Hike #1093; Housatonic Range

Hike #1093; Housatonic Range

11/25/17 Housatonic Range: Bull Bridge to Boardman Bridge with Tea Biscuit (Scott Helbing), Jennifer Berndt, and Varsha Reddy

Our next hike would be another point to point, this time returning to Connecticut, but not as far north as the previous ones.
I was really nervous going into this one; people were signed up for it at first, but then everyone was dropping out and it was looking like it could be the first hike since 2004 that I’d posted and had no one show up. Fortunately, such was not the case. Still, everyone missed out on a really very interesting hike.
We met at our end point, the Old Boardman Bridge on the Housatonic River, a beautiful old truss structure.

Historic Boardman Bridge image

Historic Boardman Bridge image taken by Jet Lowe in 1984; Historic American Engineering Record / HAER CT-16

Old Boardman Bridge

The Old Boardman Bridge is a rare example of a lenticular truss structure, built in 1887-88 across the Housatonic River. It was open to vehicular traffic until 1984, and then closed even to pedestrian traffic in 1985 because the decking was deemed too dangerous.

Historic Boardman Bridge image

Historic Boardman Bridge image by Jet Lowe, 1984, Historic American Engineering Record / HAER CT-16

Old Boardman Bridge

There are only three bridges like it in Connecticut, and funds have been put aside to repair it in the past, but they went to the nearby Lover’s Leap Bridge (which will be part of a future hike as well), and this one remained closed. Talks happened in July 2017 to figure out how to rehabilitate and open the bridge to pedestrians because there are small parks on both sides, and there is apparently a trail on the other side, as well as a future trail going in which will make the crossing more important.
We didn’t have the vehicles to get us to the start for this one, and it would be a big problem probably to take one because of limited parking and timing at the other end. I had wanted to park below Schagticoke Mountain, but then others wanted to get food too, so we’d have to stop at Bull Bridge anyway. It was just all too complicated, so we explored the option of taking an Uber. The distance to the start was just over seven miles, which was nothing. For less than twenty dollars and no worries regarding parking lots, we figured we’d call for an Uber X.
Jen used the app on her phone, and was able to find an Uber relatively quickly. We had one on the way, meanwhile Tea Biscuit had called the local taxi company who said they would take us, but would call us right back. When they weren’t calling back, we secured the Uber.
The first Uber driver canceled on us apparently. The second one to sign up to get us was some weird looking old guy that came up. Jen asked if they were good with a dog, because Tea Biscuit had his new dog, Waffles out (he got Waffles from a friend that couldn’t take care of him any more, so this was his first try at a hike).
The second driver got to within nine minutes of us, and then canceled. We were picked up by this other guy named Paolo or something, and he finally scooped us up. It only cost $13 for the ride, which was well worth it instead of having to deal with any shuttles.
The cab driver eventually got to calling Tea Biscuit back when it was too late, and was already enroute to us when he called. They really weren’t very professional about it because they never even called back. Our driver said that they were in fact a mess, and he used to work for them until he realized he had more freedom and more money driving for Uber and Lyft. They had bad reviews on line, and he said he was asked to come back and work for them, but turned it down because it wasn’t worth it any more.

Bull Bridge

We got to Bull Bridge, in South Kent, CT where there was a little store to go in. We stopped in for snacks and such before we headed out on our way.
We cut across a grassy field and through the parking area near the Housatonic River, and then descended to the Bull Bridge, one of three historic covered bridges remaining in Connecticut.
Bull Bridge was built in 1842 in Towne Lattice design, but has been augmented over the years with Queen Post truss and metal bracing. There has been a bridge at the site since 1760, and it’s said George Washington crossed it while it was under construction with the aid of the builders, Jacob and Isaac Bull.
Tea Biscuit forgot a beer he’d gotten somewhere while fixing his dog’s leash. With his other dog, Tinkerbell, he lets her go and she never runs off, but that couldn’t happen with this one.

