Haystack Mountain State Park, Connecticut

Trail Description: Haystack Mountain Trail contains an impressive stone fire tower with stunning views of the mountains in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.

Trail Info:

Where: Norfolk, CT Distance: 0.8 mile (30-45 min) Difficulty: Moderate Trail Type: Out & Back Features: Views, Mountains, Valley, Tower

How to get there:

Haystack Mountain State Park On Rte. 272 Norfolk, CT 06058

Trailhead parking location here.

Easy to find off Route 272. The road goes halfway up Haystack Mountain to a parking lot, where the shortest trail starts. The parking lot can hold about 10 cars or so.

Hiking Tips

• Download park map, click here.

• Cell phone service is spotty. Hike carefully.

• There can be seasonal closures of the park.

The Hike

This guide will be for the shortest trail route at 0.8 miles from the top parking lot of Haystack Mountain. These days my time is a bit limited and the best bang for your buck is what is more appealing. If you want to make it a longer hike, there is the Yellow Trail that starts near the beginning of park road at the gate entrance.. This will be 1.8 miles, out and back. Both of these options will be great hikes to get to the main attraction, the amazing tower views.

Once you have parked at the top parking, which is about a mile once you enter the park, the trail is to the left to begin the summit.

This trail is fairly straightforward. It is well-maintained and clearly marked. The first 0.2 miles are flat and easy breezy. The next 0.2 miles will get your heart pumping as the trail bends to the left and starts a quick incline with 200 feet of elevation. Those quads might be on fire but it is all worth it once you see the bad ass tower at the top.

Now, it’s time to climb the 34 foot stone tower up to the top for the 360 views at 1,683 feet of elevation.

Definitely some of the best views you will have in Connecticut. It was a bit overcast and cloudy for me, but still impressive views nonetheless. On a clear day, there is visibility of the Riga Plateau in Northwest Connecticut, the Berkshires in Massachusetts, the Catskills in New York, and the Green Mountains of Vermont. That is quite a combination of views.

This would be great to pair with some other short hikes in the Litchfield County area. In addition, there are great local breweries as well such as NorBrook Farm for post hike brews.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

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Enders Falls, Granby, CT

Trail Description: Enders Falls is a quick out and back trail with multiple picturesque waterfalls.

Trail Info:

Where: Granby, CT Distance: 1 mile (30-45 min) Difficulty: Easy Trail Type: Out & Back Features: Views, Waterfalls, Water, Brook

How to get there:

Enders State Forest Granby, CT 06035

Click here for coordinates from GoogleMaps.

Hiking Tips

• Bring bug spray for the applicable season.

• There are a few trails off from the parking lot heading down to Enders Brook that will converge.

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The Hike

Waterfalls can be hit or miss for me. Sometimes they all just feel the same. Generally, my first inclination is to find a hike with cool summit views. However, things done changed, and that can’t always be the case. I have a toddler and many toddler nieces/nephews. I want to still get out in nature and show them all how awesome it is. And, waterfalls are a great hiking option for this. There are many in Connecticut that are accessible. I am behind on my CT waterfall game but that will likely change.

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Enders Falls is an easy trail with 4-5 visible waterfalls that vary in size and look. The trail is very popular but we picked a great day and had the trail to ourselves. My wife had my daughter in a carrier and I had my nephew in my backpack carrier. And on we went to enjoy a day of nature.

From the parking lot, I definitely did not take the best course of action but we got back on track easily enough. The best start would be starting at the gravel in the far right corner by the porta potty.

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There will be Purple markers (look pink to me) on the gravel trail and follow downstream to the staircase along the ravine. It seems this has been updated recently with steps of granite, fortified railings, and wooden fencing for safety purposes. It appears there were some accidents but it is very safe and well constructed. And, you can still get great views on some of the falls.

There is a good view of the 2nd waterfall and cliff area from the small viewing platform.

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At the end of the staircase, there are stone steps that lead back to the gravel trail back to the parking lot for about a half mile.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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Meeker Trail, Macricostas Preserve, New Preston, CT

Trail Description: The Meeker Trail is the most popular hiking trail in the Macricostas Preserve that includes views from the Macricostas Lookout and eventually stunning vistas at Waramaug’s Rock summit.

Trail Info:

Where: New Preston, CT Distance: 3.2m (2 hours) Difficulty: Moderate Trail Type: Out & Back Features: Views, Mountains, Valley, Lake, Water

How to get there:

124 Christian St, New Preston, CT 06777

https://goo.gl/maps/bL3cHowWumEohJn26

Once you get to Christian Street, look for the red house and the trailhead is behind this house. There are markers and the lot is visible from the street. 

