Hike #1263; Todd Hollow to Plantville

Hike #1263; Todd Hollow to Plantville

10/12/19 Todd Hollow to Plantville CT with Jennifer Berndt, Curt Donofrio, Annika Krystyna, John DiFiore, Joe ?, Sarah Jones, Jack Lowry, and Erika Lorin Daniels

This next hike would be another point to point in Connecticut. I had not been back to this New England state since earlier in the year, and I have so much I want to do.

Chopper rescue?

This one’s focus was mainly on the Mattatuck Trail, and it’s former connection with the Tunxis Trail.
I had done some of these trails before, with Jillane in September a couple of years back.
When we hiked it, we started at the Mohawk Trail along the Appalachian Trail at Cornwall Bridge, hiked that to the Mattatuck Trail, and the Mattatuck Trail to Todd Hollow where we turned off and followed some back roads to reach the southern end of the contiguous Tunxis Trail, north of the town of Terryville.

Mattatuck Trail in Todd Hollow

The Mattatuck Trail is part of the Connecticut Blue Blazed Trail system, which connects trails all through the state. However, not all of them connect as well as they once did. Such is the case with the Mattatuck.
One of the most beautiful trails in the state, it has been whittled away bit by bit to where it is no longer a contiguous route. When Jillane and I hiked it, we had to do a long road walk section to connect the otherwise unconnected sections. The bits that were in place were excellent though.

Todd Hollow

The trail continued from the Mohawk Trail, which is the old Appalachian Trail, to reach a spot called Grand Junction outside of Wolcott. There, it joined with the Tunxis Trail that went north to the Massachusetts line, an the Quinnipiac Trail which went south all the way to the Long Island Sound.
My thoughts on this were that we could still make good hikes of trying to connect these systems informally, and can still do it with only minimal road walking. After all, many of the trails we follow have pretty long distances of road walking, and none of it is really that bad.

View in Todd Hollow

I went over the maps before the hike and figured I had something that would be quite good, as long as it worked. I could then plan future ones to connect further with Tunxis and Quinnipiac, and all of these connections look quite promising.

Circa 1950 map of the Mattatuck to Tunxis and Quinnipiac Trails

When Jillane and I hiked it, we skipped Black Rock area and did a parallel rail trail, and then on another group hike, where I planned to do this section posted for this one, we ended up finding a red dot on blue blazed spur of Mattatuck I didn’t expect. The route ended up changing and ended in Waterbury area. So I needed to plan something to finish.

In Todd Hollow

The remainder of the Mattatuck Trail was probably about seven or so more miles. That was the easy part to plan. I also wanted to incorporate the red dot loop and finish it, which I did not do the previous time. We ended up bushwhacking off of it.

In Todd Hollow

With that added mileage, I came up with the route to the southern end of Tunxis Trail, which would utilize both that main trail as well as the Woodtick Trail, a spur from that main trail. My goal then was to get to the southern terminus of the Tunxis Trail at Whitman Road, just west of Plantville. If we had time, we could road walk a little further and get out toward the Farmington Canal Heritage Canal at a point I’d not yet reached with it. There seemed to be a ton of possibilities coming out of this particular hike.

Mattatuck Red Dot Trail goes up foundation steps

Usually, when I post a hike in Connecticut, they are pretty lightly attended. It seems like when I do something this far away, I’m stuck getting an Uber at the end point because I can’t count on people to show up for them.
This was a surprising case, because I had a very good size group for it.
I planned the meeting point to be near the start instead of the end, and just planned on it being one where we Uber from the end of it. That way, I drive less distance and just get to the start point to go much earlier.

Rocks on the Mattatuck Red Dot

Everyone except for Erika and Joe ended up at the meeting point, and they only met us down the road at the start point because they were running a bit behind. Joe was new to the hikes, though we had met him before, and the only other newcomer was Curt, and the only one in the group actually from Connecticut.
We headed from the Thomaston area where we met at a gas station to the start. At the station, we watched a helicopter that appeared to be doing some sort of either a rescue or a drill.