Housatonic Rapids

We got across the bridge and checked out the observation deck soon to the left, down the Housatonic with all of it’s unique rapids. Up stream, we could see the falls at the hydroelectric dam.
Soon, we turned left on the blue blazed trail which leads to the Appalachian Trail. I had never done this trail before, because we’d remained on the AT. We followed it, mostly on an old road at first, with some views of the Housatonic and rapids to the left. There was also some masonry ruins on the slopes on the other side, but I’m not sure what they were for. one area appeared to be an old bridge site.
The trail terminated at the AT, and we went left, or actually more straight, following it to the south along the Housatonic. It was a bit more rugged than I’d remembered, but very beautiful. Another trail cut off to the right called the Homestead Trail. I didn’t remember this one being there before, but figured we’d follow that the next time we’re in the area.

Ned Anderson Bridge

The Homestead Trail returned when we reached the Ned Anderson Memorial Bridge over the Ten Mile River, at it’s confluence with the Housatonic. The bridge is named for the man who laid out most of the trial in Connecticut originally, even though most of that route is no longer part of the AT.
We crossed over the bridge, then turned right briefly to follow the Ten Mile River upstream for a bit.
The AT turned away from Ten Mile River and started heading up Ten Mile Hill. I didn’t remember it being this steep, but then I’d hiked northbound only on it before.

The AT on Ten Mile Hill

There were some pretty nice stone steps along this section of the trail I remembered some of them from before, but it also looked like someone had more recently been out doing more trail work.
I worked up a pretty good sweat getting up this one, but we didn’t have to go all the way to the top. Just before the summit, we turned to the left on Herrick Trail.
I had said to Justin G when we were there the first time, I would do another hike that would follow the Herrick Trail to the south. It was nice doing the AT across Connecticut, but the truth is everyone does that. This was again something much newer to me and to anyone that follows the group. Beyond that, my route was something even more different.

Housatonic Overlook

The trail was marked in blue paint at first, like most all AT side trails are, but we also had plastic or metal markers affixed to trees with evergreen tree emblems on them. These were those of the Naromi Land Trust, a local non profit that has worked to preserve open space, farmlands, vistas, and more in Sherman CT since 1968.
The blazes were not standard, but at least the trees were pointed facing the turns on the trail.
The treadway was not nearly as worn as the AT, but I actually liked it better.
We reached a side trail, which led down hill to our first overlook, the Housatonic Overlook.

Housatonic Overlook

This overlook was in fact better than most of them we see on the AT. The AT has some impressive ones like St. John’s Ledges, Lion’s Head, and a few others, but it often lacks some of the diversity of these other trails.
The trail to the overlook was just an out and back. We had to climb back up to the main trail and continue to the south.
I was commenting on how it’s so much greater a nature experience when there’s not so many people around, and how when you’re on the Appalachian Trail, you’re almost guarunteed to pass another person at least once every five to ten minutes, if not more.
Just then, a huge group of people, which seemed like it was never ending, all passed us going the other way on the trail. I figured this must have been a big family event, like a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner family thing. There were young and old people alike, and they all seemed to be family, I so I was probably spot on.

Amy's Overlook

The Herrick Trail soon picked up an old woods road and headed gradually down hill. In this section, near some stone walls, there was another side trail that went to the left to Amy’s Overlook. This was no wuss trail; it went up and over some tougher rocks, then down past some blow downs to get to the very nice outlook of the Housatonic River valley.

Back yard views

We admired the view for a few more moments, then headed back the way we came to the Herrick Trail. We followed that to the south, and eventually came to the limited parking area on Evans Hill Road. From here, we turned to the left and followed the road around a sharp bend, then continued down hill. There were some nice views along the way across people’s back yards to the east over more of the Housatonic Valley below.
We continued on Evans Hill Road down to Long River Road, turned briefly right, then left on Rt 55. This road was busier, with limited places to walk, but we were only on it a very short distance. We soon turned right on Newton Road.