Hiking Tips

• Bring bug spray!

• Download a copy of the trail map here. Cell service can be spotty or non-existent.

• There are multiple trail options at this preserve. This guide is for the out & back using the yellow trail. You can add the orange trail to make it a loop.

• One of the better marked trails in CT but keep an eye out to make sure to follow the color markers.

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The Hike

From the parking lot, the Kiosk for the start of the trail is visible past the boardwalk. Follow the yellow trail on the right. The Meeker Trail is 1.6 miles to Waramaug’s Rock summit.

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The trail starts easily crossing a bridge and footbridge through the meadow (pretty buggy here).

This will lead to the trail marker to take a left onto yellow and continue walking along the hayfield.

Proceed to follow the yellow trail markers as the Meeker Trail turns left through Meeker Swamp on wooden planks crossing another bridge and continues along the planks.

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In roughly 0.2 miles, the trail comes to an intersection with the orange marked Ridgeline Trail. Stick to the right to resume on the Meeker Trail following the yellow trail.

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At this point, the trail ascends gradually then becomes steeper along some switchbacks. There is a junction that passes the white trail but continue to follow the yellow trail.

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The first viewpoint will be the Macricrostas Lookout at 1,092 feet elevation with views of the hayfield below and surrounding area.

From here, continue on the yellow trail as the ascend to Waramaug’s Rock becomes much steeper.

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After about 0.4 miles, the trail reaches a rock slab to climb to the summit of Waramaug’s Rock.

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Waramaug’s Rock reaches an elevation of 1,280 feet with an amazing panoramic view of Lake Waramaug and the surrounding valley. There is the one dead on center view but do some exploring at the summit to see all the views to the left (southwest) as well.

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After all the views are soaked in, head back the same way down the yellow trail. At 0.4 miles, there is a junction to continue on the yellow trail going the same way or hop on the orange trail to do a loop back down to the parking lot. This will add 0.7 miles to the hike. It was pretty hot and beers were calling my name at Kent Falls Brewing so I decided to just do an out and back.

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HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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Lovers Leap State Park, New Milford, CT

Trail Description: Lovers Leap State Park has multiple hiking trails with views of the Housatonic River and other structural landmarks such as the popular Lovers Leap Bridge.

Trail Info:

Where: New Milford, CT Distance: 1.8 miles (1.5 hours) Difficulty: Moderate Trail Type: Loop Features: Views, Valley, Bridge, Lake, River

How to get there:

178 Short Woods Rd, New Milford, CT 06776

https://goo.gl/maps/4FUFjzSinExpgzHfA

Hiking Tips

• Click here for trail map

• Be cautious switching trails. If markers cannot be found, turn back to retrace steps. Also, the blue trail appears to have a fake marking on top of the hill toward the wrong direction.

• Don’t just hike up to the popular scenic view & leave. There is another cool view from the East on the Blue trail.

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The Hike

Lovers Leap State Park is pretty easy to find. The parking lot is pretty big as this does seem like a busy hike. The wife and I caught a good time of day as the lot was almost empty. From the parking lot, we headed towards Lovers Leap Bridge. The bridge will appear pretty immediately. The structure is interesting. The lighting was spotty with shadows so I did not successfully get the best picture for the insta. Darn it!

We crossed the bridge and got the first view of the Housatonic River. Taking a right off the bridge took us down a gravel road, also known as the Lovers Leap Trail. Within 0.3 miles of some incline, the money shot picture awaits. This scenic view offers the best one in the park overlooking Lake Lillinonah. From here, you could take your donut and go home, but there is some more hiking to be had at this park.

There are some interesting features and landmarks on some of the other trails. We decided to trace back our footsteps on the gravel road until we noticed the red markers for the Castle Trail on the right. Have a map handy, we had an issue finding. Pretty sure we did not go the way intended but it worked. The red blazed was a pretty good incline. Got my lungs working. Within a short distance, we came upon the castle ruin, which was just its foundation and a tall chimney. And, across from this was a castle-like turret. As I try to sit here explaining it, here’s a picture. If you must know more, I suggest the google machine.

In between the castle features, there is a trail we took that connects the red blazed trail to the blue blazed trail, known as the Falls Mountain Trail. We took a right from the red to the blue. This took us up a steeper hill.

