Day Pond State Park

Today was a hot day to being doing any kind of activity outdoors, which is why I was at the trail head at 9. Was hoping to get a little earlier start but it didn't happen. Parked at the Comstock Covered Bridge, only covered bridge in Eastern Connecticut.

View from the Salmon River

I followed the Blue-Blazed Salmon River Trail, a loop trail which is about 6 miles from this starting point. My plan was to do the loop trail plus add on about another mile and a half on a side trail. The trail follows the river and begins a short climb to a nice overview of the river. 

View of Salmon River

From this point the trail snakes it way up into Day Pond State Forest, where the loop section actually takes place. I would recommend wearing or at least bring bug replant because this section was infested with mosquitoes. Whenever I stopped for a few seconds I was swatting them off of me, it was almost to the point were it became unbearable. Once I intersected the loop section the bugs seemed to disappear. I decide to go the northern loop first, because I was interested in the falls that were listed on the map.

Upper

Lower

As you can see, it is quite a large waterfall, height wise, and is a nice place to sit and relax. I had my snack at this area and it was very calming. Here I decided that I wasn't going to continue following the trail back around but instead was going to wonder downstream and meet up with the Salmon River and follow it back to the bridge. The hike down to the river wasn't bad, rather enjoyable following the stream. Once I arrived at the river I began my way back to the bridge.

I was able to hike along the river for the most part and when it became do difficult I cut inland and followed what looked to be a deer trail. To my my surprise I came upon what looked like someone's living quarters. There were 2 hammocks, a table and a make shift shelter with some logs. No one was there but, it was still a little weird. After making my way past the encampment I came to a section in the river where an old dam might have been. There were remnants of a stone wall on both sides of the river. From this spot you can actually hike back up to that first overview point, there was an unmarked trail leading back up. But I followed the river back to where it picked up the trail. I recommend going back up, because you have to cross a field that isn't really maintained.

Map of Park, Orange is what I did.

Overall the hike ended up being a little shorter, 4.5 miles, but with the heat and bugs, it was fine. I would like to go back and finish the loop some time, there are old cellar holes along the route that I missed.

Valley Falls Park, CT

Another great day for a hike. It has been a while since I was able to get out and go for a hike. Only did a short hike of 4.3 miles in Valley Falls Park.

Map

As you can see I did one big loop following the out trails. It is a nice little park with a couple of different trails. Very peaceful throughout the park, most people stay by the beach area and go swimming or fishing. The Hop River Rail Trail runs right by the park. I was able to get out real early this morning (8am) the wasn't really anybody there. Good thing too because the local CERT was preforming a drill and it would have put a damper on my hike. Saw a really cool spider with in the first 10 minutes of the hike.

A little bit down the trail I noticed a fallen log with some fungus on it, I just caught it out of the corner of my eye.

When I came back down along the river bed it was very neat seeing where it had risen over the last few days with all the rain that we had gotten in area. This part of the trail was also very muddy due to the rain. Had to do some puddle jumping but it wasn't too bad. I was enjoying myself.

After crossing the rail trail and heading up a little bit I recommend going along the lookout trail, blazed white. The are a few nice rocky out cropping that allow one to over look the park. Unfortunately you can't really see the pond from here, but it is still a nice view.

Throughout most of the hike you can a lot of the Mountain Laurel that is now out. Very beautiful this time of year.

Mountain Laurel

After returning from the lookout trail I decide to go on the Orange Blazed Boulder trail. The only issue I have with this trail is that in the middle of the loop the trail becomes almost non-existent expect for a few blazes on some trees. You have to really look for them since the trail has pretty much disappeared. 

One other neat thing I saw while hiking today was a garter snake attacking a toad. The toad was able to fend off itself and hop away but it was still a neat little experience. I have two photos of during and after.

During the attack.

 You can see the snakes jaw open and trying to bit down on the toad.

After.

The snake is just sitting there watching and waiting, but the toad did hop away after a few minutes.