CAUTION SCENIC ROAD!!!

There was a sign at the start of the road reading “Scenic Road, Caution”, which was something I’d never seen anywhere before.
The road was perfect for us. It was still dirt surface, and easy on the feet. We walked it south through a lovely little farming area with a nice red barm built in 1893. There were cows living in the building, and free to come out as they pleased. There was a nice view out across the farmland also into the Housatonic valley.
We continued down the road to the intersection with Gaylor Road. This area was known as Gaylordsville, settled in the 1720s by Gaylord, or Gaillard family as it was known in France.

Along Newton Road with historic farm

Some of the trails we would be walking soon after the village were reportedly the routes of old aboriginal trails before being part of the Connecticut blue blazed trail system.
At the intersection with Gaylord Road, I spotted a plaque over on the corner. This denoted the site of the “Washington Oak”, which now had a young Oak tree planted behind it. It was reportedly the site where George Washington held council with his staff on September 10th, 1780. The tree’s health declined quickly and it fell in 2007.

Historic Washington Oak image

The more than three hundred year old tree was said to have been Connecticut’s longest lasting historic landmark. The young tree that was planted on site was reportedly grown from an acorn from the historic Oak.

Historic image of Washington Oak

Much of the historic charm of the area’s past is now gone. Fences and industrial areas are all built up around the once bucolic Connecticut setting seen in the postcards.

Washington Oak site today

We kept to the right past the plaque and young oak tree, and continued along Gaylord Road with the fenced in areas along the left side. We looked for a way through because there were places in the area I was planning to stop for a lunch break.

Washington Oak site

While walking the road, we came upon a little red school house on the right. This was the historic Gaylord School, also known as the Little Red School House, built in 1740.
This amazing little school was in use for 227 years, having closed it’s doors to students in 1967. It was the last one room school house still in use in Connecticut.
It did have additions put on over the years, but the original 1740 frame remains much the same.
Usually, when a school is let go, property rights restore to abutting owners, and the owner offered to give up this right should the school house be preserve for historical purposes.

Old Gaylordsville School

It was decided in 1969 that the school would be saved and restored by the local historical society, and remains in good repair. I’d not have known it had such an important history just going by, but I’m glad I at least made note of how nice it looked at the time.
We continued to the back of an industrial area where we could step between some ornamental trees to get to the back lot. We then walked around buildings to othe front parking lot area to figure out where we would stop for lunch.

LOL

We passed by a funny sign in the parking lot in the front. It was a pedestrian sign with a sticker for a head, with the body running and dripping away like someone poured paint thinner all over it, and a forty of some kind of booze. It was of particular interest to me because apparently Connecticut has no state law about drinking in public. This means you can walk down the street with an open container of alcohol. Tea Biscuit and I took full advantage of this benefit during the course of the road walk section.
We went into the Gaylordsville Diner for lunch, which was a small place built into the strip mall. Unfortunately, Tea Biscuit could not bring Waffles in, so they sat outside and I ordered his food for him to bring out in a “to go” container for him when we got it.
I had a delicious lunch special wrap, and Tea Biscuit had some sort of burger. Both came with a generous portion of soup we were both happy with.
When Tea Biscuit were on our way out in the morning, I stopped to get gas and left my credit card, or didn’t have it handed back to me or something (fortunately it was there later), so fortunately Tea Biscuit covered everything, and I still owe him.

Gaylordsville Cemetery

When we were done eating, we headed out to the south of the place, and searched for a way to get back to Gaylord Road in back of the strip mall. We found a set of steps between buildings that got us there, and we were soon on our way.
We passed by the Gaylordsville Cemetery, which was set up soon after the death of the Gaylor family founders, and they were reportedly the first bodies interred at the grave yard.
Just across from the cemetery, we came to the northern terminus of the Housatonic Range Trail, the next CT Blue Blazed Trail I’d yet to hike any of.

