Hike #1525; 1/7/23 Bolton Notch, Vernon, and Manchester Loop with Jillane Becker and Everen
This next trip would be an oddball thing that hadn't happened in almost a year.
\Jillane had said to me that she wanted to pick up a table she had already paid for in Willimantic Connecticut.
This was a long ways off. We had backpacked through Willimantic, and it had been the end and beginning of two trips. We finished a week long backpack in Connecticut there, and then started another where we walked from there north through Putnam and through Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We had then done one hike on the Hop River Rail Trail since Ev was born from Willimantic westward.
I actually figured I would never do another long hike with Jillane again the way things have been going. At first, she said I could just arrange a group hike on Saturday, and we could take Ev to an aquarium on Sunday, which was the other main reason to go out.
She later said she would have to do the hike. I told her if she didn't want to do it, I could easily arrange it as a group thing, and people would come.
She declined, and I instead had John DiFiore host the hike for the weekend in my place along the Blue Mountain in PA.
I came up with several options. I even came up with backup options just in case Jillane wouldn't get up in the morning.
There have been far too many times that these efforts turn out badly, but for some reason I agreed to it again.
This time though, at least for me, it actually turned out fine. Ev was in a pretty good mood most of the day despite it being much colder than was previously predicted.
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| Bolton Notch |
The temps were supposed to be in the mid 40s, but it probably never got above 40 degrees at all, just because of cloud cover. Also, our starting spot was at a point that almost always seems colder just because of the topography.
We had stayed the night before in Mystic CT. I already screwed up at the start because I didn't have Ev's swim diapers or regular diapers. All I had was what was in my go bag that I usually bring on hikes. It wouldn't be enough for a couple of days.
I had to wake up early, which is no problem for me because I always do, and rush to a supermarket to purchase more diapers. I ended up finding a really posh sort of upscale grocery store, the only thing in Mystic, and got some diapers and chocolate milk and such.
The hotel breakfast was a pretty good one, but the waffle maker was screwed up. I didn't even get one and just had some egg and cheese fold things. I let Jillane have the only waffle I ended up getting out of the machine.
She didn't get up until right after 9 am, but even that is very substantial for her.
That meant we didn't start the hike until after 11:30 am. I didn't care about finishing after dark, but I knew she would. That wasn't on me though.
I planned this specifically for Jillane in this case. The stuff I wanted to see the most was the first two thirds. It was all rail trail so it would be easy to get through, and the roughest part would be done before dark. The last bit was parallel with highway most the way, and thus full of all sorts of ambient light.
We would head out and do the hike, and then pick up the table on the way back at the end of the night.
The starting point I planned for was actually the end point of the last hike we did on the Hop River Rail Trail in April 2022.
On that one, we had followed the trail to the site of Bolton Notch Station, where the Charer Oak Greenway, part of the East Coast Greenway, breaks off.
The Charter Oak Greenway continues some twenty or so miles west to East Hartford from there.
On that hike, we reached Bolton Notch Station, then walked a bit of Charter Oak Greenway just to the west to a large twenty-four hour commuter lot where we called an Uber to pick us up.
This time, we would start right there and it would be easy to get back, and no worries about getting a ticket.
We parked as close as we could get to the trail turnoff, where we'd be between our start and the foot bridge where Charter Oak Greenway will bring us back.
This greenway is named for an unusually large White Oak tree that once stood on Wyllys Hyll in Hartford, from the 12th or 13th century until it fell in a storm in 1856.
According to tradition, Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden in the hollow of the tree to thwart its confiscation by the English Governor-General.
I didn't know at first about this; I figured it was built by the bank that carries the same name or something, as a donation.
We started walking along the greenway from the edge of the parking lot. Also through the parking lot and co-aligned with a bit of the Charter Oak Greenway at this point is the Shenipsit Trail. That is one of the Connecticut Blue Blazed Trails, which is about fifty miles long.
The name "Shenipsit" is a native American term that means "at the great pool", which is named for Shenipsit Lake to the north.
