I backpacked the Appalachian Trail running through Connecticut over three days, Dec 24-26, 2013, from north to south.
On Tuesday the 24th, my friend Joseph G. and I dropped my car off at Hoyt Rd, just over the border in NY and drove to Rte 41 in Salisbury. The northern end of the CT AT is a bit off a road. The first consideration was to go up the Undermountain Trail, which if you've never been is a very nice trail, but if Joseph had to go back to his car, we wouldn't have had a chance to hike together much. So instead we parked at the parking lot at the intersection of the AT and Rte 41 and hiked up and back together. The trail is very heavily traveled and was in magnificent condition.
After returning to the car, I said good bye to my friend and continued the remaining four miles to Limestone Spring lean-to. It's a fun little stretch, going through a couple fields, and with a short road walk. The lean-to is a half mile off the AT, and I checked in before heading down, which was good, since the area is a cellphone dead zone. The trail down is very steep and a bit tricky to negotiate if it were dark, since it twists and turns. The site has a bear box and the nicest outhouse I have seen on the AT, and the lean-to is in excellent condition. It was very cold that night but the spring flowed just normally. Heading over to the lean-to I started two deer, which ran right across my path all of fifty feet in front of me, and an owl was nice enough to sing me to sleep that night. The entire trail that day was in excellent condition.
On the 25th, the trail down from the intersection with the lean-to was in nice condition, although if there were snow on the ground, it would be quite challenging to follow, as significant portions of the trail are over bare ledge with many of the blazings on the ground. Fortunately for me, there was not a flake of snow to be seen anywhere, and even then, the trail was not always obvious.
Once back at ground level, the trail follows the stunning Housatonic River. The trail junction is at a magnificent waterfall, and I regret the tail didn't follow the river longer than it did. The trail actually crosses the river shortly thereafter via a footbridge and again a ways down. This is all well marked and easy to follow. Once back on the original side, the trail enters a field, and at the moment there is a tree quite effectively plonked over a footbridge, having been recently leveled by a beaver. Be advised.
Also, the following section of trail, especially from Beiter's campsite to what I think is West Cornwall Rd is quite underblazed. Many of the blazes are very old, and there sections that simply lack a blaze at all or have a blaze on the ground. At those times, you would do best to continue forward at the natural flow, and you will most likely remain on the trail, but if there were snow on the ground and no indentations to follow, getting through this section would be extremely challenging. Fortunately, on the south side of Mt Sharon Rd, someone has just reblazed the trail. There was one blowdown in this section, but otherwise the trail is in very good condition.
Coming down off this section of the trail is steep, and at the bottom one encounters Guinea Brook. There is a sign indicating a detour during high water or icy conditions. Fortunately, there is a horizontal tree that can be straddled by those unafraid of heights or drownings. Take it halfway across, then back yourself down the adjoining tree. It looks scary, it feels scary, but the whole system is very solid.
At the end of the day, I had a nice 2.5 mile hike along the river, once again. This is part trail, part road, very nice, flat as a pancake, with the river to one's left and active fields to the right (again, heading north to south). In a very short period, one hits a campsite simply named "Group campsite" followed almost immediately by Stony Brook campsite, and just a ways down, the Stewart Hollow Brook lean-to. The lean-to's water source is found on the AT itself, just past the junction for the lean-to. Five bar 3g coverage at the lean-to, and one can see houses and hear the road across the river. Nice lean-to and outhouse.
This was a 20.5 mile day. Quite a bit of elevation gain and loss, although usually quite gentle. Mostly the trail was very pretty and changed often enough so that it felt like there was change and progress throughout the day. The trail was in quite good condition, although again, generally the blazes could be refreshed. Again, if there had been snow on the ground, I doubt I could have followed the trail.
Trail maintainers: please take your trail section in the winter when there is snow on the ground and ensure that if there were no tracks to follow, someone relying on your blazes could get from one end to the other.
Day three had another several miles on the nice flat trail along the river, followed by a steep rise through a rock outcropping. Once on top of the ridge, the trail was very enjoyable, and I could hear trail horns in the distance. 18.5 miles that day, with about 4,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Lots of climbing up one mountain and then dropping down, to repeat again. There is a particularly beautiful stretch along a long ridge from Schaghticoke Mountain Campsite to Bull's Bridge Rd which felt remote and was flatter than normal, but was severely wanting for adequate blazing. What blazes there were often looked quite old and faded. Long stretched had none at all (perhaps they were on fallen trees?), and since there was snow that morning, I was able to follow the trail only because there were two sets of tracks ahead of me, and I suspect they knew the trail--although even then they went off route once.
It's funny how the AT differs between Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. At least in the WMNF, the AT runs along ridges. In Vermont, where the AT and Long Trail coincide, it often parallels a ridge, running a short distance below it. In Connecticut, the trail meanders, and undulates. I would say maybe just 20% of the trail, if that, is remotely flat, the rest rising or falling in a manner that prevents an even gait. That being said, despite my rushing to cover quite a bit of distance each day during the short span of daylight, the Connecticut portion of the AT was quite enjoyable, and mostly well-maintained. I encountered only two major blowdowns along the entire stretch, and saw (or saw indications of) numerous others hikers, trail runners and dog walkers.
That being said, once again, this trail, for whatever reason, simply is not blazed for winter hiking, and there are significant stretches through open woods and over ledges that would be very hard to follow if one didn't know one's way and there were not tracks to follow.