A steep section

It kept flying back up toward the Black Rock State Park and Mattatuck State Forest area, but not sure what it was doing for sure.
We soon arrived in Todd Hollow at the intersection of Todd Hollow Road and Keegan Road. This was the third time I had been to this spot, and probably the last, because I would finish the Mattatuck Trail this time.
Actually, to be honest there is a tiny piece a bit further back I have yet to do. I took one of the lower routes in Black Rock State Park, and so I would have to get back to do that section again one of these days.
This hike coincided with Erika’s birthday, and so she was staying up there for the weekend. Jen bought her cupcakes to share at the start, but we left them with the cars to have later.

Trail down around a steep spot

The start of the hike is an incredibly easy paved Todd Hollow Road. It passes along beautiful scenic swamp lands to the west. There is a parking area down there, but it’s apparently only open sometimes. We were parked at the end along the edge of the street near the gate. A lady walked in at the start with her dogs, and another lady pulled up asking for directions. John helped her find her way, and we were already laughing and joking around that early. As soon as Erika showed up, we headed down the road into the beautiful foliage.
The trail eventually turned to the left, away from the road onto an old building foundation.

A steep down slope

The trail used the building foundation steps to begin it’s climb, and then got much steeper. It was obvious that this route was not very heavily used.
We started climbing almost right away. It wasn’t too terribly steep at first, but eventually we came to the first rock outcrop, and the climb was quite steep. We definitely had to use both hands to pull ourselves up onto the rocks.
I had originally planned to wear a suit and tie on this one, because I’d done it the day before, but then it was just too hot to handle it.
I wore long pants and even that seemed too hot. I should have changed into the shorts I had in the car before starting out.
I did bring my red blazer, and I wore it for a little bit, but then had to take it off at this first climb. Erika’s dog climbed the rocks and even used his claws to pull himself up it was so bad.

Rock outcrops

The trail took us back down around from the top of this slope by way of a steep ledge, and then weaved around rocks to some really crazy overhangs.
We had to hop from rock to rock at points on all of this stuff. Some of these outcrops we had seen the last time we hiked up here, but we cut away from it too early to see them all.
At the first climb after the overhang, it required lots of hand holds on both rocks as well as some tree roots. I had to grab Jack’s guitar and pass it back to him rather than have him carry it up.
Once we got to the top of that one, it was just down and back up again to yet another section of rock outcroppings.
Every time we got done with a particularly difficult spot, we waited up for each other to et through. It was a tough one, but everyone was handling it pretty well. At the top of the one rock, someone had left an old metal pot in the crook of one of the trees.

IN the rocks

Much of the rock was a mica filled schist, which left little sparkles on the hands like we were climbing through glitter.
I wondered if any of these overhangs were some of the haunts of the legendary “Leather Man”, who traveled long days between points in western Connecticut and eastern New York. The best known Leatherman Cave is the one in Black Rock Forest just to the west of here, so it’s not at all far fetched to think this could be some of that area.
The Leather Man was a mysterious walking character who appeared in the areas of Connecticut and eastern New York around the time of the Civil War. During this time, around 1860, there were a lot of itinerant wanderers seeking work, a meal, or a place to sleep.
The Leather Man was one of these such people, although he did not ask for work or shelter, but would accept a meal.

Historic portrait of the Leatherman

His striking appearance included his signature home made leather outfit that included a jacket, a cap with a brim, and shoes that more resembled clogs. He did not speak, but rather mumbled incomprehensibly during his monthly visits to various farms and spring kitchens in NY and CT. He would wander between Danbury, and Waterbury, Bridgeport, and Norwalk, CT, and head into Westchester and Putnam Counties, NY in a large circuit, just about every month. His circuit, which took over a month to do, included about 240 miles in Connecticut and 125 miles in New York. For shelter, he would stay in caves in different places. Another cave bears the name “Leatherman’s Cave” in Ward Pound Ridge, NY. He would visit leather and saddle shops and accept donations of scraps, which he would sew together to make his long jacket, his pants which came up to his chest, and the tops of shoes. The man sounds as though he might be terrifying, with sewn tanned flesh draped over him, mumbling incoherently, and lived in caves. However, his visits were looked forward to.

More rocks!

