A Walk Across the Giant

Gather round, my fainthearted friends.  It's a Halloween tale of ghosts and ghouls and the Mad Mare of Hamden's Hills.  She was a monster, black as night, standing 16 hands high.  Bred of Mustang and Shire Horse, she was wild and ill-tempered. But when the moon rises on All Hallow's Eve, something evil awakens in her very soul.  Nostrils flared, searching the air; the red tint of her crazed eyes glowing like fire in the moonlight. With a chilling whinny, an ear splitting neigh, she goes mad on Halloween night, terrorizing any who are fool enough to cross her hill... hmmhmmwah ha ha...

Heartbreak Hill I'm working toward the Four Seasons Giant Master - hiking all 30 miles of trails at Sleeping Giant State Park once each season.  Spring and Summer are done, and since we're almost halfway through Fall with weekends getting busy, I packed the trek into two days.  No stories, no camera, no photos - just plugging along, getting the miles done. It's either training for a Giant Marathon (everything in one day) or justification for taking it slow and enjoying the trails.  Give me a couple of days to decide! OK, one photo with my phone snuck through:  my version of Heartbreak Hill above - looking up the trail to the ascent of Giant's Head halfway through day 2, and wondering if my rubbery legs will get me there - go Gumby go.

or at least Connecticut' s little piece of it. Bear Mountain, Mt. Frissell , Brace Mountain loop Bear Mountain - as seen from the west on Mt Frissell Bear Mountain , in the northwest corner of Connecticut , is the state’s highest summit.  But not the state highpoint.  That honor belongs to a little section of the south face of Mount Frissell .  This New Haven Hiking Club hike took us up and over Bear and Round Mountains , and then up Frissell in Massachusetts , over to the Taconic Ridge and Brace Mountain in New York .  Three states, one state highpoint, four mountain summits and a great hike; about 12 miles on a beautiful autumn Sunday. We started from the Route 41 parking lot and trailhead, about three miles north of Salisbury , CT on the blue blazed Undermountain Trail.  This is a popular spot; the parking was already filled when we got there at 9am .  Two groups headed up with us, but we were hiking at a pretty good pace, and lost them...

Have you been to Sleeping Giant State Park ?  I spent a long lunch there today, but not where you'd expect. Northwest across Tuttle Avenue, the Butterworth Brook property is not developed - no trails yet - but this time of year is really worth a look... Enter along Butterworth Brook

Sunny and 60 o – an absolutely beautiful morning in Kent .  The leaves are starting to turn – reds and yellows brighten the day.           State Park Website                                     Trail Map You couldn’t script a better start to the hike today.  Sound – babbling brook in the main park picnic area, wind rustling the leaves, a hawk screeches in the distance.  Cue the wildlife – three deer bolt off into the woods as the hawk circles overhead.  And action – start east up the hill on the Blue Trail in Macedonia State Park .  This 2300 acre state park has camping spring to fall, fishing and of course, hiking – seven marked trails including the 6.7 mile blue-blazed loop. 

Route 68 to Route 66 section, Middlefield / Durham - 5.7 miles But since I hiked it out and back and around a little, make it about 12 miles. Where to hike next?  A friend from work remembered a photo she had, a view off a cliff with water in the background, somewhere around Middletown – maybe Mattabesett Mountain ?  A confirming email from her friend came back – the Mattabesett trail south of 691.  Check the Connecticut Walk Book – that sounds like the Beseck Ridge section of the trail. I parked at the Route 66 parking lot on the north side of 66, just west of the Baileyville Rd (Rt 147) intersection.  A trail leads north and then east from the lot, passing the Mattabesett sign, and the ubiquitous CFPA  warning: “STOP – PROCEED WITH CAUTION.  This section of the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail traverses a portion of the Metacomet Range , a series of high traprock ridges that drop precipitously at the cliff edge.  A fall from the ridge wil...

Over many hikes around the state, I've learned to identify some of the trees - red and pin oak, beech and maple, sycamore and hickory, pines and hemlocks. But wildflowers? No. And since this is fall wildflower time (check out the Sleeping Giant hikes here and here ), I tried to identify flowers from Quinnipiac Trail and Mattabesett Trail hikes the last week. Without a lot of success.  I could find a few on a quick web image search, but for me an aster is an aster...

North terminus of the Quinnipiac Trail at Rt 68 in Prospect, to Rocky Top Road in Hamden, 14 miles. Maybe the most photographed boundary marker in town To finish the Quinnipiac Trail, I started at the end (according to the Connecticut Walk Book, anyway) and hiked back through a couple of sections.  The trail starts at the corner of Route 68 and Chatfield St. in Prospect, and the initial ¾ of a mile takes you up the street, around the corner, past the farmer’s field and to the water towers at the end of Cornwall Ave.  And we still haven’t hit the woods yet!  Around the fence, and onto an old stagecoach road, the trail heads up the hill into the woods at a Cheshire – Prospect boundary marker.  ...up the hill to the crest of Prospect Ridge. This traprock ridge forms the border between Cheshire and Prospect – there are stone walls along the way marking the properties.  The trail follows the ridge, which should give you a look in the dista...