Naugatuck State Forest (West)

We had previously hiked the Naugatuck trail which is in the east portion of this state forest. The west portion has a lot of woods roads, but no blue blazed trails. It was a gorgeous fall day. We parked at the end of Hunters Mountain road and continued past the gate. About 0.2 miles in there is a letterbox placed by the CT DEP. It was just off of the road and pretty easy to find. We continued along the road to a junction shown on the DEP map, but not the GPS. We continued left at the junction which was just past a very pretty little pond (not shown on either map).


The road continued to drop elevation and then began a large 180° turn to the left. The trail we were looking for was supposed to head right at the end of the turn. We found what we thought was the road and began to climb. Although the trail map showed a woods road, the GPS did not. We climbed to the ridge overlooking the Naugatuck River, although we had no views. The expected trail to the left did not materialize so we just followed the road which headed right and then down. We hit a T intersection at the bottom which was not what we wanted, but at least we thought we new where we were. After a right turn we crossed a ridge and dropped down into another small valley where we took a left.



Just past the turn we dropped into a more narrow portion of the valley which had cliffs on both sides and a large rock jumble on the right.




The trail looped around the end of this ridge and headed back north. We passed by the reservoirs and came back to the pretty little pond and the trail junction back to the car.

It was a short walk back to the car. We figured we covered about 4.3 miles in a bit over 2 hours. Pretty area, but a bit confusing. On the way out we drove down to the bottom of the park right on the RR tracks by the river. Looks like there are a bunch of good (although unblazed) trails there. Worth a return visit.

Mattatuck Tr: RT 63 to White Memorial

I parked at the end of the trail near the entrance to White Memorial Conservation area. I planned to follow the trail SW back to where I had stopped last time on RT 63. It was getting warm and if you look at the map you can see why I was concerned about bugs. I turned out to be right, at least I had my DEET this time.

The conservation area is criss crossed with old carriage roads. I assume this was once someones's estate. It makes for very easy going and the carriage roads seem to be laid out to take advantage of the scenery.

Lots of flowers were out including these mountain laurel. I've been seeing the laurel out for about two weeks now. The bush at our house is also in full bloom.

The trail follows the river for a while and eventually crosses it on this old iron bridge. Good enough for hikers I guess, they won't let cars on it any more.

Nice shelf fungus. The trails just kind of wind through the forest. Very relaxing. Would be great for XC skiing or biking.

Eventually the trail reaches Cranberry pond which is rapidly becoming a bog. Very scenic with lots of flowers and birds flitting about.

These are the first Irises I've seen this season. They looked like they'd been open a while though.

On the way back I walked down this lane of wild flowers. I'm sure they're all roadside weeds, but they were quite pretty.

On the way back I walked by the museum and gift shop. The museum was $6 so I passed. They had a trail map for sale, but it wasn't a very good one.

All in all a bit over 6 miles in a bit under 2 hours. Gotta love carriage paths!

Mattatuck Trail: Norfield Rd to RT 63

I stashed my bike at the small parking area on RT 63 for the White Memorial Conservation area and then drove down to the Norfield Rd parking area in Black Rock SP. It was a gorgeous day but warming quickly. The bugs were already out.



Most of the wild flowers were already gone but I did see these guys. No idea what they are.




The trail cuts across a number of ridges and ravines so its always either climbing or dropping. A number of the ravines had little waterfalls like this one.





Eventually the trail reached the narrow low ridge shown below. No idea if this is natural, like from a glacier, or man made. It was quite narrow and straight and went for at least half a mile. Odd.




Shortly there after the trail entered the White Memorial Conservation area which has a number of ponds. It looks like they were all originally the work of beavers, but stone dams were added later. There is still a lot of evidence of beaver activity. I found a nice rocky point near one to have lunch. Fortunately there was a breeze which kept the bugs at bay.

The trail looped around this pond, appropriately named Beaver pond, and here are some water lilies near the west shore.

Shortly before reaching RT 63 the trail (actually a woods road) swings by Heron pond. No signs of herons, but lots of beaver activity. I'm not sure why they felt they needed to reinforce the stone dam.

