Hike #1478; Willimantic to Bolton Notch

 

Hike #1478: 4/17/22 Willimantic to Bolton Notch with Jillane Becker and Everen

This next one would be a return to a place I’d not been in several years, and the first time in a while out for a hike with Jillane and our son Everen.

When Jillane and I were working our way east across Connecticut, we took the Air Line Trail much of the way, even in to Massachusetts. Along the way, one of my favorite towns we passed through was Willimantic. Joe Tag, my friend of many years now, told me that he used to live there, and even mentioned a great brew pub in town. We had finished one of our backpacking trips there, and started another one there.

The thing that bothered me there was that there was another long trail there to do, the Hop River Trail.

Jillane and I went up and stayed in Connecticut at a place to the eats of Hartford, within close proximity to a multi use trail known as the Charter Oak Greenway. I figured we would Uber to the start area and walk back as close as we could get, but then we shifted plans and figured we would leave Jillane’s car, and then walk as far as we could get, then Uber back. There should always be something available closer to Hartford.

I chose a spot we had already passed through before on the Air Line Trail, where there was parking on Kingsley Road, to the south of the Willimantic River.

The Hop River Trail is a rail trail, originally the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad built in the 1850s. It was the main line between Hartford Connecticut and Providence Rhode Island. It became the New York and New England Railroad in the 1873, then the New York, New Haven, and Hartford from 1898 to 1969.

We would start by walking the Air Line Trail, which was the main through route between Boston and New York City, “drawing a line through the air” basically as a fast track. Several lines are referred to as “Air Line”.

We walked the line to the north, to the bridge over the Willimantic River. The Air Line Trail turns right there, and the Hop River Trail goes left, and is referred to as Hop River State Park. Neither trail follows railroad bed from this point for a bit.

The Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum uses some of the trackage of both lines straight ahead. We had already walked the Air Line route to the right, and so this time we went to the left, and the trail was a lovely and easy paved route along the Willimantic River.

We soon passed beneath the Route 66 bridge, and could see the rehabilitated railroad bridge over the river just ahead. There was a trail head parking on the right where we ascended, and then turned to the left to cross Willimantic River on the former railroad bridge.

The bridge deck had a lot of graffiti on it. We moved to the other side where there were some nice views of adjacent swamp land. I notice that there seemed to be a parallel grade just below the grade of the line we were walking. I figure this might have been an earlier alignment or something. There was also an old spare rail holder in the area.

We continued ahead, and I was expecting that we’d just get on through with no problem, but when we reached Flanders Road, they had an underpass built for the trail, but the trail didn’t go through. Or maybe it used to, and was now blocked off. I’m not sure the case, but I’ve heard a few conflicting stories.

Signs and another trail turned to the right at the bridge and followed some parallel roads. Google maps shows that the trail goes on through, and that there is a side trail to a restaurant, but I don’t think there’s anything based on what the images look like. The bridge at the far end of this section is also undecked, and sits at an angle, so it probably needs to be redecked.

When we got to this, I pushed Ev in the stroller to the right on the side trail, and Jillane asked if we’d be going through the other side. I figured, and hoped, that it would be just over the road and then back down, so I told her probably. It turned out that was not the case, and we’d have to wait for her for a bit.

We turned right on Flanders River Road for a bit, then turned left on Kings Road. This little used road goes to a dead end, so it was nice and quiet. The road took me across the Hop River, for my first view of it.
We waited just a bit ahead until I could see Jillane coming up the road, and we pushed ahead until we got to the railroad crossing. From there, I walked in to the left a bit to check out the beat up bridge that supposedly left this section closed. It definitely did need some work. This bridge too crossed the Hop River, which flows into the Willimantic River just to the east.

I was immediately happy with the surface of this trail. It gave just enough when we stepped. It was great for walking distance. It wasn’t paved and the crushed stone was a sort of softer material. It probably helped that there was recent melt off, and it was somewhat saturated.

We passed through an area where the Hop River was in view to the left and quite pretty. We then passed beneath Rt 6, which had east and westbound lanes separated, so it was two separate bridges.

There were more pleasant views of the river just ahead, and we passed through a nice area near Coventry CT. A little ways ahead, there was a pond side trail to the left which provided a nice view.

We continued ahead and passed beneath Pucker Street by way of another culvert that had replaced the original rail underpass.

We passed through a long pleasant stretch, then crossed Hop River Road, followed by the Hop River itself with some nice views.

In the area ahead, there was an interesting section where the entire river itself was moved for the railroad. There was still a small bridge that allowed some flow into the wetland to the left, with the main flow of the river to the right, but the main river channel used to be to the left of the right of way. At one point, there was a really pretty spot where there was water on both sides of us.

