A Walk Across the Giant

Nayantaquit Trail in the Lyme section of the Nehantic State Forest – 4 mile loop trail with two side trails, total hike about 7 miles.          State Forest Map                                         State Forest Website The Nehantic State Forest is the first in New London County , with land purchases completed in 1925.  It’s broken into two sections, here in the Lyme block and then the East Lyme block a little farther to the northeast. The entrance to the state forest is off Route 156 in Lyme – on a small dirt road that’s easy to miss.    If you’re coming up from the south, as I was, and pass Elsie and here friends at Tiffany Farms, you’ve gone too far.    The entrance road,   Keeny Road , is a dirt/crushed rock road that winds along the southern end of the forest leading to two small lakes: Norwich Pond and Uncas Po...

Last September I hiked the Zoar Trail in the Paugussett State Forest expecting to have lunch next to the huge waterfall where Prydden Brook empties into Lake Zoar .  Imagine my disappointment to find a bone dry brook and a lot of dry rocks were there was supposed to be a gushing waterfall. Now with the melted snow and early spring rains, it was worth another trip into the forest to see what the brook and falls were like.  And voila, Prydden Falls: I started the same route as my last trip – parking at the Great Quarter Road trailhead lot and hiking in along the lake.  To be accurate, Lake Zoar isn’t a lake, but a wide section of the Housatonic River upstream of the Stevenson Dam.  The town of Zoar was flooded in 1919 when the river was dammed for power generation, so they got the ‘lake’ named after them.  The Zoar Trail is a loop route along the river, crossing the Prydden Brook just above the falls, and then coming back around through the Paugussett...

   It's been a tough winter - more snow that I can remember.  And while hiking through nearly three feet of fresh powder was fun, the crusty stuff has put a damper on my hikes the last weeks/months.  But I have just a few trail sections to finish at Sleeping Giant, and just a few weekends to do it before winter is over.    I had a six mile hike planned (Greg - that's about two leagues or 480 chains) over the Blue trail, doubling back on one section of the White - starting off at Hartford Turnpike.  This section of the Quinnipiac Trail doesn't see much traffic - compared to the rest of the trail though Sleeping Giant State Park anyway.  I tried to hike it a month ago, but first step in I was thigh deep in snow.  Better to put this one off until some of the ground is visible through the snow, right?    Well, the day finally came.  It hasn't snowed in weeks, and the temperature was supposed to soar into the 50's (or into the ...

Wiki Shot I was in Singapore  a while back, and spent a Saturday morning on a day hike at MacRitchie Reservoir Park .  The city / state / country of Singapore has a population of about 5 million in 270 square miles.  To compare size and population, New York City has about 50% more people packed into about 15% more land, but Singapore is still a pretty busy place.  Nearly one quarter of the country is nature preserve, and MacRitchie is in the central catchment area – a series of reservoirs roughly in the center of the country surrounded by primary and secondary rain forest. This photo from anther blog on Canoe Racing at MacRitchie reminded me of the day I was there. MacRitchie Park , in the middle of the city, acts as an entrance to the 1100 acre central nature preserve area.  A beautiful park, it’s built for strolling by the water, exercising on the fitness trails, fishing and just taking a break from the big city. It hosts cross county running ...