Hancock Brook and Whitestone Cliffs Trails

These two trails are located near the Jericho trail in Waterbury. There is a connector between the Cliffs trail and the Jericho trail.








The Hancock Brook trail starts off in a gravel quarry which is a bit off putting but quickly settles down into a woods road along Hancock Brook. It has been raining the last few days so the water was moving along pretty well.






There is a railroad line along the brook on the other side and some pretty impressive rock retaining walls were built to stabilize the slope. The line was quiet except for one truck riding the rails removing blow downs.




The trail stays pretty level just above the brook and at the base of a steep climb which was littered with rocks. Some interesting caves had formed in the talus.





Eventually the trail climbs steeply up a poorly stabilized slope (re-route due to owner issues?) and then returns on the ridge above the brook. There are a couple of nice lookouts up on top. Mostly looking across the gorge or south towards Waterbury.




The upper trail rejoins the lower just before returning to the quarry. Its listed at 2.8 miles and took me about an hour and a half.




The Whitestone Cliffs trail is right off of Rt 262. It has a pavilion near the start which might be related to the nearby Boy Scout camp. The trail follows woods roads until it begins to climb to the cliffs where it splits. I took the right hand branch (counterclockwise). After a scramble to an open ridge it drops down to a nice waterfall.





The trail then drops back down to a very soggy area that has had a lot of damage from ATVs. There was also a lot of trash, probably washed in from Rt 262. Eventually it winds back around past a large pool/swamp to another climb up onto a ridge.

At the top of the ridge is a nice open area with views. Unfortunately the views are of Rt 8 although the Naugatuck river is in the foreground. The view of the top itself is nicer.

A bit further along the ridge I found this wasp nest which was hanging at waist height. Luckily it had been abandoned for the season.

From there it is a steep slippery drop back down. Eventually you wind back around to the base of the cliffs the trail gets its name from.

From there it was only a short walk back to the trail jcn and then the parking area. Listed at 1.7 miles it took about an hour to walk.