Ladies would even bake bread for him when they knew he was coming. His visits were amazingly well timed that they could be planned for. Despite his size and appearance, the Leather Man never harmed anyone. Apart from infrequently being angered by children throwing rocks at him, he was gentle and not temperamental. A newspaper once told a story of his life, naming him Jules Bourglay of Lyons, France, but retracted the story just days later. Today, still no one really knows his back story. One theory is that he was a French Canadian, as he traveled as far north as Vermont and Montreal between 1860 and 1870. The Leather Man may have indeed been a Frenchman, as upon his death, in the Winter of 1889, when his body was found in his cave in Briarcliff NY, a French prayer book was found in his limited possessions.

View from the rocks

He was fond of smoking, and some say it was a form of cancer he finally succumbed to.

Rock formations

His body was buried in Sparta Cemetery, in Ossining NY, and for many years the incorrect French name was placed on a gravestone on the site.

Whoever he was, the Leatherman was an amazing character in local history. The cave he stayed in, in what is now Mattatuck State Forest, is another typical Connecticut rock pile cave. Heaps of rocks all on top of one another create these kinds of caves the trail passes right through. Another Leatherman's Cave is in Ward P.ound Ridge Preserve in NY.
We continued through all of these formations until one of them led us to the top of a rock with a splendid view to the south. I think the body of water we could see in the distance from there was Hancock Brook Lake.

Buttermilk Falls

After a break and a group shot there, we continued down and through more woods. There were some more rock outcroppings, but they got easier as we continued, until the foot path was nothing more than that really, with a few ups and downs over rocks. We eventually came to the end of a woods road, where the trail turned left gradually up hill. After a short distance more, we came to the intersection with the main Mattatuck Trail. This was where I had made the wrong turn on the previous hike here.
The trail was very easy from that point. It mostly followed a woods road from here to the east for a long while. Jack got up front of the group, and we moved along pretty quickly on a gradual down hill fashion until we came out on South Eagle Street next to a smashed mailbox.
We continued here on Eagle Street to the south, which was a not very busy back road. The trail followed this across active railroad tracks of former Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad built in 1850. I’m not sure who operates it now, but I know there’s a tunnel just to the north that I would like to go back and explore. One of these days maybe.

At Buttermilk Falls

After crossing the bridge, we came to the intersection with Main Street. One of those giant horse dogs was across the intersection from us and it ran out into the road. I was worried we were going to witness the thing getting hit. I ran up to him and tried to get him to go back to the yard, because it was getting to be too many close calls with cars going by. The Great Dane’s owner soon came out and hollered at it to come back, and he did.
We then made the next right turn on Lane Hill Road and climbed for just a little bit until a bend where the trail went into the woods and crossed over a wooden foot bridge.

Above Buttermilk Falls

After a little knoll, we came upon Buttermilk Falls. Probably the most common name we’ve ever seen applied to a waterfall, each one is quite different than others we’ve seen. This one cascaded over rocks similar to those we had just been climbing earlier and was quite nice. We climbed down closer to it, and I couldn’t help but stand in the water at the base of the falls. It was really a pretty cool spot.
I believe the property here is owned by The Nature Conservancy, as there were signs indicating this at the start of the property. We soon made our way up the falls to a series of a few more cascades. This was all part of the headwaters of the Hancock Brook, which gets much wider some distance downstream and joins with other brooks.

An old dam on Mattatuck Trail

As we made our way up hill over more rocks and past a few more cascades, we came upon the ruins of an old stone dam. I don’t know any of the history of it, but it looked pretty cool.
There was a foot bridge across the stream just below the dam, but with no marked trail going over it. Mattatuck Trail continued to climb past the dam ruins, and the trail crossed on a series of crappy logs and boards placed in the stream. It then climbed steeply up slope and passed by some old stone rows heading to the sort of southeast.
The trail weaved around through woods and soon came within close proximity to some homes. It turned and started following an access road, but only a few feet in from the driving lane before emerging onto Allentown Road and turning right.

Marino Pond on Mattatuck Trail

The trail then followed the road down hill. A sidewalk appeared on the far side of the road and took us down hill along it to the intersection with Wolcott Road. On the corner at the intersection was the foundation and cellar steps to a very old house, long gone.