We took a break somewhere in this section and took Ev out of the stroller to play in the leaves a bit. It was a really pleasant spot. Up ahead, we crossed Parker Bridge Road, and somewhere in the area I noted an old mill race seemed to be parallel with the left side of the trail.

We passed over more fills and through more cuts as we approached the Andover CT area. We started to more closely parallel Rt 6, until we passed beneath it in a long tunnel pipe. This was not related, but rather built for the trail more recently. Still, it was an interesting spot and well lit inside.

One of my drinks of choice on this one was something I’d found the night before, the Thomas Hooker Double Truffle Chocolate Stout.

We crossed Cheney Brook before reaching the next grade crossing at Lake Road. To the left, there was a very nice stone arch bridge that carried parallel Merritt Valley Road over the brook.

Just down across Rt 6 from this point was a Dunkin Donuts and an Exxon mart where we could stop and get some snacks and drinks, so we made the side trip down Lake Road, then cut the corner through an open field out to Rt 6 directly. We gave Ev a diaper change in the restroom, and I went over some of the maps of what was to come while we sat.

When it came time to leave, we went back the way we came and headed up Lake Road to the railroad bed. We continued following it west and soon passed over Merritt Valley Road via a bridge. We continued on a shelf above Rt 6, passed the Andover Veterans Memorial below, and then crossed over Hebron Road by way of a handsome covered bridge that had been erected to replace whatever the railroad bridge had been that preceded it.

We pushed ahead to where Center Street used to cross the railroad at grade, but is now cut off to the left of us. Just after that, across Rt 6 from us was the First Congregational Church of Andover Connecticut.
The Andover Ecclesiastical Society was established in 1748, and the first minister was Rev. Samuel Lockwood. Construction began on the first church then. Although not completed until the 1760s, it went into use prior to that.
The current Church was completed in 1833, and renovated in 1869. An extensive addition came in 1958. It was quite a lovely site to behold from the trail.

Across the highway and just beyond the church was the Andover Public Library, opened in 1927 as the Burnap Skinner Memorial Library.
The Library was founded in 1896 and used to use a section of the Andover Congregational Church.

The rail bed continued on a shelf above Rt 6 for a bit longer, and then started to move away from it, gaining some elevation.
We crossed Shoddy Mill Road, which is a name of a road close to where we live too. I used to think it was “shoddy” because it looked kind of beat up, but shoddy is actually just crap quality fabric that would be recycled in a shoddy mill.

We continued across Wales Road, and climbed to cross Burnap Brook, which was quite pretty, then Burnap Brook Road.

Ahead, the rail bed weaved around nicely through the hills, over fills, on shelves, and through cuts. We touched the end of Bailey Road, and crossed the abandoned former extension of Watrous Road. It was mostly pretty pleasant and quiet though.

After crossing Steele’s Crossing Road going into Bolton area, there were some other side trails I would have loved to explored, but we couldn’t get a stroller up or down those things, and we had a trajectory and place to be.
That place was of course only as far as we could get, but I personally felt we should get to where the Hop River Trail and the Charter Oak Greenway came together.

At around this area, we reached the height of some of the land we would be on. There were some seasonal views through the trees to the right. I was surprised we were as high up as we were.
I think the highest point before the rail bed started descending toward Hartford was a giant cut we passed through in the Bolton area.

The views on the other side of the cut were the best yet, but the sun as starting to go down pretty fast. We continued around more bends, and when we reached a lower area we started passing through a cut. We passed beneath abutments where Notch Road used to go across, as we approached Bolton Notch.

The rail bed went into a deep cut and remained in it for a while, around a corner parallel with Rt 6.
We passed under the other side of Notch Road, and then entered the Bolton Notch Tunnel.

This tunnel was unlike other rail tunnels in that it was actually more just an overpass for Rt 6. What officially designates this a tunnel is that it is so long. It was originally an open cut that had to be built over for the highway crossing at a wide angle. I don’t think there was historically a tunnel there.

It was still a really cool little section. Once out the other side, we reached a pond, a parking lot, and the former site of Bolton Station. A sign read that one could board a train in Providence Rhode Island on this line, and then get to Bolton by 10 something, and to Hartford by 11:15. Not too bad considering how long ago that was. A train would get all the way to Waterbury by just after 1 in the afternoon.

Here, we left the Hop River Trail and turned left on the Charter Oak Greenway, which took us on a paved route out along Rt 6 to Interstate 384. We simply followed this along Bolton Notch Pond and up to the Bolton Park and Ride where I called an Uber.
It took less than ten minutes before the driver arrived and picked us up to get back. It worked out perfectly, and we had reached the intersection of trails that works as a great jump off point for future hikes.
There is so much to see in the area, and so many more trails converge right there. There are great opportunities for other weekend trips I look forward to doing.