Hike #18
Location: James L. Goodwin State Forest (off of Rt. 6 in Hampton, CT)
Trails: Multiple including The Natchaug Trail (Blue Blazed), Air Line Trail, Orange Connector Trail, Blue / White Trail, and Blue / Yellow Trail
Distance: 7.1 miles
Approximate time to complete: 3 hours
Date Hiked: 12/1/2012
Date Published: 1/10/2013
Hooray for new trails! Not that these trails are new, but they are new trails…in a completely new area…for me. This also marked my first hike of December.
The weather reports all week leading up to this hike called for snow starting overnight the night before. So, I spent all week getting really excited about the prospect of hiking in the snow. Sadly, when I woke up the morning of the hike, there was no snow to be seen. So, I got a little discouraged, but held out hope that it still might snow later…while I was hiking.
As I made my way out to the James L. Goodwin State Forest, I began to see some leftover remnants from a snowstorm we got earlier in the week. The more I headed east, the higher the elevation got and the more snow I started to see. Once I arrived, I got out of the car to see that there was just enough snow leftover to crunch under my feet but not so much that I would have to worry about snow getting in my shoes (at the time, I was still wearing low cut hiking boots). This was going to be a perfect hike!
I packed up my stuff, grabbed Roscoe out of the car, and we hit the trail.
From the parking lot, we started heading north…towards Pine Acres Pond. The first trail we would take is The Natchaug Trail (which is part of the CT400) and it brought us around the pond in a northwesterly direction.
After about a third of a mile, The Natchaug meets up with the Air Line State Park Trail (also known as the Air Line Trail). The blaze just before you reach the Air Line Trail instructs you to make a right turn. I was confused by this because I remembered the map in the CFPA Walk Book showing that the trail only crosses over the Air Line Trail. After some back and forth on the Air Line Trail looking for the new turn off, I found it. If you are using the CFPA Walk Book, just make a mental note that The Natchaug turns right to join the Air Line Trail (heading north) for a little less than a quarter of a mile before turning left.
The next section of the Natchaug was very curvy. After leaving the Air Line Trail, it heads west then north then west again (where it crosses 11th Section Road) and then north one more time before reaching Cannon Road…all over the course of a little more than a half of a mile. Once we reached Cannon Road, I leashed up Roscoe and we completed a short road walk (to the west) before turning right and re-entering the woods.
The next mile or so was really nice. The trail follows an old woods road. Woods roads can be boring at times but I didn’t find this one to be too bad. Along the way, I saw several deer off in the distance and I was happy they were in this area of the forest, which is protected. I could hear hunters all morning so the deer outside of the state forest area weren’t as fortunate.
Eventually, the trail leads to Black Spruce Pond (the smaller of the two ponds in the area). The Natchaug Trail circles the pond to the west and the Blue / White Trail circles the pond to the east. We would travel on another section of the Blue / White Trail later in the day. For now, we continued west…on The Natchaug.
As we were leaving the woods and approaching the pond, I saw my first snow flake. It wasn’t too long after that it began snowing at a pretty good clip. This was awesome!
The area around the pond is pretty cool. There are some minor elevation changes and the trail doesn’t stick exactly to the edge of the pond so there are some twists and turns. I enjoyed this section. Take a minute and enjoy the beaver mounds scattered around the pond.
Eventually, the trail leaves the perimeter of the pond and continues heading northwest. It joins back up with a woods road and crosses a different woods road (Middle Road). Just after the crossing, Roscoe and I had a funny moment where he grabbed a random stick and ran off with it. Once I caught up to him, I stole the stick and made him sit. I also tried to get him to “speak” (which he normally obeys) but he did this comical muted bark thing. I can only assume he was trying his best to obey his master while not giving away our position to whatever else might be in the area. Whatever his motives, it made me grin.
From Middle Road, the trail continues to follow the woods road before it eventually comes to Nutmeg Lane (another woods road…there are a lot of them in this area). The trail turns right on Nutmeg and heads southeast for a really short stretch before turning left again and heading east.
The next quarter of a mile was really nice. Here in the middle of the woods, was a huge section of tall pines. When we entered this section, I felt like we stepped into a vacuum. That is to say that the sound of the wind from the snowstorm was muffled by the giant pines and the sound of my feet on the ground was muffled by the needles which had fallen from the trees. Not that I suddenly couldn’t breathe. In all seriousness, it was a really cool moment of tranquility. The cool moments were starting to stack up.
Once we left the section of pines, The Natchaug Trail turns slightly to the left and heads off to the northwest. But, we had reached the end of the line for our Natchaug adventures on this day. Heading off to the right (east) was the Orange Connector Trail, which in a roundabout way, would bring us (eventually) back to my car.