Tory's Den, CT

On this beautiful day I decide that I would hike in the area of Tory's Den. For those not familiar with it, it is located near Bristol, CT and supposedly used as a hideout for a British loyalist during the Revolutionary War. Decide to get up nice and early and have a little time to myself before people starting going to it on the sunny Sunday.

Trail and Elevation

As you can see I started out on E. Plymouth Rd. near Old Marsh Pond. From there the trail went up towards Tory's Den, following a Blue Blaze Trail. About a mile into you reach an intersection with Tunxis Trail, actually you start on it and it splits off to the right. About another tenth of a mile, you can see the place from here, is Tory's Den, this is on a Blue w/Yellow dot blaze.

Cave Where They Hid

The whole area is actually really nice, there are a bunch of ledges that you can climb and look down onto the trail and area, plus there is a little cave where they supposedly stayed while hiding.

From there I continued onward about another mile ore so until I came to another intersection where you could go down to a road, But I kept going and found an unblazed trail that followed an old stonewall and eventually came across what looked to be a fire tower. The windows in the tower almost looked new but they had sealed off the entrance so I could not climb inside to the top. After the fire tower I was able to hook back up with the Blue w/Yellow Dot trail, so if you feel like following it you can see the tower from there and won't have to worry about following a trail that isn't marked.

Fire Tower

The trail then follows what looks like an old logging trail until it eventually hits another road. At this point in my trip I had hiked about 3.25 mile and decided to turn around. After turning around and staying on the blazed trail back past the fire tower I cam to a four-way intersection, Going up would lead to the unblazed trail I was on so I decide to head down again an unmark trail. While going down this trail I came across an old foundation just of the trail. You can still see where the door was leading into the house.

Stone Foundation

Following it for some time I was coming up on what looked to be a reserver and made the choice to turn around and follow the Blue w/Yellow dot trail back to Tory's Den. Along the way I heard some rustling up ahead on the trail, knew it was too loud to be a squirrel so I stopped and tried to approach it to see if I could get a picture. Unfortunately I couldn't but I will say it was a good sized raccoon, so I think.

From Tory's Den I decide to Hike what is referred to as "Mile of Ledges Trail" (Don't Recommend After Rain Storm). This was a fun experience because I love rock hopping and challenging trail sections. This is part of the Tunxis Trail with a Blue Blaze, through it wasn't that well marked in my opinion, so keep your eyes open for the blazes.

"Mile of Ledges"

From there I ran into a pond which had a nice little Red blazed loop around it. And from talking to some people I had met by the pond said it was relatively new. I also ran into 2 guys who were out for the day but were using it to get ready for a week hike on the AT in early May. Turns out they have done quite a bit of hiking on the CT and VT sections. Nice guys. After looping the pond I was on my way back to the car.

Over the hike was a great one. I had beautiful weather, a fairly well maintain trail, for the most part. I did however not bring enough water and found myself a little dehydrated towards the end. And I had left my snacks that I had brought in my car. Overall I had hike 9.7 Miles in about 5 hours total. I was able to get some nice photos and hopefully I will be able to do it again.

Reminder if you are going hiking in the NY, CT, MA or VT area to check yourself for ticks when finished. I did find one on myself during the hike. It is that time of year to start checking and these areas are know for them.

Welcome

I will be using this blog to talk about hiking trips I have gone on. Anything from a simple day hike to a week long excursions. I will also be posting photos of the trips as well.

A little about me first off.

Back in 2011 I completed my Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail. I started out in April and finished in August, only taking 4 months to complete the journey. If you saw me out on the trail I went by the name Red Moose. You can read about it in my blog at Red Moose Thru-Hike. Since completing my hike of the AT I have done a various of small hikes. Mostly day hikes in the Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York area and a couple of overnighters. In the summer of 2012 I went out to the Wind River Range in Wyoming with some friends I met on the AT and spent a week out there hiking. We had a blast.