Hike #1060; Mohawk Mountain to Falls Village

Hike #1060; Mohawk Mountain to Falls Village CT

7/27/17 Mohawk Mountain to Falls Village CT with Edward DiSalvo and Annika Krystyna

This next hike would be another point to point, this time in the far off series in Connecticut.
Because of my weird schedule, I of course had these random Thursdays off. I decided to try to post some things that only certain people would be interested in, tougher things that might not attract the big groups, but that some would really love. Ed has been out of work, and Annika was free, and so we had the makings of a good hike.

1934 Appalachian Trail map in Connecticut

I’ve been working on the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut as a series for a while now, and had recently finished one in Falls Village. From there, there is only one section to the north, and I reach the Massachusetts boundary. However, I didn’t want to just stop at that.
The Appalachian Trail had been rerouted several times through Connecticut, and I’d been finding the earlier routes quite interesting.
From the very start of our Connecticut series, we found that the trail had been moved after the Ned Anderson Bridge over the Ten Mile River was opened. Prior to that, it remained in NY much longer. Further, it used to pass through Macedonia Brook State Park. The ridge trail there, which we hiked on a previous trip was also part of the older AT.
Later, we covered another AT section and learned that in the thirties the trail crossed and passed by Kent Falls. It would appear that some of the original AT is now the Mattatuck Trail. It was later moved to “Dark Entry Trail” when the Flanders Bridge over the Housatonic River washed out. The most recent re-alignment was in 1988, when the trail was moved to the west side of the Housatonic River, and the old route became the Mohawk Trail, part of the Connecticut Blue Blazed Trail system.
I had already hiked the Mohawk Trail from the AT as far as Mohawk Mountain State Park and rather enjoyed it. There was one more hike’s worth of stuff to follow the trail to where it joined the AT again just south of Falls Village. I then had a section of the AT to follow to the Great Falls of the Housatonic. I decided to post that, and I could then arrange for my last hike on the Connecticut section of the AT for a later date. I want that to be an event that many can attend, while this last Mohawk Trail section would not pull as many participants, despite the fact that it was quite beautiful.
We met at the parking area just up stream from the Great Falls, then shuttled south to Mohawk Mountain State Park. I noted that it closed after dark, which was somewhat unnerving, but the three of us are all strong hikers so I figured we had it.

Cunningham Tower

We parked well into the park, and cut into the woods to start off on a section of Mattatuck Trail, which goes by the Cunningham Tower. I had enjoyed this spot when backpacking through with Jillane, so I figured it’d be a good, interesting starting point for this one.

Cunningham Tower in 1921

Seymour Cunningham of Litchfield bought the land atop Mohawk Mountain in 1912. He farmed sheep on site, and replanted much of the land decimated through the charcoal making. 73 acres were planted with Red and White Pine.
White Memorial Foundation, which is responsible for much Connecticut park land in 1920, acquired the Cunningham tract and donated it to the state in 1921.

Hikers at the Cunningham Tower in the early days

The tower today is nothing compared to what it was, but at least it’s still open to walk into. There’s a picnic bench and fireplace still inside, but there’s no way to get to the top. It’s obvious where the steps used to be that went up two stories, and there’s bracing for the floors, but nothing else is still in place today.

Cunningham Tower

The area atop Mohawk Mountain was once completed denuded of trees. The western Connecticut iron industry, and the charcoal requirement was cause for the removal of all trees on the mountain top. The land was cared for by the White Foundation in the years after it was acquired from Cunningham, and today it’s large second and third growth forest. The trail left the tower and meandered into this forest for a time to the north.
I’d done this section before, and it’s rather nice. We hurriedly followed it as well as a short section of road walk to the north, then re-entered the woods shortly.

This is what the mountain top looked like after the charcoal industry

Soon, we came to the northern terminus of the Mattatuck Trail. It’s unfortunate that this trail is much truncated to the south, but at least the entire section from the Shepaug Reservoirs to this point is in good shape and open. We turned right from here onto Mohawk Trail, the former route of the Appalachian Trail prior to 1988.

Overlook on Mohawk Mountain

The trail went up hill for a bit, then came out to the top of some ski slopes, not running at this time. There was a guy on top working on one of them, and he had a dog that he had to take control of so it didn’t come after us.

