A Walk Across the Giant

It's New England.  If you don't like the weather, wait a minute. The warm weather from the last few days gave way to howling winds and plummeting temperatures - back down anyway to the 20's and 30's where it belongs for January.  It's clear and sunny, and the last day of holiday before I go back to work tomorrow, so time for a little hike. You may have noticed photos from the last few days are trails at Sleeping Giant State Park.  I wrote an article for the Giant News - the association's newsletter.  The article was about being a Four Season Giant Master , hiking all the marked trails in the park in each season - spring, summer, fall and now finally winter.  On the off-chance the article is published in February's edition, I figure it's a good idea if I actually become  a Four Season Master by then.  Otherwise, my limited credibility as a writer suffers.  So I'm back on the Giant for the next few weekends pumping out the miles. ...

As happens all too often here, a good snowstorm is followed quickly by warmer temperatures and at least a little rain.  That mucks up the trails as the surface thaws; mud and ice make a really slick track. With the thaw yesterday, and rain this morning, the planned walk along the river was cancelled - it would have been really wet and sloppy.  But there was still time for a little wander. After a hearty New Year's Eve celebration, I spent New Year's Day in a fog - and today the weather played the same trick.  Nothing changes the mood of a hike quicker than fog.  Even familiar trails get a little mysterious - scenery in the distance revealed a little at a time. With fog swirling around the valleys, the view off the cliffs make it look like I've been hiking above the clouds. And just as it started to rain again, back down at the foot of the hills.

It's been a few weeks since I was in Sleeping Giant Park, but it's a great day - humidity's down, a little breezy... - and I had some time to kill, so... From the main parking lot, I took the Orange trail to the Red Circle trail, then on to the Green trail back to it's start on top of the Giant's Chest.  The White, White/Blue and then Blue trails over to the Tower, and the Tower Path back down to the parking lot.  Just about 5 miles over a 2+ hour hike. Looking South from the Giant's Chest - Quinnipiac U, East Rock and New Haven While trails like the Blue and White take you across the tops of the ridges that make up Sleeping Giant, the Orange and Green run along the valleys between them.  The Orange heads up across the south side of the second ridge with views to East Rock and New Haven.  From the Green, you look up at the cliffs below the Tower, and make your way up to the Giant's Chest - great views west to the Giant's Chin and south past Quin...

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.

...he was but an extinct volcano; he had been active in his time, but his fire was out, this good while, he was only a stately ash-pile now; gentle enough, and kindly enough for my purpose, without doubt, but not usable. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain When I think of an extinct volcano, I picture something like this - a mountain peak, maybe a flat top, but there's no question it looks like a volcano. Is there an extinct volcano on Sleeping Giant?  The area's mountains were formed by massive lava flows (the traprock), tipped up after a little fault here and there shuffled the landscape.  But can you find the mouth of a volcano?  There's a spot just off the White trail on the Giant's right knee.  It is a depression surrounded by boulders, filled with water during the spring, but drying out now.  Is it a volcanic crater? 

March 28, 2010 4 1/2 miles, 2 hours. Wow, who knew there was a whole park east of the Tower! There's one advantage to entering Sleeping Giant Park on the east end - the trail head at the Chestnut Drive parking lot is about 100' higher in elevation than the main entrance. You're part way up the hill already! I'm finishing the east end of the Violet trail today, then cutting up to the blue/white connector west of the tower, and taking the Green trail from it's start on top of the Giant's Chest back east down to his feet at the east end of the park. First a quick note about the mileage and times at the start of these entries. The mileage is a good estimate just based on the map scale. The times? I'm tall and hike quickly over the flats, but I'm 50 and out of shape so take time to catch my breath after a climb. And I stop to take pictures, or watch the deer, or tape the frogs. In other words, your times and distance may vary!