The Orange Trail, which is another roads wood, is about a half of a mile long and it really only served as a means to bring us back in a southerly direction. If you are in a situation where you have two cars, I highly suggest you park one near Lyon Memorial State Park and continue north on The Natchaug when you reach this point. I came back to the area a week later in order to keep doing the miles of The Natchuag required to complete the CT400. I’ll recap that hike later but, for now, just know that The Natchaug is the better of the trails in the area. Sadly, I was in a position where I only had one car so I had to make this hike into a loop hike. The section of the Natchaug to the north would have to wait.
The Orange Trail took us to the Blue / White Trail (another woods road) which, after a half mile hike to the west, crosses the Air Line Trail again. The Air Line Trail is another old rail bed which was converted to a hiking / biking trail. Not only is this similar to the Rail Trail in Vernon / Bolton, they are also connected as part of the East Coast Greenway (which I’ve discussed in earlier recaps).
After crossing the Air Line Trail, the Blue / White Trail continues for a short stretch before crossing the first paved road I had seen in a while. I leashed up Roscoe before crossing. Some dude drove by in a pick-up truck and gave me a thumbs up…I think he was impressed I was hiking in the snow. Go team!
Eventually, the Blue / White trail descends back to the area of Pine Acres Pond. But, at this point, we were on the northeast corner of the pond. And, our car was on the southwest corner. So, we still had about a mile and a half to go.
The Blue / White trail gets, at times, really close to the water. So close, in fact, that Roscoe wound up with one leg completely covered in mud and the MapMyHike map on my iPad makes it looks like I went for a swim (which I did not). This was somewhat challenging hiking, as these low laying areas near water always seem to be riddled with jagged rocks that destroy your feet. This is a minor complaint for what was otherwise a perfect hike.
Once the Blue / White trail reaches the southern tip of the lake, near Rt. 6, it changes over to the Blue / Yellow trail. A short quarter mile walk and we were back to the car.
One final note: I had a scary / funny moment once I got back to the car. We had recently purchased a Jeep and the key looks exactly like the one for my Charger (except mine says Dodge on the back). They also feel exactly the same. So, after this hike, I tried to start my car with the Jeep key (without realizing it at first) and had a mini panic attack when it wouldn’t start. It’s funny to look back on it now but could you imagine if my battery was dead and I would have to remain outside after being out in the cold for about three hours? Good thing I’m just an idiot…
Location: James L. Goodwin State Forest (off of Rt. 6 in Hampton, CT)
Trails: Multiple including The Natchaug Trail (Blue Blazed), Air Line Trail, Orange Connector Trail, Blue / White Trail, and Blue / Yellow Trail
Distance: 7.1 miles
Approximate time to complete: 3 hours
Date Hiked: 12/1/2012
Date Published: 1/10/2013
Hooray for new trails! Not that these trails are new, but they are new trails…in a completely new area…for me. This also marked my first hike of December.
The weather reports all week leading up to this hike called for snow starting overnight the night before. So, I spent all week getting really excited about the prospect of hiking in the snow. Sadly, when I woke up the morning of the hike, there was no snow to be seen. So, I got a little discouraged, but held out hope that it still might snow later…while I was hiking.
As I made my way out to the James L. Goodwin State Forest, I began to see some leftover remnants from a snowstorm we got earlier in the week. The more I headed east, the higher the elevation got and the more snow I started to see. Once I arrived, I got out of the car to see that there was just enough snow leftover to crunch under my feet but not so much that I would have to worry about snow getting in my shoes (at the time, I was still wearing low cut hiking boots). This was going to be a perfect hike!
I packed up my stuff, grabbed Roscoe out of the car, and we hit the trail.
From the parking lot, we started heading north…towards Pine Acres Pond. The first trail we would take is The Natchaug Trail (which is part of the CT400) and it brought us around the pond in a northwesterly direction.
After about a third of a mile, The Natchaug meets up with the Air Line State Park Trail (also known as the Air Line Trail). The blaze just before you reach the Air Line Trail instructs you to make a right turn. I was confused by this because I remembered the map in the CFPA Walk Book showing that the trail only crosses over the Air Line Trail. After some back and forth on the Air Line Trail looking for the new turn off, I found it. If you are using the CFPA Walk Book, just make a mental note that The Natchaug turns right to join the Air Line Trail (heading north) for a little less than a quarter of a mile before turning left.
The next section of the Natchaug was very curvy. After leaving the Air Line Trail, it heads west then north then west again (where it crosses 11th Section Road) and then north one more time before reaching Cannon Road…all over the course of a little more than a half of a mile. Once we reached Cannon Road, I leashed up Roscoe and we completed a short road walk (to the west) before turning right and re-entering the woods.
