our first overnight hike/campng trip

Click on the link below for a geat read on our first overnight camping/hiking trip

http://robertsrockfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-first-backpacking-camping-tripwas.html

Glacial Boulders - Shenipsit Central - Blue-Blazed Trails

Today we hiked Glacial Boulders (blue-blazed) trail located in or near Hebron and Glastonbury, CT off Birch Mountain Road.  This trail is part of the Shenipsit Central Trail, off Case Mountain in Hebron/Bolton.



(The Shenipsit Trail is marked by blue rectangular blazes. It is part of the blue-blazed trail system maintained by the CFPA. Founded in 1929, the CFPA has created and maintained 825 miles of blue-blazed trails in the state of Connecticut.[3] Wikipedia



Ferns along our route



The trail book we have brought us to a small road off  rt85 near the large houses that dot the old apple orchards of Glastonbury.  But as we found out very quickly, that Blue-Blazed trail was moved, because people did not like hikers and bikers near their homes. 

So we backtracked to Birch Mountain Road and packed near the Cell/Weather towers on the right hand side of the road. Once parked the four of us crossed and back to the Blue-Blazed trail.  The hike started off nice and level and followed old stonewalls.  With in the first few minutes we found budding ferns and a nice clean walking trail.



Map from our guild book

The boys (9 & 6) did real well following the well marked Blue-blazed trail markers.  Our first major trail sight were the power lines, in which we walked under and were passed by two runners.  I have to mention during the whole 4 mile hike we saw less than 12 other people, some riding mountain bikes, some trail running, walking their dogs and all were pleasant and being the hikers we stayed to one side for the bikers.


After we walked under the powerlines, we saw three trails branch off the Red Trail, the blue & white trail and the blue trail...we stuck with the blue trail, and I am glad we did because we found some of our first garnets buried in silvery boulders.  It was such a cool sight for the boys to see tiny gems sticking out from the silvery rocks, alongside stripes of granite both white and pink in color.  Both the boys were excited to see the garnets and tried hard to dig them out of the rocks.  After seeing these our hike went upward, it was a bit of an incline and the boys were troopers.


The path continued to follow sheets of rock that coated the ground

all the way to the Glacial Boulder.  It almost looked like a sidewalk.  The boulder, was one of the largest rocks that we have seen, and the boys all tried to climb it, but failed to reach the top of the largest rock (pictured here).


The rest of the walk offered many views from Pine Ledge were great and it was suggested as a nice place to stop for lunch, which we did.  It was shaded and flat.  Through the trees you might be able to see Hartford and Manchester, but the leaves were pretty full.  We continued onto Garnet Ledge which was the 2 mile point and at this point we turned around and followed the Blue/White Blazed trail back to the car.  We were glad we did because along the way the boys spied larger garnets, many were the size of peas, and were loose from the larger stones.  Pockets were filled and legs were getting tired, so we continued on and finally decided to use the gps/map app on Troys phone and found a route to Birch Mountain Road.


Once the road was insight, the boys were happy to see that the hike was coming to an end.  But before finding the road mom and dad make the commitment to get ice cream on the way home.  So this was even more of an incentive to finish without more complaining.


This was a great hike and very doable for our family and I am looking forward to doing it again this fall, because starting out early when it is cooler out was one thing that helped make this enjoyable.

Mashamoquet Brook State Park -

Mashamoquet Brook State Park  - Pretty simple last minute sunday afternoon hike in Putnam CT

This was a bit Different from the Mashamoquet Wold Den / Indian Chair hike we took a year ago. It was a flat hike along the brook, and included a few minutes of rock skipping.  Always an adventure with boys who love to pick up rocks, stones, glass, leaves and pretty much anything else they find underfoot.  I even found a piece of bone from an animal that I think was from the hip of the creature.

Mashamoquet Brook State Park website: http://ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2716&Q=325238


 
Here are some of the photos from our hike:

East Coast Greenway - Andover CT

Trevor near one of the signs that marks the trail in Andover CT. 

We parked in the parking lot behind the local church and used the crosswalk to enter the Trail to Trail path.  All clearly marked.

Grave yard behind the church across from the hiking trail.  Beautiful old stones with lots of history. 

The boys really enjoied looking at each stone and seeing the dates.  Back to the early 1800's

View of the Church on Rt 6 Andover CT from the trail.

Trevor, Dylan and Troy walking the once Railroad trail.

Along this route we saw a few thing slike small streams and skunk cabbage (YUCK)!!

Reminders of what used to be - the telephone poles that remain along the walking/riding path.

As much as we wanted to walk further today we just brought a lunch and sat along the path and enjoied lunch, then we walked back to the car.  I am hoping next time we can walk longer on this trail. For more information on locations and what part of this trail might be in your state check out the East Coast Greenway website: http://www.greenway.org/ct.php

Wolf Rock Nature Preserve - Joshua's Trust (Mansfield CT) 3/7/10

Wolf Rock - Great Place for the Kids to walk - some fun overlooks that can take your breath away from the height and the view!  This hike was early spring so it was still cool and the trees were still lacking their leaves which was nice to see for miles around toward the West and South.

There were many great things to see along the trail and it was well marked

with Yellow trail and part of the Blue Dot Trail that intertwined. 

The trail that we took (mainly yellow) was about 1.5 miles and easy for the boys to do.

We ventured into a stream, up on boulders, over stick bridges and saw signs of lots of wild life.

Link here for some more details on this site.

http://www.courant.com/community/hc-6waytogo0629.artjun29,0,1445411.story

(Top) Boys at first large Boulder

On top of Wolf Rock right above a very steep ledge!  Would not find me up there!

(Top) Ring left behind by the tower that once stood here ontop of the Ledge!

Troy showing off his muscles between to large rocks!

one of the markings for the yellow trail!

Great bridge - did not move a lick!  It was awesome!

Kollar Wildlife Management Area Tolland CT

Pretty easy walk - boys enjoied this one because there was lots of neat things to find in the woods - shot gun shells, old car parts, and even shot out beer cans!  But the coolest thing that we found was the iced over mud crystals, see the photos below!

http://www.willimanticriver.org/recreation/pg_park_kollar.html

James L Goodwin State Forest - Hampton CT

This was a perfect walk for families with Children. I would stick with the Red Trail if you and your children are not super used to harder hikes. We however, took the White Trail that started off nice and meandering and interesting with many different things to look at like beaver cut tree stumps and many pine groves. We continued the white trail up to Governors island, which was a perfect place to stop for lunch. Interesting look out platform that NEEDS lots of love, seemed like it was off balance and needed to be remade (I smell an Eagle Scout Project here), but while up there the kids saw ducks taking off and the long stretch of the pond!We did take the Red Trail back to the parking lot this was a bit harder at first because it seemed steep, but then leveled off as we headed back toward the pond. Again clearly marked and offered neat sights like woodpecker holes in trees and stone walls to follow.
In all we believe we hiked over 5 miles and we rewarded at the end with a small off shoot of the Blue Trail that lead up to a beaver observation hut, that you could go into and see clearly a beaver lodge. This time of year they were not active, but I am sure in the spring and summer it would be perfect to watch them without being seen. Looking forward to going back to this park and taking a few other of the trails.

James L Goodwin State Forest

23 Potter Rd, Hampton, CT (860) 455-9534‎
http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2691&Q=322536

Right off Rt 6 in Hampton, CT - Easy to park - out houses provided at the start of the hike. Very clearly marked trails and maps were offered at the start of the hike.