All the best,
Brian
On Tuesday the 24th, my friend Joseph G. and I dropped my car off at Hoyt Rd, just over the border in NY and drove to Rte 41 in Salisbury. The northern end of the CT AT is a bit off a road. The first consideration was to go up the Undermountain Trail, which if you've never been is a very nice trail, but if Joseph had to go back to his car, we wouldn't have had a chance to hike together much. So instead we parked at the parking lot at the intersection of the AT and Rte 41 and hiked up and back together. The trail is very heavily traveled and was in magnificent condition.
After returning to the car, I said good bye to my friend and continued the remaining four miles to Limestone Spring lean-to. It's a fun little stretch, going through a couple fields, and with a short road walk. The lean-to is a half mile off the AT, and I checked in before heading down, which was good, since the area is a cellphone dead zone. The trail down is very steep and a bit tricky to negotiate if it were dark, since it twists and turns. The site has a bear box and the nicest outhouse I have seen on the AT, and the lean-to is in excellent condition. It was very cold that night but the spring flowed just normally. Heading over to the lean-to I started two deer, which ran right across my path all of fifty feet in front of me, and an owl was nice enough to sing me to sleep that night. The entire trail that day was in excellent condition.
On the 25th, the trail down from the intersection with the lean-to was in nice condition, although if there were snow on the ground, it would be quite challenging to follow, as significant portions of the trail are over bare ledge with many of the blazings on the ground. Fortunately for me, there was not a flake of snow to be seen anywhere, and even then, the trail was not always obvious.
Once back at ground level, the trail follows the stunning Housatonic River. The trail junction is at a magnificent waterfall, and I regret the tail didn't follow the river longer than it did. The trail actually crosses the river shortly thereafter via a footbridge and again a ways down. This is all well marked and easy to follow. Once back on the original side, the trail enters a field, and at the moment there is a tree quite effectively plonked over a footbridge, having been recently leveled by a beaver. Be advised.
Also, the following section of trail, especially from Beiter's campsite to what I think is West Cornwall Rd is quite underblazed. Many of the blazes are very old, and there sections that simply lack a blaze at all or have a blaze on the ground. At those times, you would do best to continue forward at the natural flow, and you will most likely remain on the trail, but if there were snow on the ground and no indentations to follow, getting through this section would be extremely challenging. Fortunately, on the south side of Mt Sharon Rd, someone has just reblazed the trail. There was one blowdown in this section, but otherwise the trail is in very good condition.
Coming down off this section of the trail is steep, and at the bottom one encounters Guinea Brook. There is a sign indicating a detour during high water or icy conditions. Fortunately, there is a horizontal tree that can be straddled by those unafraid of heights or drownings. Take it halfway across, then back yourself down the adjoining tree. It looks scary, it feels scary, but the whole system is very solid.
At the end of the day, I had a nice 2.5 mile hike along the river, once again. This is part trail, part road, very nice, flat as a pancake, with the river to one's left and active fields to the right (again, heading north to south). In a very short period, one hits a campsite simply named "Group campsite" followed almost immediately by Stony Brook campsite, and just a ways down, the Stewart Hollow Brook lean-to. The lean-to's water source is found on the AT itself, just past the junction for the lean-to. Five bar 3g coverage at the lean-to, and one can see houses and hear the road across the river. Nice lean-to and outhouse.
This was a 20.5 mile day. Quite a bit of elevation gain and loss, although usually quite gentle. Mostly the trail was very pretty and changed often enough so that it felt like there was change and progress throughout the day. The trail was in quite good condition, although again, generally the blazes could be refreshed. Again, if there had been snow on the ground, I doubt I could have followed the trail.
Trail maintainers: please take your trail section in the winter when there is snow on the ground and ensure that if there were no tracks to follow, someone relying on your blazes could get from one end to the other.
Day three had another several miles on the nice flat trail along the river, followed by a steep rise through a rock outcropping. Once on top of the ridge, the trail was very enjoyable, and I could hear trail horns in the distance. 18.5 miles that day, with about 4,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Lots of climbing up one mountain and then dropping down, to repeat again. There is a particularly beautiful stretch along a long ridge from Schaghticoke Mountain Campsite to Bull's Bridge Rd which felt remote and was flatter than normal, but was severely wanting for adequate blazing. What blazes there were often looked quite old and faded. Long stretched had none at all (perhaps they were on fallen trees?), and since there was snow that morning, I was able to follow the trail only because there were two sets of tracks ahead of me, and I suspect they knew the trail--although even then they went off route once.
It's funny how the AT differs between Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. At least in the WMNF, the AT runs along ridges. In Vermont, where the AT and Long Trail coincide, it often parallels a ridge, running a short distance below it. In Connecticut, the trail meanders, and undulates. I would say maybe just 20% of the trail, if that, is remotely flat, the rest rising or falling in a manner that prevents an even gait. That being said, despite my rushing to cover quite a bit of distance each day during the short span of daylight, the Connecticut portion of the AT was quite enjoyable, and mostly well-maintained. I encountered only two major blowdowns along the entire stretch, and saw (or saw indications of) numerous others hikers, trail runners and dog walkers.
That being said, once again, this trail, for whatever reason, simply is not blazed for winter hiking, and there are significant stretches through open woods and over ledges that would be very hard to follow if one didn't know one's way and there were not tracks to follow.
All the best,
Brian