Once we reached the top of the hill, we saw a blue marker to the left but that was not correct. We met just bushes and the end of a ledge. It appears that it was painted incorrectly as a joke perhaps. That could be very dangerous if you are not paying attention. This is why we can’t have nice things. That person sucks who did that. Fortunately, we found other lost hikers and we noticed the view was behind us and we needed to retrace our steps and keep going straight and the ridge is on the right. From the ridge line, there is an open area view from the east that is pretty nice. From here, we retraced our steps down the blue to the red trail back to the gravel road.

Bonus Foodie Find: 

After hiking, the post meal is important. Not all hikes are near donut shops unfortunately. However, other great food spots can be found. This hike is close to the downtown area of New Milford, CT. We stopped at Johana’s Restaurant for a brunchy meal. Great menu. I got the English Scramble - eggs, bacon, scallions, cheddar cheese in a skillet with home fries. Hell yes. And, my wife got the corn cheddar pancakes. That’s how we get down. Everything was delicious. Also, if you go in the warmer months, check out the farmers market. There’s an awesome bread company there.

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HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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Hidden Valley Preserve, Washington Depot, CT

Trail Description: The Bee Brook Loop is one of many trails in the Hidden Valley Preserve. This hike is an easy stroll along the Shepaug River. The Thoreau Bridge is the biggest attraction.

Trail Info:

Where: Washington Depot, CT Distance: 2.2m (1-1.5 hours) Difficulty: Easy Trail Type: Loop Features: Bridge, River, Water

How to get there:

198 Bee Brook Rd, Washington Depot, CT 06794

Parking lot can fit about 10-12 vehicles.

https://goo.gl/maps/Y1RQqqrmAjda6dcUA

Hiking Tips

• Taking the fork to the right will bring you to the Thoreau Bridge within minutes.

• There are other parking areas for different trails.

• Trail map: Click Here!

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The Hike

Apparently, the Washington, CT area is the mecca of public preserves in Connecticut. By mecca, I mean there’s three in a short distance of each other, which is pretty cool for nature buffs and hikers. Hidden Valley Preserve is one of three public preserves in the area owned by Steep Rock Association, along with Steep Rock Preserve and Macricostas Preserve. Hidden Valley Preserve offers 17 miles of trails consisting of various terrains and points of interest. The yellow blazed trail, known as Van Sinderen Loop Trail, will lead to the Quartz Mine and the “Lookout”, providing scenic views of the valley to the west. The Pinnacle Trail, blue blazed, also offers scenic valley views. The white blazed trail is the Bee Brook Loop, which is the quickest way to get to the Thoreau Bridge. That is the trail in this guide.

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From the parking lot, there is a small footbridge that passes a small creek. This will lead to the start of the trail. There is a fork to choose your direction and we chose to go right following the White Trail for the Bee Brook Loop. Within minutes we arrived at the main attraction of the hike (for most), the Thoreau Bridge. This is a 134 foot suspension bridge hanging above the Shepaug River named in tribute to Henry David Thoreau. He was a philosopher, nature enthusiast, and advocate of hiking in the 1860s. Typically, this doesn’t do much for me nor do I get into details of history but the bridge contained many of his quotes along the railings that spoke to me. 

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The bridge was definitely the most busy part of this hike. It is a cool point of interest and really easy to get to. Now, I understand why it’s such a big instagram photo spot. From here, you can cross the bridge and continue onto another trail but we stayed on the White Trail hiking along the river.

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Eventually, there is another wooden bridge that crosses the river on the right. This will connect you to the Yellow Trail if you want to jump on that. We just continued on the white blazed rail to finish the loop where we started. The hike was a pretty easy loop with some scenic river views. That was all I was looking for that day. Just a bit of time with nature.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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Jones Mountain Preserve, New Hartford, CT

Trail Description: The Vista Trail is a red-blazed loop that circles the Jones Mountain Preserve.  Most of the trail is an old carriage road that leads to summit views overlooking New Hartford and the Farming River to the north.

Trail Info:

Where: New Hartford, CT Distance: 2.5m (1.5 hours) Difficulty: Easy Trail Type: Loop Features: Views, Mountains, Valley

How to get there:

161 Steele Rd, New Hartford, CT 06057

You will see the parking lot located on the right coming from Route US-44W.

Hiking Tips

• For trail map, click HERE.

• Stay on the trails. Lots of hunting areas surrounding.

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The Hike

Once entering the nature preserve from the parking lot, there is a footbridge crossing. There will be a fork for the start of the red blazed trail. This is the Vista Trail that loops around the preserve. Going right will lead you to the summit view. After about 0.3m there is a sign with an arrow toward the peak to follow.