Where we started, the Shenipsit Trail cuts to the north into a long-abandoned drive in movie theater. I could see the framework of the back of it clearly from the parking area.
We made our way east along the greenway, parallel with Rt 384 and Bolton Notch Pond.
The trail came out to the entrance road down to a parking area for Bolton Notch State Park. This was the former site of the Bolton Notch train station.
The site where the station stood is now a little wayside spot that has several different tools that one might need to do repairs on a bicycle.
I've never really had any use for this things other than for a beer bottle opener, but since Ev has been coming on the hikes with me, having a pump handy is definitely a good thing.
Jillane loaded the stroller up with a whole lot more stuff and weight than I would normally be carrying with me, and so the stroller was pushing down on the tires much more than usual.
We actually have two of the same strollers, and I use mine for most all of the hikes Ev is on. This time, and probably one other time, we use Jillane's because it was already in her car and I didn't want to unload mine.
I have been adding pressure to my wheels periodically to compensate for Ev's growth, and Jillane's had not been touched for a while, so the tires were quite flat. We used the pump and got them back up to about where they should be for the hike before we moved on.
I had one historic photo of the Bolton Notch station site, so I was able to get a now version of that as best I could before we started moving on along the trail.
The line was originally Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad built about in 1850 at this point.
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.
The line traveled east, and connected with the "Air Line" of the New Haven line on the south side of Willimantic. It was so named because it was like drawing a line through the air over a map in the most direct route possible between New York City and Boston.
This connecting from Hartford was not the "Air Line" per say, but it was still an important connection to it because it passed through busy Hartford.
Through Bolton Notch, passenger trains continued until the Flood of 1955; a bridge was washed out in Putnam CT, on the Air Line, thus severing the midland Boston connection.
Although passenger service ended, freight service continued until 1970. The station was dismantled.
Tracks remained in place until 1975, and then were removed.
To the east, the railroad bed passes through a deep cut and a tunnel the interstate and adjacent highway travel over with the rail bed beneath. To the west, the right of way passes through a similarly deep cut. Jillane was already on her way to that while I was setting up my photo compilation.
In short order, Jill found some very old graffiti etched into the rocks, probably by the past railroad workers.
The inscriptions included "C. W.", "E. Bruce" and "Harry" something, among other less legible things.
The rock cut ahead of this spot was one of the most impressive I'd been through in years. It really looked like something that should have been tunneled, but I suspect that the rock was too brittle for it.
On the other side of the massive cuts, a small stream known as Railroad Brook appeared to the left. A foot bridge crossed over it, the route of the Shenipsit Trail, which then joined the railroad bed and continued with it to the north. I was glad to be doing another piece of the Connecticut Blue Blazed Trail system. It's really quite an amazing one.
Just ahead of this point, the brook flowed into the railroad right of way. This must have been a washout disaster back in the railroad days.
It certainly had me wondering how they dealt with this water when the tracks were there and active.
There was one private house to the right of the rail bed that came into view, and then we were in a woodland expanse for quite a while. We passed through another cut along with the brook, which then flowed off to the right and descended, while we continued on a gradual downward slope on a shelf.
After a little while, the railroad bed widened to a double track. Old rotten ties covered in mosses appeared to the right of the cleared trail section. This was once known as the Club House Siding.
A little bit further ahead, there was an abandoned pavilion down below the railroad bed to the right, with private property signs around it.
Ahead, we came upon an historic marker that named this the site of "Club House" on the Bolton/Vernon town line.
Originally, this was the site of Bolton Lodge, a small resort area with an adjacent pond built in the mid 1800s. In 1882, a group of New York railroad executives purchased the property as a private hunting and fishing retreat.
The club eventually became inactive, and it was purchased by Goodwin Beach. Beach hired a caretaker named George Shedd, who had passed by the clubhouse as an engineer on the New Haven Railroad countless times. Beach rented the place to folks traveling from Hartford to hunt and fish.