YCC Shelter

We moved on from this point following the trail above the ski lifts. I’d done this bit before, because when we backpacked it, we continued just to the next shelter to spend the night, which was just past an overlook from Mohawk Mountain to the west.
We came out to Toomey Road, followed it to the left for just a bit past the view, then went up to the YCC Shelter (Youth Conservation Corps I think). This was where we stayed during backpacking. From this point on, I had never done any of the Mohawk trail before.

Mushroom

We continued along a height of land for a bit, then descended through some nice woods for a little while. It wasn’t really tough, there wasn’t that much up hill. I was going pretty fast fright from the start, feeling pretty anxious to do the rest of this trail.
It had just been raining recently, and so the woods was full of all sorts of interesting mushrooms.
We continued past a few rock outcrops, as the trail zigzagged on through, and soon passed the “Camping Zone Shelter”. I thought it was kind of strange that this, YCC Shelter, and then the next shelter just a bit further up (I can’t recall name to the third one).

Camping Zone Shelter

We continued on from here, and the trail emerged at a sort of open picnic area. We continued straight across; the blue blazes were done very well so it was pretty obvious where to go. It turned to the left near the end of the clearing onto an old roadway. To the right, there was an old chimney, so we opted to head over to it for a closer look.
The chimney didn’t look like anything that was build specifically for the park. It looked like it might have been a fireplace that was part of an older house that had been removed, and maybe the fire place was left for part of the picnic site. It makes sense since there’s a substantial old woods road to it.

Old chimney

We continued on the trail heading to the north, in in a short bit crossed over Route 4. We continued across on the other side, first I think on an old woods road. Just a short bit on this, the next shelter was down below the trail to the right. The trail switched back to the left on the old woods road, and only followed it a short distance up hill, on Red Mountain. It then turned off to the right as a foot path to climb a bit more steeply. The trail leveled off after a short while and continued along a wide top.

The third shelter

Soon, we came to an east facing overlook from Red Mountain. This was a good spot for us to take a break.
Annika had been having some back trouble; she’d recently purchased a place in Albany and was carrying a lot of heavy furniture and such around, and couldn’t carry much, so I was helping her carry her water. I didn’t bring really anything to drink other than water on this one, because I knew the last hike we did in the area was so brutal. I didn’t want to chance getting dehydrated.

Overlook on Red Mountain

From the view point, we continued sort of north, and began descending from Red Mountain.
The trail emerged next on Johnson Road, a very pleasant back road. It turned right to follow it slightly up hill, but then continued either level or gradually down hill a bit. There were very nice homes along the way, and one building that looks like it might have once been a church or school or something on the left. I’m not sure about the history of the area or anything in this section to be sure.

Old home on Johnson Road

There were horses off to the right in an enclosure, and they were approaching us as we walked by.
We continued down hill on the old road lined by stone rows, and soon came to the intersection with Route 42. Here, the trail continued straight across along a long abandoned road, which might officially be the continuation of Johnson Road.
It started out relatively level, but then started gradually climbing up Overlook Mountain (which consequently has no overlooks at all).

Overlook Mountain

Like the previous trail section, the trail left the woods road and then continued on a foot path after a short while. We climbed steadily, but I don’t remember this one being that bad.

Chicken of the woods?

When we reached the top of the ascent and continued on a good section of easier trail, there was an old Appalachian Trail USGS marker in the ground in the middle of the path. We continued over the top of Overlook Mountain, then descended for a bit through some very nice woods.
To the left of the trail, there was a very impressive, high stone wall. Most of the walls throughout the area are rather haphazard in their construction, but this had a well laid vertical wall facing the trail. We thought this might have been a home site or something for it to look so much nicer, but saw no remnant here.

Substantial stone row

Things went by pretty quickly for a while from here. We descended from Overlook Mountain and crossed Lake Road, then continued through more woods heading to the north. We skirted the east flank of Pond Mountain, and crossed seasonally closed Ford Hill Road.
At one of the road crossings, it was obvious the trail didn’t get the use that the other sections of it did, because it got a bit grown in. As we descended, we went through a lot of brush in an herbaceous opening, and then sort of lost the blazes briefly.