An odd tree

The trail turned to the left on Wolcott Road, and then there was a good path up along side of the road after a short distance. We turned here, and then left into the woods just before a spot where there was parking. We then came up on the shore of the lovely Marino Pond. An ATV path intersected on the right side of us, and the trail continued into the woods on the shore of the pond. At times, the foot path diverged from the ATV path, where it had been laid out as such that they could not fit the machine through, but in most cases they beat through it all.

View on Mattatuck Trail yellow spur

The trail weaved to the right, and through a low land where one would never think the ATVs would go, but then there were deep ruts there too. The next climb was something that kept them out, because we went over some steep rocks. We ended up on a high rocky slope with a steep drop off to the right.
A yellow and blue blazed side trail to a view breaks off in this area, so we headed up to check that out. It forms a lollipop loop at the top, and has a bit of a view on a flat topped rock I think facing to the west.

Indian Jack Cave

We descended from here over more rocks, and the next point of interest was the Indian Jack Cave, a small cave into one of the overhanging rock faces.

At Indian Jack Cave

Indian Jack was supposedly the last of the native Americans in the area not to adopt the white man’s ways, and he supposedly lived in this cave. There was one deep round hole in it, and the rest was just an interesting overhang. This was a good spot to stop for a little break.
We had a look inside the thing, and climbed around a bit. As always, there were songs happening throughout the day. There was an underlying Beach Boys theme on this one, as Jack and I talked about some of their albums. He was talking about “God Only Knows” and how it had some weird chords, but he did figure out how to play it. We sang that over at the Buttermilk Falls.

Indian Jack Cave

At the cave, he figured one one we’d sang before, “I Can Hear Music”, which I think was off of their 20/20 album, which I really like. A lot of that late sixties stuff is really great.
We got onto the topic because Jack had just done a sound check for Art Garfunkle and had quite a good experience. He told us that Garfunkle read some poetry and spoke about points in his life, then sang songs relating to each one of those times.

Charlie Krug Cave

After feeling impressed with the show, Jack must have felt inspired as he had learned to play “For Emily, Wherever I may Find Her”, a song beautifully sung by Art Garfunkle during his partnership with Paul Simon.
We tried singing that, but I didn’t know the words very well, and it’s got such a choir boy falsetto that even though I can hit the notes, I would certainly have to practice it in order to be able to do it justice.
Sarah was singing lots of stuff with Jack, and I noticed her singing voice is about the best I’ve ever heard it. Being with Jack for so long, I think it’s definitely helped her hone her singing to where it was sounding quite nice among the rocks.
Other songs of course followed, like “Whit Rabbit”, the Jefferson Airplane hit from the top of the previous overlook.
We continued from the Indian Jack Cave through more interesting topography, and the next point of interest were more rock outcroppings which included the Charlie Krug Cave.

Ruins on Mad River

I really don’t know how this one got it’s name, but it was more of a rock overhang than anything else, not like the Indian Jack Cave, and not even as pronounced as the stuff we had done on the Mattatuck Red Dot Trail. We just kind of headed past it.
I was expecting these caves to be like the others on the rest of the Connecticut blue trails, where the trail literally goes through the cave. That’s actually pretty common I am finding. But these, we just walked past them.
We continued along the trail through very pleasant and easy walking woods for a bit, and then crossed over Spindle Hill Road.
After this, we headed down through woods to a sort of woods road clearing, turned right, and then came out to a power line. The trail turned right on it briefly, and then left into woods.

The ladies of Metrotrails at Mad River ruins

The trail soon found it’s way to the edge of the Mad River, actually a pretty small stream at this point, and started following it down stream. It had some beautiful rock outcroppings along it, and often flowed through some pretty deep channels.

Crossing Mad River

The river came to a spot where there used to be a dam and some sort of large stone industrial building. It looked very old.
I couldn’t help but get down in it and cool off. I had just rolled my ankle again, and the cool water made it feel a bit better.
We took a nice little break here, because the site really was just so nice.
Once we were done here, we simply followed the river downstream. The trail turned away from it slightly, but then returned to it. There was some cool rocks, and places where the water got deep. I decided to get in again, and this time went in up to my hips. It was not nearly as cold out as anticipated, and it felt great.