Start of Housatonic Range Trail

It was sad to see that this trail is having similar issues to what I’m facing with Warren Highlands Trail and others in NJ. There was a sign in the kiosk saying that the site was prone to vandalism, and someone keeps removing the trail signs from it.

The Straits

I didn't think this trail would be all that tough, but I found out later they "affectionately" call it the "HuRT", for Housatonic Range Trail. Of course, Housatonic is a Native American name that means muntain by the water I believe, but the trail did have some tough elevation I wasn't expecting.
As tough as it was, it was also a good mix of challenge as well as relaxing the sections. The whole day was like that, which made it great.
We headed down hill from the trail head, and crossed over the Morrissey Brook on a nice foot bridge.
There have been changes to the trail in this area, as it used to head up hill from Cedar Hill Road to the north, not the cemetery. Also, the Morrissey Brook according to old USGS maps was called Naromiyocknowhususnkatankshunk Brook!

View at The Straits

The trail weaved around through the height of the flood plain, then started ascending. The mountain there was the northern end of what to the south is known as Stillson Hill. We headed to the north on a switchback, then to the right to the east face, with seasonal views overlooking the Marble Valley through with the Housatonic River flows.
We headed up to a very rocky spot which the Connecticut Walk Book refers to as Strait's Rocks, and old USGS maps simply refer to as "The Straits". This was a really cool, slightly technical section with steep and tight switching back, and views through the trees to the valley and across the river. From the top, we could see the mini mall we had lunch in.

Boardman Mountain area

The trail reached the top of the first area, then leveled off and became more pleasant. Without leaves on the trees, there were always at least slight views. The route to the north lost some elevation gradually, and was very comfortable.
We descended to cross over Squash Hollow Brook, which seemed like a series of springs, and then reached Squash Hollow Road. The trail turned left to follow the pleasant road for a short while, then just after a house headed back into the woods to the right. We then passed through a nice section with a lot of old stone rows.

Glacial erratics

The trail passed along the edge of Boardman Mountain, following what must have been a property boundary. Some of the trail in places appeared to have been rerouted from woods road over to foot path adjacent to it. I could see some old blue blazes near the woods roads along the way.
We continued to where a side trail led to the Tory's Cave area, but we didn't go down to it. Online reports say the cave is closed and can no longer be entered. I'll just check that out another time. We continued ahead, and there was a spot where a second trail from that area descended to where we were.

"Alt route"

There was some concern in this area ahead, because when I put on the notices option on the trail's webesite, it said that a section ahead was closed. I didn't know this until the night before, which could change a lot when it came to the hike. I didn't know if that was current, or what to expect. We just went into it and figured we'd see what'd happen.
The trail was reportedly closed due to a new development. New houses were built where the trail used to come out to Everwood Drive, so we'd have to figure out another route. The guide said to follow Squash Hollow Road, but that would be a long road walk and we'd be missing out on a lot of woods.
We paused when we got to the junction of the other trail to the Tory Cave, as there was a guy out working in his yard ahead. I didn't know of that was where the trail was supposed to have gone or what. I saw that blazes continued ahead, so we opted to just try to follow it anyway and see what happens.

Candlewood Mountain view

We took the blazes a short bit, and the guy in the yard looked over at us. I waved, and he gave a friendly wave back. I thought it might be trouble at first, because he had stopped his loud yard machine, whatever it was, soon after we stopped.
We continued walking, and I felt better to keep seeing the trail blazes going through on an old woods road.
Along the way, the trail blazes changed to blue with another color on the bottom, I forget what it was, and they were supplimented by metal trail marker emblems with a hiker on them. This continued through woods, past houses that were where the trail was to come out, and further into the woods past some glacial erratics and outcropping rocks.