Shedd purchased the property himself in 1944, and used it as a family Summer home until his death in 1958. His grandchildren, the Krause family, took over maintenance of the property, which still did not have electricity in the 50s and 60s.
The dam on the brook was demolished in the 1960s. Sadly, the lodge building burned down in 1968, and no one in Krause family even knew until it was gone. Grandson Brian Krause began constructing the shelter on the same spot the lodge once stood, but he died at the young age of 34 and could no finish it. I believe Scouts or something of that sort completed the structure that still stands there today.
I set up a then and now of the site using a photo of the block house shanty station that used to stand at the site. There used to be a semaphore signal that would be up or down to signal whether the train should stop or not. By the 1930s, the stop was no longer in service at all.
Across from this spot was a small stream which cascaded down the mountain to the left to a pretty little waterfall.
We continued from that point where the Club House shanty stood, along the shelf to the north. The Club House siding continued for a while with some ties still in place before it disappeared back into the single-track right of way.
Ev was starting to get pretty tired. There was an evergreen to the left of the trail that was decorated like a Christmas tree, and we waited there for Jillane to catch up with us.
From here, we continued along the shelf to the north. Valley Falls Park was the land below us to the right. Some impressive rock outcrops were to our left, and there was one more little cascade and small pool to the side.
We also passed a rock to the right that was angled naturally in an odd way, used as a bench.
After a little bit, I spotted an old spare rail holder to the left of the trail. They would have sections of rail sat on them that could be picked up by Section Gangs or Gandy Dancers they called them for quick repair of rails.
After a little bit, we came upon a concrete marker, which I thought might have been an old mile marker, but apparently it was a "BO" on it for "Boundary". This was a boundary marker to delineate the boundary between track sections, which I guess was which gang would maintain the sections on either side of it.
We continued ahead a little bit more, and the Shenipsit Trail broke off to the right, downhill into the Valley Falls Park lands.
It was kind of steep, so it would not have been something I could easily get the stroller through on. I would really like to do that entire trail, but until Ev is big enough to walk it all himself, I'm afraid it will be a while. There are a lot of trails I want to do that will be at least a couple of years until I can get to them.
There were two places along the stretch of right of way where there was a side trail to the right, and the track bed went into a bit of a cut. Jillane was pushing Ev through both of those locations, so I went up and walked on the rugged stuff for those bits and took photos of them walking.
We passed through a couple more cuts, and then made our way onto a very high fill. A side trail to the left led down to Tunnel Road, which passes beneath the high fill by way of an old stone culvert.
A sign at the intersection read Vernon Greenways.
Just ahead, another spare rail holder was situated on the left side of the track bed, this one with some rails placed on it. They were certainly not left over from railroad days, because these were sections of rail that were bolted together, which would not have been on there historically. This was the first time I can think of where there was an historic marker denoting the spare rail holder.
Just ahead of this spot, there was another historic marker on the right. This one denoted the former location of a pump house, from which water was pumped up to a water tower just a little bit to the wet of us. Pretty much the entire municipality of Vernon had very well done historic markers, each with at least one photograph on it.
Warren Avenue came in from the right parallel with the rail grade, and pretty soon the trail dipped down toward Phoenix Street.
To the right, across Warren Ave was the start of a side trail that once followed the Rockwood Railroad grade, but the actual junction was ahead.
Trail alignment kind of messed up what had been in this area. The trail today descends to cross Phoenix Street at grade, and immediately on the other side, the girder bridge the railroad used to cross over the street on sat beside the trail.
Where we crossed, there was an historic marker for a telegraph office that used to stand on the grade at the edge of the bridge site.
Jillane and Ev got a ways ahead of me, but I was in no hurry to get through this area. It was most certainly the best interpreted site along the entire hike this time.
There was another historic marker at the top of the hill about the former Vernon Station site, which is now a wood lined area filled with crushed stone aggregate.
