A Walk Across the Giant

I took yesterday (Saturday) off.  And I mean really off.  I was so deep into the couch the cushions are just now starting to recover.  So this morning I woke up stiff and sore.  I either needed a sauna or, since it's nice and warm and humid, a hike in the woods.  Starting from Chestnut Lane, I had a good uneventful hike - Orange to Red Circle to Violet to Lost Vista to Blue then Orange back to the car.  Even starting at 8am the air was still and humid - it took about 10 feet to work up a sweat.  The 90 minute hike was great for loosening up sore muscles. Coming across the Violet trail, a favorite spot is just after the Red Circle trail heading east.  You start to climb a little, moving out from under the forest canapy into the pines.  There's kind of an 'ahhhhhhhh' moment when the woods clear and open to a northwest view. 

If you head out of the park west to Whitney, the blue trail continues across the street, up West Woods, and into the woods off Kimberly Rd.  The trail turns south off Kimberly just past the water tower and heads across to Rocky Top and Shepard Ave. What's left of a summer cottage The trail leads up into the woods and through what was once someone's summer cottage - right up the front step and past a stone oven and chimney.  I startled a pair of turkeys pecking on the trail; they do run off fast for big birds. The sounds of breezes and bird songs were soon replaced by generators humming, hammers pounding and a Saturday morning Top 40 radio station as the trail wanders behind Quinnipiac University's new campus - still under construction.  You get a great view of this massive construction project from the Chest on Sleeping Giant (I took the first photo back in March). The fluttering flag poles you see from a distance are actually windmills - 2...

Today's " Hike A Giant" hike is cancelled due to forecast inclement weather. What??  The sun is out, there's a nice breeze - it's a little hot and humid, but not bad.  Tornado warning for all of Connecticut, 75% chance of scattered and severe thunderstorms.  It's a perfect day to go for a hike! I think there were a few people still there for the organized hike (the Sleeping Giant t-shirt and hats gave them away), but I was a little late and they were already on the way up the Tower trail.  So off I went, up the Orange trail. I figured a west end hike - up the orange, over the green, white and blue, back on the violet (very colorful)- maybe I can get it done before the rain comes.  Ever the optimist.