Bridge on the trail

There was a spot where this trail also went left. The best I could figure was that the original route was truncated and turned into a loop. This appeared to be the case, as we continued along and got to the height of land. The trail turned back and started going to the north again. Fortunately, I had looked at the aerial images ahead of time, and found a water tower with an access road that seemed like it would work to get back down out of the woods. The water tower was in sight of the turn in the trail, so we bushwhacked down hill toward it. It may very well be the planned route for the trail, because I spotted orange ribbon on the trees heading down to it.

Stone rows on the trail

We went around the fenced tower, and then walked the gravel route down hill to the dead end of a development. A lady was walking to a dumpster at a duplex building throwing out trash, and said hello to us, so we weren't unwelcome there. We took the opportunity to throw out some of our trash while we were there, and I studied my phone for GPS and where to get back to the trail.
There appeared to be just a line of trees and no private yards separating this end of the development to Everwood Drive, where we were supposed to be, so I headed on over the knoll and found my way to the road with no problem. No one else came with me, so I had to holler over for them to join me.

Bit of an ascent

We walked back up hill just a short bit on Everwood, and got to where the trail entered the woods to the west. There was a sign on one of the trees from this side revealing that the trail to the north is closed, but we saw no such sign to that effect heading southbound.
We headed into the woods, crossed a little foot bridge, and ascended slightly to reach Squash Hollow Road again. We crossed and ascended gradually to some hilly lands to the east of Stillson Hill, west of Boardman Mountain. It wasn't too steep at first, and we got to the top of a nice rock outcrop.

Climbing a bit

Candlewood Mountain, the dead end southern terminus of the Housatonic Range Trail, was always in view to the south of us. It seemed so far at this time. We'd wandered off a bit, did some side trip stuff, and tacked a little distance onto the start of the hike, so it was looking like we might have trouble reaching it. At this point, I figured we'd still be okay.
We soon could see the Housatonic River looking down stream at a bit of a rock outcrop. From there, the trail started to descend a bit steeply over rocks. We reached a side trail, which had yellow lines at the bottoms of the blue blazes, a bypass for the difficult section ahead.

A Housatonic view

I could see there was a "cave" in the guide book here, but I was not expecting the trail to literally go right THROUGH the thing. It was far more difficult than I'd thought it would be to navigate this section.
We had to descend using hands and knees, and Tea Biscuit was forced to take the side trail because there was no way that Waffles could handle this. He'd had trouble going down the steps at the Ned Anderson Bridge earlier, so there was no way he would ever get down these rocks. I thought even I might have to go and take the side trail to get down, it was just that tough.

Tea Biscuit and the cave

The first drop was absolutely the toughest. Had we been hiking northbound, this wouldn't have been nearly as tough, and Tea Biscuit probably could have scooped Waffles up and put him on the next ledges throughout the cave. Going down was quite a different story.
I sat on the edge of the first drop, and had to take my pack off. I sat it where it'd be within reach, and had to stretch my left leg forward to a rock I could brace myself on. You have to be at least a little flexible to do this one. I then leaned forward and grabbed hold of another rock where I could see to another spot lower to plant my right food. By this time, I could reach back and barely grab my pack, then drop it the remaining distance down to the floor.

In the cave

There was a triangle shaped opening below here, and I figured the tough stuff was over. Tea Biscuit was standing outside, and I was ready to walk out, but then I saw another blaze inside. The trail continued further down through the rocks from there!
I turned left, and had to sit down and shove myself through a tight spot. There was no way of anyone getting through this hole with their pack on, it'd have to be removed and pulled or pushed through separately.
I got through that section, then had a couple more drops down to get to another good floor level. A lot of dead leaves had come in from above, so I had to be wary of where I was planting my feet, lest I go through and break something.
I soon got down to the lower end of the cave section, with another "A" shaped entrance. Varsha was right behind me on the rocks, and Jen opted to take the easier way around too. It's understandable, as we all had a good workout on this one.
The cave looked the coolest from the lower end. If we had been walking from south to north, it would look amazing approaching to pass through on the trail, and so much more enjoyable to climb than to descend through.