Nice hike all in all but a bit buggy. I tried using picaridin, which is an alternative to DEET. It did not work nearly as well. I'm sticking with DEET in the future. The hike was a bit over 8 miles and then I had a 7 mile bike back to the car. A multisport workout!

Mattatuck Trail - Reynolds Bridge to Norfield Rd

I hiked a section of the Mattatuck trail and did two loops, one using the Branch trail and the other the 'red' trail in Black Rock SP.



I parked at the east end of Reynolds Bridge and walk back across, crossing the Naugatuck. After a bit of road walk the trail gets a bit indistinct and then crosses Branch brook. This involved a calf deep wade across the brook. Wet boots to start!



Shortly after crossing under RT 8 the junction with the Branch trail comes up. It is an old trolley line that follows the brook over to RT 6 and Black Rock SP.



I had to wander around the park a bit to find the Mattatuck trail again. Eventually I did just before it began the climb up to Black Rock. The view point has great views to the east out over the park and its ponds.



I continued along the ridge until I reached Norfield Rd where I turned around. On the way back I took the 'red' trail around Black Rock and back to the Mattatuck Trail.
On the way back through the park I found this nice stretch of Weeser trail (ie flat, level, and covered with pine needles).



The trail crossed RT 6 and then began a steep climb to a ridge. There were some nice views so I had lunch here.

At the end of the ridge the trail dropped down to an old woods road and then climbed up to another view and the junction with the Jericho trail which we hiked last year. Just after leaving the the view the trail goes through the Leatherman's cave. Nice little talus cave system. Obviously a favorite local party spot as well.

The trail then drops back down to Branch brook to complete the loop. Near the bottom I was a lot of damage caused by off road vehicles. Some of the mud bogs were really impressive. Fortunately no one was out riding today.

The trail rejoined the Branch trail and then went back under RT 8 and I recrossed the brook with the same results (wet boots to finish as well).

Except for the ATV damage this is a really nice area.

Mattatuck Trail - Todd Hollow Rd to Reynolds Bridge

The hike began at the parking area at the end of Todd Hollow Road. This appears to be US Army property.






After a brief roadwalk the trail re-enters the woods and follows a brook that empties into a pretty good side beaver pond. More geese and turtles than beavers though.







A while later the trail begins to climb and then exits the army property near this marker. Its now in Mattatuck state forest.







Near one of the ridges we ran into this rock formation that reminded us of the Inca stonework we saw in Peru.





We had lunch at Brophy pond. Very pretty spot, too bad it had been trashed by the partiers. This large quartz boulder was nearby.

After a walk on Wilton Road we re-entered the woods and climbed to a view point over looking the Naugatuck valley. Nice open rocks with a lot of cedar trees.

The trail then dropped down to Watertown road for another short road walk before a last climb in the woods on a very poorly planned section of trail. It climbed straight up and then right back down to the road for no apparent reason.

We did see a lot of blooming trout lillies along the trail.

Mattatuck Tr - Marino Pond to Todd Hollow Rd

Louise, Al and I spotted a car at the Todd Hill Rd PA and then drove over to Marino Pond. This is where we finished up on our last walk on this trail. We'd had some wet snow on Friday and it was even wetter now. Looked like about 4" on the ground. The first part was along the road until we turned onto the nature preserve. The path had not been walked on so it was a bit sloppy at times.



Saw these nice icicles on the bridge over the stream just above Buttermilk falls.




Here is Buttermilk falls. The trail follows right along the stream and then right down beside the falls. A bit treacherous in wet snow. After another bit of road walk we got back into the woods. A lot of the trail here was open because so much water had run down it during the previous days melt! As you can see from the map this climbs up to a ridge and then drops down the other side to the closed portion of Todd Hollow Rd. We were on the lookout for something labelled on the map as Eds Big Pebble. But we got to the road and saw nothing worthy of the name.
This nice cascade was right there however.




It was a quick road walk out (through very wet snow) to the car. Right at 2 hours and about 5.7 miles according to the walk book.