I think that the Limestone Spring Lean-to was my favorite on our June section hike
of Connecticut this year. It's 0.5 miles off the trail, all downhill, some steeply.
But it's a great place, and if you bother to hike the 0.5 miles, chances are you'll
have it to yourself. Shelter is the standard Connecticut design (bear bar
in front, sleeps 6-8). Privy to left of shelter (uphill). Water supply is a gushing spring
coming out of the hillside. Plenty of tenting space around. We experienced a hailstorm
on the tin roof of the shelter. Were also entertained by a baby phoebe in a nest under the rafters.

limestone shelter is a great place. a little tough on the way out in the morning all uphill but it has the best water source ive seen yet.

just got back from 4 days on the CT AT. The shelter was great...the hike in was not marked well in some spots.

Just back from five days on the AT (Hawkeye-- was that you I met at the Iron bridge on Saturday?) Limestone Spring is a great shelter -- though its tough to find. When you cross the second log bridge, it's there to the right and uphill. The blazes continue on to a street -- another hiker I met over the weekend missed it and kept going.

Bird nest is still there in the rafters too. You can hear the coyotes howling at night -- fun spot. Though I agree, the climb back up in the morning is a tough way to start the day!

-- Ivy

Hey, that was me on the bridge Saturday! How did the rest of your hike go?

I thought it was you, based on your register entry at Limestone Spring and then your post here. I always forget to ask people what their trailnames are when I meet them.

My hike went great -- CT is such a pretty area. It was my first time backpacking solo for five days and I'm already hungry for more.

-- Ivy

:banana

I remember Limestone Spring Lean-to well.

When we got to the cliff on the side trail, we thought we had lost the trail. "It can't go down there, can it?". Here's a shot (http://gallery.backcountry.net/albums/papabear_section_2/abh.sized.jpg) of that slope. The picture doesn't do it justice - it's much steeper than this picture shows.

Here's the Lean-to (http://gallery.backcountry.net/albums/papabear_section_2/abi.sized.jpg). Fairly nice. We were there last May before the crowds.

We had a resident phoebe, nesting in the eaves, something we had seen in several shelters in this area. I just hope she got her brood hatched and out before tha crowd of hikers that would follow. It was a strange thing that they would nest in these places. I guess they have all day to themselves and then late at night as well. It's dinner and breakfast that the poor bird is frightened off.

Have fun,
Pb

I stayed there on 5/16/04 and agree that it is a pretty nice place, especially if you are looking for solitude and want to avoid hearing cars and trains. It is more like .6 to .7 miles off the main trail, so be patient. When the blue blazes seem to disappear at about .4 miles, you just go straight down the mountain and you will find more blazes that lead you to within eye sight of the shelter. I do not recommend coming in near dark (like I did). I had a tough time finding it at near darkness. The good thing about this place is that it gets far less use then most shelters so it is less likely to be crowded or trashed by the weekenders. In fact, the register has dates from over two years ago and it was only 3/4s full. That tells me that many folks don't stop there.

I agree, very quiet spot for meditating.....was there on a solo back in late 90's. Tented it....nicest spots. Yes, side trail is tricky, kept checking my directions. Will mention it to AMC CT chapter about re-flagging the blue tags. Woke up in middle of night...apparantly a coyote was hunting resident owl right outside my tent. BIG BARN OWL. Freshest spring water between NY and MASS on the AT, for sure. Loved the place. Good climb out to wake up the muscles and get the blood flowing....oatmeal helps with the energy. Happy Trails! Little Bear 2 in CT. 500 miles complete.

I stayed here the night of 4/13/05. I parked at the hydro plant and cleared branches from the trail as I went along. The trail is very dry and in great shape.
The shelter is in a beautiful location, very spacious, and the piped spring has delicious water. People had signed the register sporadically since January. One note said the old AT was the current blue-blazed trail, which continues along the stream and meets a very disused road in 1/4 mile. At one point on this stretch the stream disappears into the rock and reappears further down - cool.
The trail runners seem to take a special interest in keeping the place up.
Heard owls calling at 4 pm. Odd time for owls.
It made me think - the trail down South is bustling, but up north there is much solitude to be found, especially if you can hike during the week.

The wife and I stayed there the night of 4/27/05, Wed. night. We got to the blue blaze that leads down to the shelter after dark and lost the blazes a couple of times. Then we got to the steep section, yikes. Sure glad we had our headlamps with us!

It's a great location and the shelter is in good condition. Water was plentiful when we were there. And as others have said, the hike up and out was a heck of a way to start the day.

It's a good 0.5 mile (like the sign says) and a good 300 feet or so of vertical below the trail... But aside from that -- great site, especially for camping. Best (piped) spring I've ever seen on the AT.

We spent the night here on 8/15/05 (alone, like everyone else seems to) and enjoyed listening to the owls hooting all night long (after my son realized that they weren't ghosts!). But we did hear that two nights before us, there were a bunch of college co-eds playing midnight volleyball by headlamp down in the campsites! Glad we missed that!

Jane in CT

I just was over at the VFTT board and there was this post - anybody have any comments along these lines?

I have yet to see a bear in the wild and this area has the most activity on the AT in CT. It is 1/2 mile off the trail and so is often skipped. There is a cascading stream and spring there. You pass the odd stone obelisk called "Giant's Thumb" on the way in or out. Oh, and it's supposed to be haunted; __________________________________________________ ___________________________________

Quote:
Originally Posted by Willow '97
06/15/05User Rating:
"My hiking partner Bones and I spent a terrifying night here on our AT hike. We are seasoned hikers and swear this place is haunted. If you are fine with strange lights, voices, and things that go bump in the night, by all means stay here. I would rather hike the extra 8 miles to Riga than end up at this shelter again. Yikes!!!!"
__________________________________________________ ___________________________

So I'm doing a longer backpack in on friday and shorter hike out on saturday (or visa versa if required by schedules) if you're interested. But I'll be at Limestone Spring friday night saying my prayers, regardless.
__________________

I shared the place with a scout troop. That musta kept the ghosts away. ;)

No ghosts a few weeks ago, but who's idea was it to put the shelter in a dark, damp, skeeter filled ravine 400 feet below and .6 miles off the AT? If I hike CT again I will skip this shelter. The giants thumb was neat though. About 1/2 mile north of the shelter access trail.

Stayed at the shelter a couple weeks ago. Trail could use some re-blazing but I found the place. On the way down after the steepest section the trail takes a right and straight ahead is a car sized depression in the ground. I examined it and appears to be a cave entrance... does anybody have a comment on this? Should have taken a picture but I did not.

spammer, thanks for removing him