Cave opening

The trail turned hard to the left outside the cave, and continued along the base of the rock outcroppings for a little bit. They were breathtaking to look up at.
After we got away from the outcrops, the trail gradually descended and was much easier.
After the climb, followed by the descend through the cave, we were running short on time. I figured we would probably be better off not doing Candlewood Mountain, and instead follow a parallel road walk to Boardman Bridge. I could do Candlewood at another time.

cave

We made our way down hill, across a tributary, and then very close to development roads between Concord Way and Victory Lane.
I realized in this area that doing Candlewood Mountain would be foolish. There's something on that known as "The Corkscrew" that is said to be tough, and if we had slow going sections it'd be well after dark. Also, I had an off trail section planned after the mountain, because I didn't want to do an out and back thing.

Historic Housatonic Range Trail map

Housatonic Range Trail at one time used to go through to the south, before it was a dead end. I suppose it was probably closed because of some of the dam work for Candlewood Lake, which is the largest lake in Connecticut. The trail used to continue south to an apparent extra overlook, then continue to the highway just south fo the Boardman Bridge. I wanted to try to follow that route, but in the dark it would likely be very difficult.
Also, there's other stuff up there I'd like to see, so it's just better that I revisit and take my time on a different day. I figured I could then overlap the route of this hike and at least let everyone have the chance to climb through the cave. I could then also tack the Tory Cave, which we skipped, onto that hike and use it as a meeting point and end point.
I figure maybe when I post this and other things about the hike, other people will find more interest in it.
We followed the trail between homes, and there were some kids hollering at us from their back yard playgrounds. They were mostly all very large homes to the right, and messier looking properties on the left.

Old USGS map with Housatonic Range Trail

At one point, we got to a spot where there was a rough looking camper to the left, within clear sight of very expensive looking McMansions to the right. The roof was in rough shape, and there was a tarp covering part of the wall and roof. We figured it must be abandoned, but then we saw lights inside two of the windows and a vehicle parked outside.

Housatonic Range

There was a sign laying on the ground that read that the trail was for through hikers only, passing through private property. I wondered if that meant out and back hiking was illegal. Usually a “through hiker” is used to describe a backpacker.
We kept on the trail and it led us to a kiosk with an access point out to Concord Way, and kept straight just a short bit more to Route 37, Sherman Road. The trail turned left to follow the road here for a bit, and so did we.
The road was really narrow and busy, probably too busy for a hiking trail to even follow, but we managed. We went across to parallel Bullymuck Brook, which had a nice little cascade next to the road. The trail crossed and went into the woods at the intersection fo Candlewood Mountain Road and Sherman Road. It was tempting to just continue into the woods and follow it, but my better judgement told me this was something that could wait.

The trail close to developments

We continued down hill on Sherman Road from here, and turned to the right to follow an abandoned earlier route of the highway, cut off when the intersection was reworked.
The sun was going down really fast. I recall thinking I was very glad we didn't make the attempt to continue onward at this point.
Already, the ideas for the next hike there were going through my mind. There are so many other trails to the south fo there, and it will be so easy to tack more of them together into really outstanding hikes. I'm incredibly excited about getting back and doing more.

Abandoned road section

It wasn't long before we reached the Boardman Bridge parking lot. There was an old tractor on display in front of a business on the way that I checked out.
Tea Biscuit had left my car door unlocked all day, but we had no problem and nothing had been taken.
It was nice to be done, but I really didn't want it to be over. It was such a great, interesting, totally new thing to me. I'm glad not to be driving that far all the time, but for this time was great.
Hopefully, the next time I do something in Connecticut, I'll be able to entice more people ahead of time, and maybe a full weekend thing can be made of it, maybe with a winery or brewery or something one of the days to make it more worth it to the others.
The next thing I do in Connecticut will likely not be the Housatonic Range, but rather maybe Mattatuck Trail with the Leatherman's Cave, Black Rock overlook, and other area stuff. It's just about the same time driving, and in fact might be a little less.