Beaver pond

We continued across a relatively easy stretch and soon came across a lovely beaver pond, where the trail came up close to the edge of it briefly. We then paralleled a bit of the Flat Brook to the Titus Mountain area.

Old ruin site

After a bit of circumnavigating some wet areas, and getting through some somewhat overgrown but still easily passable trail, we came to a section of woods roads that continued to the west a bit. We crossed over Mansfield Road, then paralleled it to the west briefly before crossing Yelping Hill Road.
Next, we began to steadily ascend part of Music Mountain. This ascent wasn’t really tough at all either. We climbed for just a bit, and the trail took on some old woods roads through gently rolling terrain.

Mushroom

At one spot, where the trail went down hill on an old road route, I spotted the ruins of a settlement. It looked like there was a home and out buildings over a century ago. There were several well situated stone walls, so I assume it was multiple buildings at a substantial site.
We continued from here along the old woods road section.
The next section was qutie easy and very pleasant. The old roadway meandered through the woods making for a very easy section. However, just when it looked like we’d have a very easy section to explore, we found it had been rerouted.

There was a sign on a tree to the left of the woods road. It read:
“MOHAWK TRAIL RELOCATION: Relocated Trail follows open woods with views of swamps, streams and stone walls, crossing Wickwire road near the leato, about 0.8 mile. CT Forest and Park Association. www.ctwoodlands.org”
While this sounded much more interesting and it looked really nice, it also meant that there could be more distance to the trip than I had previously thought. I think the long woods road section the trail used to follow was Wickwire Road the entire way, but this eliminated much of that.

Shrooms

We weaved around through woods and had the promised views to the wetlands to the south of the trail. It wasn’t a tough section, just gently rolling through the woods. The trail eventually headed to the north again, and made it’s way directly to the next shelter. I forget what the name of it was exactly.
The shelter marked a good location for another little break. We had some snacks and such and drank some needed water before moving on along the trail, which skirted the shelter on the east side.

Shelter

A short distance away we came to the woods road again, and I could see painted out blazes heading the other direction on it.
I recall following a section of woods road, but then being back on foot path. I wasn’t consciously checking for anything other than the blue blazes as we walked, but eventually we came to yet another one fo the signs reading the same or at least similar to the one I quoted above. It seems the trail has been substantially rerouted both to the east and west of the shelter we had just paused at, through Housatonic State Forest in the vicinity of Music Mountain. We continued ahead on more foot path skirting Music Mountain, and crossed over Reed Brook on a foot bridge.

Reed's creek falls

The trail continued parallel with the brook heading to the west, and came out to Music Mountain Road at a point with a lovely little waterfall on Reeds Brook, where it descends to a confluence with Hollenback Brook in Dean’s Ravine.
The trail turned left on Music Mountain Road briefly, then cut into the woods parallel to the right. We followed a side hill trail through pleasant woods down hill for a bit, and it paralleled the lovely Hollenbeck Brook into Dean’s Ravine.

Switch back to Dean's Ravine

The trail skirted closely to the creek, which then dropped off very steeply to a falls. The trail continued at about the same elevation, slowly descending parallel, and then switching back to the east to lose elevation more gradually. At the bottom, there was a rather outstanding waterfall on Hollenbeck Brook. It made me wonder why it was decided to move the Appalachian Trail and skip an amazing spot like this. I suppose there are benefits to having it where it is, but I really did enjoy this Mohawk Trail route.

Falls in Dean's Ravine

We headed down stream a little bit more, and I couldn’t wait to find a spot to take a dip. I was drenched in sweat from our regular ups and downs on this trail. Soon, I found what appeared to be a deep enough spot, and I hurriedly got in.

Falls in Dean's Ravine

I moved on in the pool of water to the section that looked deeper, and was engulfed in a mess of disgusting mucky leaf litter that enveloped my shoes and eminated a disgusting odor of shit rot. Fortunately I’d already gotten my torso in prior to this, because I got right out and kept out of the water from here. Very gross.