A little section of tracks is left in place there as well, as a reminder of what it once looked like.
There were numerous textile, grain, and lumber mills through this area wich made it a major comerce area. The textile mills were among the oldest in America, powered by the Tankerhoosen and Hockanum Rivers just to the north of the right of way.
The site also once included a freight station adjacent to the passenger station, and the Rockville Railroad, later Rockville Branch, was opened in 1863 and a turntable was constructed just behind the station. The turntable pit is now excavated and well cleared. Someone put some serious time and money into this site. In fact, I read on one of the markers that this was a "National Millenium Trail" winner back in 2000. In New Jersey, the Highlands Trail won that distinction. I'm not sure all of the details of it, but I figure it means it was a good undertaking.
I walked back to the turntable pit, and checked out the water tower base and more historic markers about the branch to Rockville, which had other connections and served other areas as well.
I really want to explore that too, but there's just not enough time for it all.
I checked out a little of the Rockville Branch which would also have had a bridge ahead it seems. This is why the trail actually starts further up Warren (which was once an aboriginal trail).
I turned around and continued on the parallel Rockville Branch right of way as it led into the former rail yard. The right of way led to the Rockville Switch, where the two lines interchanged.
It was originally intended that the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad would reach the important manufacturing town of Rockville, where the river dropped over three hundred feet in under a mile.
However, it would have been impossible at the time for the railroad to go up incline to that point and then to the areas east, so the separate line was built for that purpose.
The rail yard in this area was a half mile long, and eight tracks wide. While the right of way we had been following was only single track so far, it was double tracked from Vernon west to Hartford, so rest of the right of way would be wider.
We crossed over Washington Street at an angle, and saw more historic markers for the coal shed, yard, and interlocking tower near that area. I set up then and now compilation photos using the photos I had seen on the interpretive signs during this entire time. I ended up with at least four of the through that.
Once across the road, the former site of the Interlocking Tower was on the right, high above the Tankerhoosen Gorge. Some of the Dobson Mills, among the earliest in this area, were built by Peter Dobson in about 1811. Some ruins of that original mill are below, which were abandoned in the early 1900s and torn down in the 1930s. I understand some of these other historic mills had only burned down within the past year or so, so we just missed seeing them. We could however see the dam and river below in a very nice area I would also like to explore. There are more trails that follow the river in addition to other area rail beds, and one in particular goes all the way to East Hartford.
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| Dismantling of the station |
The second track bed in this area still had ties in place, and were recognized by the moss covered humps along the right side of the trail.
We continued to the east and around a bend to the south a bit. Jillane took over pushing Ev beyond Vernon as well, and we switched off briefly a couple of times.
After another cut and some nice deep woods, we came to the grade crossing of Elm Hill Road. This was formerly the location of the Talcottville passenger station on the line.
Talcottville is an interesting colloquial name, and more interestingly so because it is in Connecticut.
In New Jersey, we are really losing our specific place names to municipal names because people tend to think the municipality best defines where they live. I stick with the colloquial names, because in the township I grew up in Washington, I lived in Port Colden. Washington Township could have meant I lived there, Springtown, Jackson Valley, Bowerstown, Brass Castle, Springtown, Imlaydale, or Changewater. Unless you use the colloquial name, which has no independent mayor or government, it doesn't really say much about where one lives. In Connecticut, they use the term "town" instead of "township", and people say they're "in the town of Vernon" and so on. Talcottville is right between Vernon and Manchester, and does not have its own separate government.
There were a lot of places like this in Connecticut that have completely lost their identities.
At the station site, there were also warehouses for shipping and receiving supplies such as grain. One of them was the Maynard, Gardner, and Vayon Wool Commission Warehouse.
The character of the trail ahead started to shift substantially to a more suburban feeling as we entered Manchester. We crossed Taylor Street at grade and passed through an area of White Pines. Then, some rail started to appear to the right of us along the old industrial sites.
We were reaching the official end of the Hop River State Park Trail. We came to a parking area on Colonial Road near the intersection of Sheldon Road.