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This part of the hike is the most difficult. There is a gradual incline with an elevation gain of 367 feet as you make your way toward the carriage road. This will last for 15 minutes or so. Reaching the carriage road will occur at about 0.5m and it is fairly easy from here. At 0.9m there is another footbridge crossing.

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This will bring you to the summit of Jones Mountain at 1.5m. The lookout is a splendid view of the Farmington Valley West to New Hartford.

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Continue on the red loop for the rest of the trail. Due to storms, there is a road closure at the time of our hike. This forces you to hop onto the white trail inside the preserve. The white will lead back to the red and right to the parking lot.

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Based on what I saw online, there are some monuments and mill ruins along other trails in the preserve if that interests anyone reading this. We chose to just tackle the summit view.

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I am enjoying finding new hiking trails in Connecticut. This trail is fairly easy, has a good view, and will get your heart pumping a little bit. Any one looking to get into hiking or just need a break from a strenuous trail, I would suggest this. Fall is officially here as I write this post. This would be a good fall hike as well once the leaves change. Get hiking!

HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every change I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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Pine Knob Loop Trail, Sharon, CT

Trail Description: The Pine Knob Loop Trail is located in Housatonic Meadows State Park and Housatonic State Forest. This short, challenging trail connects to the Appalachian Trail. The hike will bring you to a beautiful vista view of rolling hills over the Housatonic River valley.

Trail Info:

Where: Sharon, CT Distance: 2.8m (2 hours) Difficulty: Moderate Trail Type: Loop Features: Views, Mountains, Valley, River

How to get there:

By google mapping, “Pine Knob Loop Trail” this should lead you to the trail parking area. Link below.

https://goo.gl/maps/36Fa5oy7HjjrHTZP9

You will see the parking lot located on the left coming from Route US-7 N. There is a visible sign as well. The lot can fit 15-20 cars.

Hiking Tips

• Go counter clockwise if you like your knees!

• Not great phone service, so make sure to screenshot a map. Or my guide!

• Due to storms, some trees are down with trail markings. Just make sure to keep an eye out.

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The Hike

Beginning the hike, the trail leads directly into the woods. There is a small brook to cross that leads to the fork of the start of the trail, where you will see the blue blazed trail sign. Prior to the hike, my wife and I did some research and counterclockwise was recommended based on our findings. We prefer to go up an incline & scramble then come down on a steep decline. This is the knee friendly option and safer in my opinion (lessons learned). Also, I like to get the hard stuff out of the way. Staying straight at the fork on the blue blaze trail is how we started. The steep incline starts gradually about 0.4m into the hike. Really get the blood flowing out the gate.

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The terrain will be a bit of a strenuous incline then leveling off with a small decline and then right back to steady uphill climb. Nothing your average hiker can’t handle.

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At 1.1m, this is the time to catch your breath when you reach the first sneak peek of views. Then it is all worth it when you see the spectacular vista view of the hills and mountains of the North West valley of Connecticut. From here you can see Bald Mountain, Bread Loaf Mountain, Woodbury Mountain, DudleyHill, and Whitecomb Hill. Really impressive view.

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After absorbing the stunning views, continue back onto the blue trail until this connects with the Appalachian Trail that is the white trail marking at about 1.3m. 

Connecticut has had a plethora of storms lately so there are many trees down. Some had trail markings on them so be mindful of that. Otherwise, this is an amazingly marked trail and easy to follow. At 1.7m, you will see the rolling hills view again from the east. This view is blocked by some trees but is still amazing nonetheless.

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At 2.1m, the blue and white trail will go separate ways. Turn left on the blue trail to finish the loop. We noticed a hatch brook that appears to have water cascading down on certain days but it has been dry lately. Nothing to see on this day. The rest of the hike was a fairly easy stroll through the trees and forest.

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The Northwest part of Connecticut is unexplored territory for me. Based on my research, this area of CT offers many great hiking trails. The Pine Knob Loop Trail was my first experience in the area. And, I was not disappointed. The trail was not busy at all. We saw more people once we connected to the Appalachian Trail portion. I would highly suggest hiking poles for this trail. The hike offered various degrees of difficulty and an amazing summit view. This would be a great fall foliage hike. Also, there are two wineries within 15 minutes from the hike if you need to persuade a hiking companion. Looking for something different, check this one out!

HIKING FOR DONUTS

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every change I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

If you are looking for posts in a particular place, search City or State here.

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