Slippery Rocks

The trail remained along the edge of the brook for a while, which was beautiful. It passed through a camp site and pleasant area of moss and ferns before emerging again on Music Mountain Road.
We followed the road a short distance to a rock outcrop on the right. It was probably the last spot I’d have imagined the trail would go back into the woods, but there it was. We turned right and climbed rather steeply on the start of the ascent of Barrack Mountain.
The ascent was not an easy one. The trail followed a section of what looked to be flat and easy rocks, but their surface, and perhaps the moss cover made it nearly impossible to get traction. I moved on way ahead of Annika and Ed in this section, but nearly took a spill more than once. There was a slight overlook at the crest of a rise, then it got rocky.

Vultures on Barrack Mountain

The trail became very tough as it skirted the edge of the southern peak of Barrack Mountain. The rocks were loose and slippery, and a real pain to get over. There was really no treadway, just blazes through the woods. Also, the trail was again going down hill. When I looked at the topo maps, I could see that there was a saddle in Barrack Mountain, and had we gotten to the top it would mean only coming back down to go up yet again. The down hill really wasn’t that much overall. We hit a woods road that was heading down hill, then cut off to the right of it. I was far ahead there, and waited for Annika and Ed to catch up a while.

View up Barrack Mountain to the north

The trail got really steep in this next section. There were some hand holds necessary to get through, and those same slippery rocks were back. At the worst part of it, the trail switched back from left to right, and there was a vertical drop to my right. My feet were slipping with every step, and one bad move would easily mean death or serious injury.
I got up past this bad point where there was a better place to ascend without the vertical drop and waited for Annika and Ed to come within sight. I then recommended they take the cut over to get to the next bit of trail rather than take that sketchy route. I climbed up to a more level area with a bit of a view, and there were three vultures in the trees, just seeming to wait for one of us to fall off and die.

View on Barrack Mountain

There was a side trail to the right before another ascent with a routed sign reading “To IF”. I didn’t know what that was just yet, but found out from a later sign that it was a trail system out of Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.
We continued to climb a bit more, and soon reached another trail from the retreat center, with the map on it, and then the Outlook Point.

View on Barrack Mountain

This was a great little spot for a break. We could see across the Housatonic Valley, as well as up and down the valley a bit. I recognized some of the fields across that I had seen the previous trip from Sharon Mountain.

View down Housatonic River valley

We could also see all the way down the Housatonic River valley. It was quite stunning, and probably better than any of the views on the Appalachian Trail in the entire 1988 rerouted section. We continued north from here.

Steep trail

The trail was incredibly steep heading down the north side of Barrack Mountain, but at least going down it wasn’t as much rock. There was some dirt to give traction, and most of the rocky spots were hand hold quick spots we could get right down.

Mohawk Trail at Barrack Mountain

The trail continued to descend, and I could feel the pain in my knees on it. It was one of the steepest descents I’d seen a trail make in a while.
When we got closer to the bottom, the trail turned to the right and skirted the edge of the mountain to stay away from some closer houses below. We crossed a couple of washes, and then descended after the last house through woods to emerge on Johnson Road I think it was. We turned briefly right to the intersection with Lime Rock Road and entered more woods.

Bridge near the high school

The trail went slightly down hill and crossed over a small creek on a foot bridge.
On the other side, we emerged in a field. This was according to the guide book once the Housatonic Regional High School’s Cross Country track, but it was obviously not maintained, and hadn’t been for some time. We turned right and entered a swath of woods, then left going slightly up hill skirting the edge of a wood line to the left and a private fenced in back yard to the right. The trail crested a hill, then descended gradually toward the Housatonic Railroad tracks.

End of Mohawk Trail

After we crossed the tracks, the trail descended the ballast slope to Warren Turnpike, the route of the Appalachian Trail, and now the northern terminus of the Mohawk Trail.
I had now finished my first Connecticut Blue Blazed Trail. This was a pretty good feeling, and the next leg of the trip was a section of the Appalachian Trail I had already done on the previous trip, but a very easy and mostly pretty level section within the flood plane of the Housatonic River. It’d be easy from here.

Historic Housatonic High image

I turned left to follow the southbound AT for just a short bit because I wanted to get a comparative photo of the Housatonic Regional High School for one of the historic photos I had found after the previous hike up there.