Beyond this point, there are still rails in place going into a weedy mess ahead.
We took a quick break there and had a look at a very nice sign that showed our entire hike, as well as more of the connections of the trails through the area. It was nice to see everything we would be doing, but the most interesting to me was the stuff that we wouldn't be this time. Hocanum River Linear Park trail shown on the map was of particular interest because it's just so long and covers so much stuff. I've checked street views and found it has a swinging bridge on an old railroad bridge abutment set, lots of little river side things, and I've even been on a short bit of it with Jillane when we last came up to Connecticut, as a short evening walk.
This time, my planned trajectory was to try to continue along the abandoned tracks to the west for a bit. If it was clear enough to get through, I was going to get through it.
Jillane turned to the right out to Sheldon Road and paralleled them for a bit, but I pushed Ev out into the grass of an adjacent building, and then over some logs and such to track side.
We were able to head through a bit and come out on Mitchell Drive immediately parallel.
I figured we might have to head to the north and walk parallel on Sheldon Road, which would not have been all that far out of the way, but I still didn't want to do it.
We continued on Mitchell for a bit, and the tracks were parallel with us below to the left. We continued into the parking lot for Marcus Security, which was ironically in no way secured, and went all the way to the end.
I was hoping, because I saw something that looked like a road on aerial images, that we would be able to continue from the end of the lot.
I was right; there was a path leading from the end of the lot downhill and into the woods. I felt elated that we found some sort of way through that was not an official trail, but still clear enough to pass.
The Lydall Brook passed beneath the railroad tracks in this area, and so the road descended to the edge of an impoundment in the stream. This brook had several little dams and ponds on it in through this area. It eventually goes underground and comes out to Union Pond on the Hocanum River.
I was well ahead of Jillane pushing Ev through the forest, and soon came to the dam on the brook. I parked him and put his break on, and while remaining within close sight, I took a few photos of the picturesque dam. It was surprising that seemingly no one uses this nice informal trail along the brook.
We continued through these woods for a bit more, and emerged behind an industry called Sumitomo Bakelite.
At first, I was walking the paved access road along the Lydell Brook and behind the facility, but then I realized that there might be some chain link fence gate that we're not able to get out of, and so instead I backtracked and walked around the north side of the building.
This put is on some grass, and then up a steep grassy slope and through a line of planted trees to emerge in a parking area off of Mill Street. We turned left here and headed out to Oakland Street.
My plan had been to go directly across and through Robertson Park to eliminate a little more road walking, but it was colder than anticipated for the day, and probably because of the clouds, so we decided to head down to the Dunkin Donuts to the left so I could go in and give Ev a diaper change.
When I got inside, I headed to the bathroom and changed him with no problem. We then headed to the counter and ordered two donuts. Suddenly, I realized I did not have my wallet. I must have let Jillane use it for something and it was not where I was expecting. It was because of this incident that I began using a wallet phone cover hybrid that Jillane bought me, so the likelihood of me misplacing or not having my wallet would be less.
I had to cancel my order, and frantically looked through the stuff to find my wallet.
I eventually found it in the stuff, but a friendly man purchased a pint of milk for me to give to Ev, even though I had plenty of formula. I thanked him for the gesture and ended up pouring that into his bottle shortly, which was easier than trying to mix up more formula, which probably wouldn't have mixed as well in the cold.
Through all of this, Jillane went missing. She didn't go into Dunkin Donuts with me, and I couldn't see her anywhere. I decided I would just have to continue on my trajectory.
I turned left on Rt 83, North Main Street, and continued. Jillane called me back then; she was in the Manchester Library Whiton Branch which was across the street.
I told her where we were going, and continued west to Main Street, which went south.
On the corner was the grade crossing with the former New Haven Railroad we had been following, tracks still in place. This was an area of wider tracks because it was also the junction with the branch to the south we would be following next.