Along Mad River

After a bit, we came to a confluence with the Mad River and a smaller tributary. We crossed a foot bridge, and the trail got a bit easier.
We had not passed a single hiker since the dog walker at the start, on the entire trail up until we got to this scenic section of the brook. There were a few people walking the opposite direction up the creek.
We continued walking, and as we started nearing Peterson Park, we could hear the music coming from an ice cream truck.
Peterson Park is now the southern terminus of the Mattatuck Trail, although it used to continue somewhere from here to the Tunxis Trail at Grand Junction.

Peterson Park

We kept to the left around the opposite side of the ball courts, while the blazes ended just ahead there. Annika went ahead to get ice cream, and we went to do the same, but we took a longer route. When we got to the open fields, we cut over to the pavilion and the truck. Most of the group as I recall got some ice cream, and we took a little break.
When done, we followed the path back to the east side of the park, where we picked up the paved pathway heading toward the south side of it. We tried going back over by the Mad River, but there was no good trail following along the edge of it.

In Peterson Memorial Park

We continued on the paved path toward the south side of the park, and went by a picnic pavilion where they had lots of balloons and such. Jack started singing a birthday song and playing as we went by. One of the family members seemed quite amused by it.
The paved pathway took us out next to the dog park section, and then onto Mad River Road a short distance from the intersection with Route 69.
We crossed the Mad River and continued to a right turn on 69 south. In a very short distance, we came to a supermarket called Pat’s IGA. This mom and pop looking grocery store was right on our way. Although there were other places to go further down the road, I don’t think anyone really wanted to walk further out of the way than necessary.

The informal trail near the school...

We mostly all went to the deli counter to see about getting sandwiches. They made fresh ones, and so that’s what we decided on.
I decided to try to order the special sandwich I always order from Woodglen General Store back home: Turkey and chipotle gouda cheese on toasted rye bread, with a little bit of Russian dressing, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes, but served hot like a Ruben.
When I ordered it, Jack said “Wow...that sounds pretty good...”, and ordered another of the same.
They also had these cheese stuffed shell pasta salad type of things that looked really good, so I had that too. I called them round wet things.
We got our food, and then headed to a picnic table out at the end of the parking area to eat. They had made my sandwich exactly the way I liked it, so I was that much happier that I’d gotten it.
Erika had planted the seed because she said she wanted turkey, and so I was thinking about it, and when I want a turkey sandwich, I want my special sandwich.

Trail to the library

We soon all finsished, and Erika and Joe decided to cut out early. They called for an Uber, and the rest of us continued across the parking lot and out behind the store.
We walked a short distance up Center Street from the store, and then turned to the left past a barn called “The Elephant Barn” that sold buggies, onto Minor Road heading slightly up hill more.
After the end of the yard of the first house on the right was a section of woods, and an informal trail headed up hill there.
Based on where the old map shows the Mattatuck Trail, this could actually be on or close to where the trail used to go. I can’t be sure though.
We followed the trail up hill until the grade started to level off a bit, and then cut through the woods to the left a bit. We could then see the clearing for the Wolcott High School, and started heading toward it.

We turned to the left when we hit the clearing for the ball fields. What appeared to be a security guard up above was just driving away as we got up to the opening.
We continued to the left and skirted the outer most sections of the fields, and eventaully came to a spot where I figured they might have some sort of unofficial trail connecting the school to the Wolcott Public Library on the other side.
I was correct in my assumption, and a trail did in fact lead down by way of some nicely built steps down over a little tributary, and then back up to the library parking lot.
In the lot, we saw a boot that was made into a bird house. There was a historic building that looked like maybe from the 1700s across the street, and crab apple trees on the edge of the parking lot. I decided to eat some. They were really tasty at first, but then got to be a little bit dry and not as nice to eat after a very short time.
We headed from here out to Bound Line Road, and then turned right on Kalko Drive.