Housatonic Regional High School

Opened in 1939, this high school was reportedly the first regional high school in America. I then turned around to head back to Annika and Ed, and we turned right from the road to follow the trail through the woods, now parallel with the railroad tracks.

The rail grade as seen on my previous trip

The old railroad bed that was along the AT to the left, just south of Falls Village, became the subject of question on the Abandoned Rails facebook page with hopes that someone could answer it.
According to rail historian John Walter Applebee, this was possibly an abandoned section of the original charter of the Housatonic Railroad (while the Housatonic is still around today it has gone bankrupt several times and had to be reformed into a new company). A station stop location was established in the town of falls village in the early 1830's but no records of a station exist of an actual station until sometime in the 1840's.
According to Mr. Applebee’s friend, his father as a young man (now in his 80's) used to jump the train on this line to limerock which is an area that borders falls village, to ge to work everyday.
This line was abandoned and taken up sometime between 1943-48, but I cannot find any maps that show any remnants.

AT on River Trail

The trail took us by an area that looks like it could have been an old iron mining site, with a hole in the ground under a rock that looks maybe to be a mine. We continued on gently rolling terrain and turned left, crossed Warren Turnpike, then entered woods on the other side making our way to the Housatonic River. We continued north on the River Trail section, and soon the cart path for the horse racing or whatever it used to be came in on the right. That path eventually turned right, and we continued ahead parallel with the river. A guy had already set up tent on the peninsula of land next to a small creek flowing into the Housatonic.

Rock wall built 1851?

The trail comes out to an open grassy field area. We crossed this, passed a parking area, then turned left along Water Street out of Falls Village, which has a lovely old stone wall on it. The block at the top of it I believe says 1851 on it, as well as a name I couldn’t quite make out.

Historic postcard image in Falls Village CT. This is the intersection of Rt 126 and Dublin Road

The area along the Housatonic at Falls Village used to be a bustling industrial site, but today nothing remains of it. We stopped along the way and chatted with some through hikers who were looking for somewhere to camp for the night. We offered some advice before moving on.

Old Housatonic Bridge by Joe Tag

The next leg of the trip was quite a disappointment. There was an old truss bridge that spanned the Housatonic, and carried the Appalachian Trail to the other side just up ahead. It was well written of in the guide book, so I was looking forward to crossing. However, we arrived to find a completely new two lane through truss bridge in it’s place.

The new bridge

The new structure was not really ugly, but it lacked some of the character the older one had. The old bridge at the site was constructed in 1903 by the Berlin Bridge Company of Berlin, Connecticut, and it had a unique truss with a secondary arched truss within.

Historic bridge shot by Joe Tag

Joe Tag mentioned to me on a recent hike that he had taken photos of the bridge, and e-mailed me with them the next day, so I have presented them here for comparison.
At the bridge, there was a sign with spray painted modifications on them, but I’m not sure which to believe. It said that walkers were permitted, but I wouldn’t trust such a beat up and unprofessional looking sign.
We crossed the bridge, and the AT turned right into the woods immedately. It followed a normal narrow foot path along the Housatonic, then cut to the left around some foundation ruins. There apparently used to be a home at one time in this area.

Historic Great Falls view

We turned right on the trail which took us past some foundations. There were a few small cascades in the Housatonic, down stream from the Great Falls. The trail passed through both obvious and indiscernible ruins of stone and such until it led us up to Housatonic River Road.

Great Falls today

Along the road section, there were homes on the left with more ruins in their yards, now integrated into their landscaping. It was obvious the masonry was not intended for the yards.

Historic Great Falls image

We continued up the road just a little bit, and the AT turned to the right off the road again. It seems it probably just comes to the road to cross over a small stream. There were a few guys and a pickup truck there drinking IPAs and such. I chatted with them briefly.

Historic image of the Great Falls

The trail remained high up on the rocks, but I opted to head down close to the river to get a better view of the Great Falls ahead. It was quite amazing with high volume, probably higher than the previous time I had been here.