The branch was officially called the South Manchester Railroad, which was built in 1869 by the Cheney Brothers to reach the Cheney silk mills 2.5 miles to the south. There was a time that this was the shortest independently owned railroad in America. Also, the Cheney Bros. are the same family as the late politician Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney.
The trail started in the back parking lot of the Farr's Sporting Goods. Jillane wanted to go in and see if she could find a better hat or something for Ev to wear. I waited outside while she went in for a bit.
When she came out, we walked clockwise around the building, which was silly because the rail trail actually begins on the north side and I didn't realize the access was there.
We began following the trail, which was quite nice, and still had tracks overgrown but in place at the start of it. There was also an old whistle marker where we started walking it.
The sun was going down fast at this point. I had hoped that we would at least be to the Charter Oak Greenway by the time we got to this point, but we weren't getting there before dark. It was a good thing I planned to do the hike in the order I did. Fortunately, none but that last bit of unofficial trail through Manchester was anything that couldn't easily be done in the dark.
We soon crossed Hilliard Street, and there was an old brick building to the right that is now a brick company.
We continued through suburban landscape and soon crossed Woodland Street where there was one of those little library things. Jillane fell behind because she stopped to look through it. There's rarely anything good in those anyway.
There had been signs reading high speed trains were active in the area at the start, which was obviously no longer true. It made me wonder if they had had commuter service up to that point until somewhat recently. There were also antique "stop look listen" sings on the rail bed.
This trail was particularly nice to me because it wasn't straight as an arrow, although the railroad would have been. The treadway meandered a bit, and was slightly narrower than most of the rail trails tend to be. It was just really nice.
We continued south to cross Middle Turnpike. The homes on either side were always quite close by.
We did come to an area where there was all woods to the left, and then began climbing onto a higher fill above everything. This was the approach to the crossing of Bigelow Brook. A prefabricated bridge was placed where an original railroad bridge had been, and took us over the Bigelow Brook as well as a trail out of Center Springs Park. Center Springs Pond was on the dammed brook to the left.
We continued south from here, and next crossed a bridge over Routes 6 and 44.
Just south of the crossing, we shifted to the right where tracks were still in place. This was quite surprising because they can never be used again with the trail on the single track right of way. There is no connection at all to the south. Still, it was cool to see them still there.
It was totally dark by the time we got to this area, and only ambient light made it possible to even seen the tracks.
The trail shifted left and right as we reached the Park Street underpass. just ahead of there, the right of way becomes sidewalk heading into the former Cheney silk mills, now rehabilitated as upscale apartments. The station on the South Manchester Railrod would have been in the area ahead, where the rail grade parallels Elm Street.
Here, we cut to the left from the rail bed. Jillane was behind me, and I think she cut off the trail a different way. While waiting for her, I pushed Ev up the ramp into the Labyrinth Brewing Company building to see if they had anything of the strenth I like to drink. If they'd had anything, I probably would have picked something up for the remainder of the hike, but they were all kind of weak compared to what I usually get, so I headed out.
Jillane called me, and I waited for her on the corner.
We followed Forest Street east into a neighborhood, sort of downtown area known as East Side. When we reached the downtwon area, we cut to the right through the rear of the Army & Navy Club, and then apartments. Soon, we turned and crossed over Rt 83 and continued south past the CVS.
We came to where Hartford Road and Charter Oak Street intersection with 83, and at that point, the Charter Oak Greenway crosses over along the highway to the north side. All we had to do was cross Charter Oak Street and begin following the greenway.
The trail was paved and easy, which was perfect for the final leg of the hike. For me anyway.
The trail took us down along the Hop Brook, and then beneath the on ramps to Interstate 384. The trail very closely parallels 384, but doesn't feel like some freeway sidewalk.
It meanders, leads to views of the brooks, and has some really nice scenery, even after dark. The ambient light made it always enjoyable.
