entrance of the Quinnipiac Trail into Sleeping Giant State Park was 4.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 4.89 miles.

Summary: We started from Brooks Rd. The day was overcast; it had rained earlier in the day so underbrush was damp. Less than a mile into the hike, my companion was stung six times by an unidentified insect; most likely, it was a wasp. After treating the stings, we continued on with our hike. Towards the top of a hill, we found Lowbush Blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 

There were a few ripe blueberries to be had. We also found bushes of American Red Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) along the trail. At 1.1 miles, we came to a T with the Quinnipiac and the northmost portion of Regicides Trails.

After a bit more hiking, the trail has a road walk along Paradise Ave; in the future, this is where we'd access the northmost point of the Regicides, given the trail intersection was ~0.6 miles from Paradise Ave. There's also a parking area at the dead-end. 

The trail entered the woods again at the end of the cul-de-sac, fairly quickly leading to a road walk along Old Coach Hwy, Nolan Rd, Shepard Ave, and Rocky Top Rd. We then entered the woods again to the left side of Rocky Top Rd. This took us up and over York Hill. This portion of the trail was relatively overgrown and very noticeably so because of the prickers. There was some nice Staghorn Sumac (Rhys typhina). 

Along this portion of trail, we also saw an old stone chimney and oven. 

The trail emerged onto Kimberly Ave, right down the road from the Quinnipiac York Hill campus with the TD Bank Sports Center. They had some nice Lilacs planted in the area. 

From there, we road walked down West Woods Rd, over Whitney Ave, and then into the woods by Sleeping Giant. The trail lead around Mill River back to Mt Carmel Ave. 

There was a deer in the middle of the path by the river. 

Since we had previously hiked the entirety of the Sleeping Giant Blue Trail/Quinnipiac in years past, that finished our hike. We have two more hikes left to finish the entire Quinnipiac.    

Sleeping Giant - Blue & White

Hike occurred on October 19th, 2013

Trail Head:
Chestnut Lane, Hamden, CT - Parking: We parked on Chestnut Ln, on the far side of Sleeping Giant. There is roadside parking for at least a dozen vehicles.

Length/Distance: 
We completed a loop hike, taking the Blue trail up to the tower and then coming back on the White trail; this was slated to be around 5 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 5.9 miles, which included a short off-shoot when we missed a trail split. 

Summary: We began our hike at Chestnut Lane. We followed Yellow to Blue and then hiked up Blue to the tower. From the tower, we followed the Tower trail down to Triangle and then followed Triangle to White. We then followed White back to Chestnut Lane. 

We did find some Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) that looks tasty (part of the grape family) but is in fact poisonous. 

The trails were fairly busy given that it was a nice day at the tail end of leaf peeping season. The views were delightful; unlike Vermont, Connecticut trees were still in the process of shedding leaves. 

Sleeping Giant - Square trail

This hike occurred on September 22, 2013

Trail Heads:
Mt Carmel Ave., Hamden, CT - Parking: There is a parking lot on Mt Carmel Ave with room for maybe 3 cars to park off the road. The entrance to Square trail is accessible directly from the parking lot. 

Mansion Rd., Wallingford, CT -  Parking: There is a parking lot on Mansion Rd with room for 4-6 cars to park off the road. The Horseback U, Skiing X, and red Square trails are all accessible from here. We hiked from here.

Length/Distance: 
We completed a thru-hike on the red Square trail which is listed as 1.6 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 1.87 miles. 

Summary: We started the hike from the Mansion Rd parking lot. The trail was well marked and was easy to follow. The trail did have a number of sections with substantial soil erosion. The hike was uneventful but relaxing. 

  
  

Sleeping Giant - Triangle and Circle trails

This hike occurred on July 26, 2013

Trail Head:
Mt Carmel Ave & Outer Ridge Rd, Hamden, CT - Parking: There is a parking lot on Mt Carmel Ave with room for maybe 3 cars to park off the road. The entrance to Circle trail is accessible either from the road or from a connector trail from the parking lot. We were originally going to start the hike from Triangle trail by Hogan Rd but there is absolutely no parking. We left one car here and did one large loop. 

Length/Distance: 
We completed a loop hike, taking the Circle trail through to Tuttle Ave then Triangle trail back which was slated to be around 3-4 miles. According to my GPS tracking program, our route was 3.77 miles, not including the half-mile walk back to the Circle trail parking lot.   

Summary: We started the hike up the connector trail from the parking lot. The connector trail wasn't marked at all but follow it to the left and it connects with Circle trail. There was quite a bit of flora by the trail. We saw Narrow-Leaf Mountain Mint (or Slender Mountain Mint) (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium). Apparently, the dried leaves can be used as a flavorant in tea or cooking. It can be used as an insect repellent, though its cousin is better.  

Circle trail wound around the giant's right leg and knee and left leg. 

There had been a fair amount of rain lately and there was water running in creek beds that didn't typically have water. 

We also happened upon a camp site. Now, normally camping is not allowed on Sleeping Giant but if a non-profit organization or kids' camp wants to camp, they can get a permit. We did not know this so we called the DEEP and told them about the abandoned camp. They came out, took at look at it, contacted the owner of an abandoned trailer with camping supplies on it, and found out they were camping there legally as part of a non-profit kids' camp. The DEEP officer was kind enough to call us and let us know. 

The site was quite a mess though. We think they abandoned camp part way through their stay due to the rain. 

Right around here, there was the Gorge Cascade. It's a lot further down than it looks. 

We hit the bottom of the Circle trail and connected through to the Triangle trail via the horseback riding trail (U). The Triangle trail was a never-ending uphill climb up and over the giant's hips. 

There were some Intermediate Woodfern (Dryopteris intermedia) along the trail. 

Between the Orange and the White trails, there was a large tree down on Triangle trail. 

Towards the end of this hike, there was a nice wood bridge over a creek bed. 

From there, the trail exited onto the side of Mt Carmel Ave. We trekked back to our car at the base of the Circle trail.

Overall, it was a good but tiring hike. The Triangle trail was especially steep and had a very prolonged assent. It had been raining earlier in the day but had stopped prior to the beginning of the hike though it did drizzle on us during the middle of the hike.