The Great Falls today

I climbed back up, and the guys were were talking to were heading over to see the falls themselves. Annika and Ed were clearly tired and not ready to do further exploring after the arduous terrain all day. I took a side path over to the top of the falls with an overlook down stream. I think by this time they were back to the cars.

View from above the falls

I continued along the trail, with nice views of the falls and down to the river. I didn’t dare to go lower to be next to them like the last time. There had been too much rain recently and the rocks would be too wet to keep me from sliding off to oblivion.
The trail continued through the woods over flat but slippery rocks and turned off to the left to make it’s way up Sugar Hill area. We had to take a side path to the right to get us to the parking area. This would be where we’d have to start the next hike to get to the border of Massachusetts at Bear Mountain. I hope to do it maybe end of September.

The Great Falls

We passed by the dam in the Housatonic above the top of the falls, and just beyond that was the parking area where we had met in the morning. Annika and Ed were about done!

The dam on the river

I on the other hand was still energized and curious. There was a path leaving the parking area and heading into the woods to the north. I knew some of the history of the area already, but wanted to know more. I figured it’s only a half mile loop trail, so I’d hurriedly go out and check it out.
The parking area was the location of the historic Ames Iron Works. It was here that brothers Horatio and Oliver Ames founded the industry using the high quality iron from the region. They made cannons, shovels, axles, wagon wheels, stoves, nuts, bolds and many other things including railroad rails and couplers, because that industry in particular was growing fast.

Historic image of railroad shops at Amesville for the iron works

The Housatonic Railroad, which is still active on the other side of the river, arrived in 1842, and the Ames family business thrived. A bridge was constructed across the Housatonic at about the site of the present day dam. By the late 1850s, Horatio Ames was producing high powered cannon for Abraham Lincoln and the Union Navy.

Historic image of Amesville Iron Works/repair shops

Following the Civil War, the Housatonic Railroad purchased the Ame Ironworks in 1871. The buildings were converted into railroad repair and construction shops. In 1898, the Housatonic Railroad was purchased by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, and most repair and construction activity moved to New Haven.

Former site of the railroad bridge over the Housatonic

By 1900, the shops at the site closed. The bridge over the Housatonic River was dismantled and soon after the buildings were removed to make way for the hydroelectric plant.
The plant was completed and opened in 1914 and has been in use ever since, harnessing the power of the river used by the Ames brothers. The site has been a power source for the area pretty consistently for 184 years!
The path continues past the bridge site on what must be the former railroad bed.

Housatonic slack water

I continued on the trail which led out to a dead end at a nice outlook of the river. I back tracked, and a path turned inland a little bit onto what looks like a swamp area. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was actually the old turn table pit.

Old turn table site

Signage at the site pointed out that the pit was where the pond is now, and the round house was on the northwest side parallel with Housatonic River Road. The other shops were to the north of the present day pond. The trail apparently follows one of the railroad beds on a causeway over wetlands and back to the parking area. I turned and followed the mowed, grassy path, and soon emerged at the parking area where Annika and Ed were probably wondering what I was up to. Maybe the next hike in the area I will try to encourage everyone to have a look at this side trail.

The rail bed trail at the former Ames iron works

The hike felt sort of like a forgotten back woods jaunt. There wasn’t a lot of road walking at all, and we didn’t pass anyone else until we reached the Appalachian Trail, and then there were people looking to camp wherever, just passing through, almost “going through the motions”. We had something entirely different.
I respect the AT through hikers for what they accomplish, and the well known experience is something a lot of them really want to do. I love that what I saw was not only what through hikers saw prior to 1988, but something that most don’t see at all any more.
It also makes me wonder where these trails will be come twenty years. We keep losing so many of the long distance ones, there are less people using them, and yet we have higher population. I write these journal entries for the people who attend the hikes as a way they will always be able to look back after I’m long gone, but maybe one day it might be something more, and maybe one day someone else will be inspired and start a resurgence in hiking and backpacking as an alternative form of vacation.
I enjoyed a sunset by myself on Mohawk Mountain at the end of this, still feeling energized as I assimilated all of experiences of the day. So many people don’t have the drive to get up and fill their day like this, and some don’t have the capacity to appreciate it if they did. I feel extremely fortunate to have both.

Sunset on Mohawk Mountain