The next mile or so was really nice. The trail follows an old woods road. Woods roads can be boring at times but I didn’t find this one to be too bad. Along the way, I saw several deer off in the distance and I was happy they were in this area of the forest, which is protected. I could hear hunters all morning so the deer outside of the state forest area weren’t as fortunate.
Eventually, the trail leads to Black Spruce Pond (the smaller of the two ponds in the area). The Natchaug Trail circles the pond to the west and the Blue / White Trail circles the pond to the east. We would travel on another section of the Blue / White Trail later in the day. For now, we continued west…on The Natchaug.
As we were leaving the woods and approaching the pond, I saw my first snow flake. It wasn’t too long after that it began snowing at a pretty good clip. This was awesome!
The area around the pond is pretty cool. There are some minor elevation changes and the trail doesn’t stick exactly to the edge of the pond so there are some twists and turns. I enjoyed this section. Take a minute and enjoy the beaver mounds scattered around the pond.
Eventually, the trail leaves the perimeter of the pond and continues heading northwest. It joins back up with a woods road and crosses a different woods road (Middle Road). Just after the crossing, Roscoe and I had a funny moment where he grabbed a random stick and ran off with it. Once I caught up to him, I stole the stick and made him sit. I also tried to get him to “speak” (which he normally obeys) but he did this comical muted bark thing. I can only assume he was trying his best to obey his master while not giving away our position to whatever else might be in the area. Whatever his motives, it made me grin.
From Middle Road, the trail continues to follow the woods road before it eventually comes to Nutmeg Lane (another woods road…there are a lot of them in this area). The trail turns right on Nutmeg and heads southeast for a really short stretch before turning left again and heading east.
The next quarter of a mile was really nice. Here in the middle of the woods, was a huge section of tall pines. When we entered this section, I felt like we stepped into a vacuum. That is to say that the sound of the wind from the snowstorm was muffled by the giant pines and the sound of my feet on the ground was muffled by the needles which had fallen from the trees. Not that I suddenly couldn’t breathe. In all seriousness, it was a really cool moment of tranquility. The cool moments were starting to stack up.
Once we left the section of pines, The Natchaug Trail turns slightly to the left and heads off to the northwest. But, we had reached the end of the line for our Natchaug adventures on this day. Heading off to the right (east) was the Orange Connector Trail, which in a roundabout way, would bring us (eventually) back to my car.
The Orange Trail, which is another roads wood, is about a half of a mile long and it really only served as a means to bring us back in a southerly direction. If you are in a situation where you have two cars, I highly suggest you park one near Lyon Memorial State Park and continue north on The Natchaug when you reach this point. I came back to the area a week later in order to keep doing the miles of The Natchuag required to complete the CT400. I’ll recap that hike later but, for now, just know that The Natchaug is the better of the trails in the area. Sadly, I was in a position where I only had one car so I had to make this hike into a loop hike. The section of the Natchaug to the north would have to wait.
The Orange Trail took us to the Blue / White Trail (another woods road) which, after a half mile hike to the west, crosses the Air Line Trail again. The Air Line Trail is another old rail bed which was converted to a hiking / biking trail. Not only is this similar to the Rail Trail in Vernon / Bolton, they are also connected as part of the East Coast Greenway (which I’ve discussed in earlier recaps).
After crossing the Air Line Trail, the Blue / White Trail continues for a short stretch before crossing the first paved road I had seen in a while. I leashed up Roscoe before crossing. Some dude drove by in a pick-up truck and gave me a thumbs up…I think he was impressed I was hiking in the snow. Go team!
Eventually, the Blue / White trail descends back to the area of Pine Acres Pond. But, at this point, we were on the northeast corner of the pond. And, our car was on the southwest corner. So, we still had about a mile and a half to go.
The Blue / White trail gets, at times, really close to the water. So close, in fact, that Roscoe wound up with one leg completely covered in mud and the MapMyHike map on my iPad makes it looks like I went for a swim (which I did not). This was somewhat challenging hiking, as these low laying areas near water always seem to be riddled with jagged rocks that destroy your feet. This is a minor complaint for what was otherwise a perfect hike.
Once the Blue / White trail reaches the southern tip of the lake, near Rt. 6, it changes over to the Blue / Yellow trail. A short quarter mile walk and we were back to the car.
One final note: I had a scary / funny moment once I got back to the car. We had recently purchased a Jeep and the key looks exactly like the one for my Charger (except mine says Dodge on the back). They also feel exactly the same. So, after this hike, I tried to start my car with the Jeep key (without realizing it at first) and had a mini panic attack when it wouldn’t start. It’s funny to look back on it now but could you imagine if my battery was dead and I would have to remain outside after being out in the cold for about three hours? Good thing I’m just an idiot…