Having apples at Wolcott Library

We followed this road steadily up hill, and then turned to the left on Richard Avenue. We turned to the left and followed this to a slight hill, and then turned to the right on Lorenze Drive, and then another left on August Avenue.
From there, we reached a power line clearing. We turned right on this on an ATV path that followed it.
We went down hill, over a little stream, and the very slowly started heading back up on the other side. This took us up hill to Woodtick Road.
From where we came out to the road, slightly to the left of the power line, across the street to the north was the end of the Woodtick Trail, a side trail from the Tunxis Trail.

Woodtick Trail

We walkd down the road and looked for the blazes. They were blue with black dots in the middle. It wasn’t too hard to find them, following an old woods road out from Woodtick Road. Woodtick is the name of the little settlement near here.
We walked into the woods fo ra little ways, and then saw a truck parked surprisingly in the very middle of the narrow woods road. I was figuring they were just out there hunting. We approached the truck, and there was a young blonde kid working on shoveling stuff around the back of it into the road. It was some sort of pea gravel.

PIke's Hill Burying Ground

To our right, I was surprised to see a small cemetery. The entire thing was fenced in with a black metal fence, and the gravel covered the entire surface. This was a project of an Eagle Scout with his father. We of course had to take some time to look this site over.
This was the Pike’s Hill Burying Ground, also known as Rose Hill. The little plot was first laid out in 1774, an there are only a few graves in it. Almost all of them were broken off. The young scout held one of the broken ones together so we could see it. Part of his plans were to put something into it so that it would stand on it’s own again.
The graveyard was now completely covered in pea gravel, with sheets to help keep the new plants from growing back up through again.

Pike's Hill Burying Ground scout project

The fence had already been there, part of an Eagle Scout project from back in 2010, and they had cleared it, but it was still very overgrown. We were told if we had been there like a week before we would not have recognized the place.
Some of the interments we were told were moved to the nearby cemetery down the hill, but that there were still a few here. The father also told us that someone had dug up one of them, a Revolutionary War General, and made off with his metals. He told us that the gernal had been re-interred elsewhere after this.
Another interesting point was that the epitaphs were facing to the east, and the foot stones were also that way. We were told that the old grave yards were set up so that the body would be facing the east for when they rise, and that was where the foot stones were, because when the Lord rose, he rose in the east and that way they would always rise with the lord. Jack commented that it’s a good way of knowing which was is east if we happen to find a cemetery in the middle of the woods somewhere. The dad seemed pretty amused by that.
Usually, when we find graves, the head stones with the epitaphs are facing the west to be read rather than the other way around, bu this one is a little bit different.

Woodtick Trail

I was glad we walked by when we did, or we would not have heard any of this interesting history, let alone met the volunteers responsible for putting it together.
The dad also told us that the materials used to restore the grounds were all donated.
We said our goodbyes and continued down the hill on the old road. The dad told us that further down the hill we would see the other cemetery to which some of the bodies had been moved years before. The trail descended somewhat steeply in an eroded pathway through the woods to reach a much wider old woods road.

Beecher Cemetery

The road we reached is now closed to traffic, but definitely heavily used by ATVs, known as Beecher Road. It used to be a through route, but now is apparently cut off at either end. I think there’s a missing bridge further to the north, and it’s now a dead end at either side.
The trail turned to the right on old Beecher Road, and then the old Beecher Cemetery, also known as the Northeast Cemetery, was on a slope to the right with a set of wooden steps up to it, and a gate blocking ATVs from entering.
Almost all of the old stones in this ground were broken off, sadly. The few of the bodies that had been moved from the one up the hill were brought here in 1805.

Elijah Royce, Solidier of the Revolution in Beecher Cemeterhy

This cemetery also had soldiers of the American Revolution in it, as well as the War of 1812. A few of these graves were still standing. Someone actually keeps this cemetery mowed off pretty well, but it’s so far in the middle of nowhere it’s apparently prone to vandalism.
We had a nice break here and walked the cemetery looking at all of the stones.
I made my way back to the gate, and Jack appropriately started playing the Blue Oyster Cult classic, “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. I started singing harmony along with him, and John joined in. We went through the song before we continued on along the Woodtick Trail.
The trail continued along old Beecher Road for a time up hill, and then broke off to the left.
Stonehouse Trail, another branch of the Tunxis Trail, continued ahead to connect with the main Tunxis further along, but we were to stay on Woodtick this time. It took us through the woods, and over a little more of a regular hiking trail for a little while.
We wandered on through and passed a big rock, then went over a flat rock outcrop before heading down hill a bit more steeply. The trail came out at another gravel road.