The trail closely paralleled the Hop Brook, and skirted some ball courts, then turned to the right to cross the Hop Brook. A side trail went beneath the Interstate and to Mt Nebo Park, but we continued to the left, parallel with the highway and to the east. Ahead, a bridge took us across the Birch Mountain Brook, a smaller tributary of the Hop Brook.
The route became more wooded the farther east we went, and continued beside the Birch Mountain Brook. We meandered a bit, then passed beneath Gardner Street, and crossed Birch Mountain Brook again. The trail climbed uphill for a bit beside 384, then descended and crossed Birch Mountain Brook for the final time. The brook came out from under the highway and into the hills to the south.
We made our way close to an entrance ramp to the highway and reached Highland Street.
It then cut to the right and into a narrow swath of woods between Highland Street and the Interstate. We continued on this, and eventually came out near the Highland Park Market. There was a little park area across the street on the trail that had a statue of a running guy.
The trail continued between the two roads from here. Jillane was having a lot of trouble with her feet because she hadn't done this in so long, and because the shoes she wore were giving her blisters. They were bleeding pretty badly and she wanted me to just go to the end without her. I said I would push Ev the rest of the way and she could fall behind or just wait, and I'd come back and pick her up.
The trail stayed pretty close to Highland Street ahead because there wasn't a lot of room to have put it anywhere else. The street name changed to Camp Meeting Road, and I passed a parking area for Charter Oak Greenway, and then came close to the road where the trail used thits bridge to get beneath 384 to the south side.
The Charter Oak Greenway weaved around in a loop to cross Camp Meeting Road on a bridge.
I believe it was at this point that the Shenipsit Trail joined the greenway to follow it to the Bolton parking lot we had started in.
The rail weaved around through pleasant woods, crossed a small brook, then crossed Finley Road. It got really close to the interstate at one point here, but it was still enjoyable to walk. Ev and I continued on and reached Bolton Center Road after paralleling an exit, turned left, crossed the exit, and then paralleled Bolton Center Road beneath 384.
Once on the other side of the highway, the trail weaved around in a loop again and passed under Bolton Center Road. It closely paralleled the highway, and climbed to a greater elevation above the westbound lanes. We came close to the highway once again, and then continued to beneath the on ramp at Rt 44. Once beneath, the trail climbed and crossed the bridge over the westbound exit to 44 and emerged at the Bolton Park and Ride.
I had Jillane's keys and went to get into her car, but there was no way in. The electric unlock was not working from the cold. I was struggling with how to open it, and couldn't do it.
I eventually got a hold of Jillane to let her know what happened, and she instructed me on how to remove a hidden unlock key from inside her key fob. I was then able to open it up and get Ev inside in his car seat. The fob would also run the car, but there was still a risk of having the car stop because the fob wouldn't show as present.
Fortunately, I was able to get the car to warm up to the point that the fob worked again. I had to unload the stroller and get everything into the car. Jillane was annoyed at how long it was taking me to do it.
Amazingly, she had made it all the way to Bolton Center Road, the last crossing before the lot.
I had a short drive down Williams Road to get to where she was. We ended up buying some new batteries for the key fob not long after this happened.
From the end of the hike, it was still not too late, and we headed to Willimantic to pick up the antique table that Jillane had wanted. It barely fit into her car, and she was so determined that we would have to dismantle it to fit it in if it didn't.
I was really happy with this hike because it was such a perfect loop, but Jillane was hurting for days from the damage she caused to her feet.
Jillane rested the remainder of the night, and could barely even get up the next day. I ended up having to take a sick day from work and stay in Mystic another night. Ev and I made the best of it by going into the indoor pool and having nice discussions with a couple who were nurse and physical therapist. We did a little looking around the area, but only a fraction of what we had planned to do. I was just glad to have gotten the hike in because it was so nice.
There's so much more to do in Connecticut and I would love to do more, but it will take more planning. I'd love to do group hikes so Jillane isn't miserable with the long distance stuff, and then she can relax without Ev while I enjoy the day with him and friends. Maybe one of these days.
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