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.