Along Woodtick Trail

The gravel road is apparently an official use only road that serves the New Britain Reservoir close by, and the blazes told Jack and I, who were in the very front, that this was the main route of the Tunxis Trail. We turned to the right, and stopped a little bit up hill.

Tunxis Trail

When we could see everyone coming, we continued along the woods road, which soon came within sight of the New Britain Reservoir. There was a side path to the left that led down to an outlook sight of it, and I went down to get a nice photo of it.
We continued up slope on the road for a while, and eventually came to an intersection at the main dam to the reservoir. There was a good view out onto the water from there. The trail did not cross the dam, but went down hill alongside of it on more service roads. At the bottom, the main service road went to the left, and the main Tunxis Trail continued on a far less used woods road back into the woods to the right.

New Britain Reservoir

We continued up and down hill a little bit. This road was much rougher than anything else we’d been on. It would be hard even for a quad to make it up the road, but it could certainly make it down it. It would just run the risk of rolling over on some of the steep drop offs along the way.
I looked at my aerial images to compare to how we were supposed to be going. We were coming pretty close to the southern terminus of the trail at Whitman Road. I figured that the trail would just head on to the very end of that road.

New Britain Reservoir

The trail seemed to be going on forever. It dipped down from an open area where we could still see pretty well to a very shaded area within dense Mountain Laurel. It looked like we were heading a bit further to the south than I thought we should be.

Tunxis Trail

I started getting worried that it was one of those deals like the previous Mattatuck hike we had done, where there was some change different than what ws in the Connecticut Walk Book, which was in my bag, or what was on the Connecticut Parks and Forests Association website, which I checked before leaving.
After all, that Mattatuck Red Dot Trail was still not yet on their website. I figured there could be some sort of change to the trail system here that had not yet made it on. Maybe they had reconnected the old Tunxis Trail to the south and it wasn’t on there yet?

End of the Tunxis Trail

If something like that had happened, I figured we would be screwed. It was getting pretty dark fast. I did all I could to ensure that the way we were going was correct.
When I consulted the walk book, I was somewhat relieved to see that the trail did not come to the end of Whitman, but rather that it weaved around to the south of it, and then connected closer to it’s intersection with Mt. Vernon Road to the east. We were in all likelihood still on the right track.
The trail mostly followed this one woods road, but then weaved off to the right from the obvious one. After that, it weaved off to the right again from the obvious woods road and onto a narrower foot path up a steeper slope and then closer to houses to the south. That wasn’t the end though. It continued as a foot path in a narrow swath of land between homes, and eventually turned to the left before coming out to the end of Whitman Road.

Moon rise at Whitman, end of Tunxis Trail

I hurried to the end of the trail because I needed to be sure it was going to take us out where I was expecting, and not lead us to some other place. It did what it was supposed to do, and then got a hold of Annika. She made one wrong turn, but was doing okay. No one needed me to come running back for them. Jen made it out just after me, followed soon by Jack, and then everyone else.
As soon as everyone arrived at the small parking area, I got on my phone and started looking for an Uber back. I ordered an Uber XL for everyone, and called the driver to be sure that we could hold all seven of us. It was no problem, and we were able to get back to where we were all parked in short order.

End of Tunxis

From this point, I have so much more I want so badly to do. I’ve already figured out some hikes to connect to both the south and the north, to the rest of the Tunxis Trail system, and south to the Quinnipiac, which was one of the first of the Connecticut blue blazed trails to be developed.
Erika asked me I think it was about Sleeping Giant, which I’ve already looked at. The Quinnipiac Trail connects directly to there, and I’ve already got another connection to it from the east side as well. It’s just a matter of putting together the complicated hiking going from the south end of Tunxis to the Quinnipiac, but I think I’ve found some interesting stuff that will make it all worth it. That would be about ten miles of screwing around to figure it out... but still probably easier than a lot of the rocks and craziness that much of the official trail system does.
If there is interest in it, we will certainly make these connections happen.

HAM